Nishida Kitaro’s Philosophy as a Non-Religious Foundation for Mindfulness Interventions: Self-Insight Meditation Therapy as Clinical Operationalization
Yoshinobu Fujita, Tomohiko Muratsubaki, Kenjiro Ohta
Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology October 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1353/ppp.0.a1003922 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Self-Insight Meditation Therapy |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that Nishida Kitaro's concepts of "topos" and "action–intuition" provide a rigorous non-religious philosophical foundation for mindfulness, and presents Self-Insight Meditation Therapy as a clinical operationalization of them. Contends that this framework converges with enactive psychiatry through shared philosophical roots, and that ethical neutrality in contemplative practice is ontologically impossible rather than merely morally undesirable. |
Abstract
Contemporary mindfulness interventions derive core techniques from Buddhist contemplative traditions yet lack robust non-religious philosophical foundations. This paper proposes that Nishida Kitaro’s philosophy offers such a foundation. His concept of topos (basho) provides a rigorous ontology of self–world relations, where the self and the world co-arise within a unified, self-determining field. His concept of action–intuition (koiteki chokkan) articulates how contemplative insight manifests through engaged action rather than remaining as abstract understanding. We examined Self-Insight Meditation Therapy, developed in Japan, as a clinical operationalization of these concepts, emphasizing interpersonal situations as primary practice sites and the cultivation of active evaluative capacity. This framework converges with contemporary enac- tive approaches to psychiatry, a convergence rooted in shared philosophical sources rather than coincidental resemblance. As practice deepens, Self-Insight Meditation Therapy practitioners come to recognize that aware selves are plural focal points whose perspectives remain irreducible to one another, and that their prac- tice participates in world-formation within Nishida’s historical world (rekishiteki sekai). Ethical neutrality in contemplative practice is thereby shown to be ontologically impossible rather than merely morally undesirable.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |