The essay explores the philosophical foundations of Indian contemplative traditions, offering a comprehensive understanding of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness in both traditional and modern settings. It reestablishes the connection between these disciplines and their original philosophical, ethical, and existential purposes, using ancient sources like Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras, Advaita Vedānta,...
Traditional definitions of liberation (such as moksha, nirvana, and kaivalya) across Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical traditions have remained empirically underspecified and conceptually divergent for over 2,500 years. This study proposes an operational definition of liberation asperpetual self-transcendence through infinite domain expansion, characterized by the inability to fix one's...
Abstract Objectives To examine how contemporary mindfulness has been transformed through its integration into healthcare, education, and institutional settings, and to clarify what is at stake when contemplative practices are reframed as instrumental techniques. Methods The paper combines conceptual analysis with an illustrative case study of the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRIAD) trial....
For over 2,500 years, liberation (moksha, nirvana, kaivalya) has remained the declared goal of multiple contemplative traditions, yet no operationally defined, cross-culturally applicable, empirically testable framework has existed for determining whether a given historical figure or living person has achieved it. This article presents a structural analysis of Krishna’s documented...
: The nature of the self remains a central enigma in philosophy and a key frontier in science. This paper develops a novel “Dynamic Self-Model”—the “minimal self” emerges from the rapid alternation between “awareness” (A) and “awareness-of-awareness” (AoA)—inspired by phenomenological insights from Buddhist meditation. As a core component, we define AoA—typically not accessible to ordinary...
Silence is often treated as a communicative void, a suspension of meaning, or a disruption of social connection. This dissertation challenges that assumption through an ethnographic study of zazen (seated meditation) at the Bristol Zen Dojo, where silence is not the absence of sociality but its medium. Through sensory ethnography and phenomenological analysis, the findings reveal that shared...
Background: Depression is a significant global public health challenge, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based secular intervention for depression; however, it incorporates partially Buddhist mindfulness practices. The Satipaṭṭhāna-based thought purification therapy (SB-TPT) is a structured, seven-week intervention that integrates systematic contemplation of the...
This chapter investigates the cognitive, neurological, and physiological mechanisms underlying mindfulness meditation, bridging contemplative traditions with contemporary neuroscience. It explores how mindfulness engages attention and working memory systems, reshapes emotional regulation, and alters brain structure and function. The chapter examines verbal and visual meditation techniques...
Thailand’s rapid transition into a super-aged society presents critical challenges for promoting health and well-being among older adults. This study examines how a mandala art-based meditation program can function as a culturally grounded health promotion strategy to enhance happiness and mental wellness in elderly populations. A sequential mixed-method design was employed. In Phase 1,...
Ancient contemplative traditions offer sophisticated technologies for cultivating stable states of consciousness underlying sustainable well-being. This integrative review synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature on Patañjali’s Sanyam—the integrated practice of Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditative absorption), and Samadhi (non-dual awareness)—and its Zen parallel, Joriki...