Mindfulness: A Secularized Buddhist Practice in the West

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Richmond BC, (CANADA) -- Mindfulness is a technique that is integral to the Teachings of the Buddha. It is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path which encapsulates the principal teachings of the Buddha.Mindfulness or ‘sati’ is a whole-body-and-mind awareness of the present moment. It is awareness of body, feelings, thoughts and phenomena that affect the body and mind.

It is the detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. Being fully mindful means being fully attentive to everything as-it-is, not reacting to or generating thoughts on what one experiences at the moment. In the practice of mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, focused on the present moment and to accept one’s thoughts and responses without judgement.

All judgments and interpretations of feelings and thoughts are overlooked or just registered and dropped. To be mindful is to be fully present, not lost in daydreams, anticipation, indulgences, or worry. It is a mental mode of being engaged in the present moment without evaluating or emotionally reacting to it.

Regular mindfulness training helps to enhance and strengthen the brains ability to pay attention. As with any skill, regular practice of mindfulness enhances the skill so that it arises naturally and spontaneously.

Mindfulness involves self-discovery and becoming more compassionate to self and then ultimately towards others. Mindful living leads to a more fulfilling and grounded life, being able to understand oneself and one’s environment without judgement.

It is about waking up to your life and enhancing mental and emotional resilience. Mindfulness helps to create harmony in heart and mind and therefore in the world around you as well. Mindfulness is becoming a lifestyle among some sections of the Western society. It has become an element in their daily routine bringing them benefits similar to those of physical exercise and sound relaxation.

In a society characterized by unpleasant and unhealthy effects of excessive competition, impatience and stress, mindfulness practice makes people recognize the need to slow down and pay attention. Among many people, As a remedy to an uneasy, unbalanced, troubled, discontented, distressed and unhappy mind characterized by negative mood and stress, mindfulness exercises have been found to be of much help to develop a happier, healthier and fulfilling life. Mindfulness is the most direct way to overcome sorrow and lamentation, end pain and anxiety, and realize the highest form of inner happiness. 

Mindfulness practice has been subject to much research in several disciplines in recent years and publications on mindfulness has proliferated in the Western world. The efficacy of mindfulness is supported by a growing body of scientific research. Applied research has shown that mindfulness has a positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing. 

In particular it has a positive impact on the human brain. Studies have shown that it can alter brain patterns and behavior. Hospitals and community centres have started to offer courses on Mindfulness practices. Mindfulness entered the medical mainstream in the 1970s.

Today, Mindfulness is taught and practiced in many prominent hospitals in the USA, Canada several other Western countries. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction” practice (MBSR) developed by the Medical School of the University of Massachusetts in USA has been used successfully to treat a wide variety of illnesses.

Mindfulness exercises have helped alleviate suffering from psychological illnesses such as anxiety, panic disorders and phobias. They have become clinically proven methods for alleviating stress and chronic pain. An increasing number of Medical Centres worldwide now offer mindfulness based therapies for mood and other disorders.

Many studies have revealed the effectiveness of  mindfulness practices in reducing psychological stress. They have led to improvements in both mental and physical health, alleviating depression, anxiety, loneliness and chronic pain.  

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the practice of mindfulness as part of psychotherapy. Researchers are using brain imaging techniques to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms by which mindfulness practices work. Some psychotherapists find that mindfulness meditation as an adjunct to counseling and other treatments can help troubled people learn to release negative emotions and thought habits.

After receiving mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, patients report noticing that negative thoughts lose their power over time. Mindfulness techniques were used to help children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to concentrate, and for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder recover and now for professionals of various fields as a technique for developing focus, clarity and compassion. Research has shown that Mindfulness practice can be effective in managing depression. It can be as effective as antidepressants in treating depression.

Its ability to improve performance is one of the primary reasons for greater attention on Mindfulness practice in the West. Professionals and those of the corporate culture, but also institutions, companies, and nations are adopting ‘mindful’ practices and associated ‘compassion’ and listening to others as management practices to an increasing extent. 

Among some of these institutions are Google, the USA Military, especially the US Marine Corps, prisons, Social services work, LinkedIn networking site. In the US military mindfulness training includes ‘brain calming’ exercises to improve performance. Snipers benefit from mindfulness training.

It enhances attention, concentration and aim. It is gaining ground as a useful practice  among prominent sports personnel including Olympic athletes and movie stars. Students who want to boost their performance and also parents, teachers or caregivers wishing to be more attentive to others’ needs may  all find mindfulness training highly useful.

Buddhist Ethical Principles underlying Mindfulness Practice

Although lectures and public talks and discussions, publications, workshops, forums, seminars, courses, retreats and other forms of intense interactions on the subject of Mindfulness practises are conducted in the West, it is rarely that these Mindfulness Trainers and Experts” in the West, acknowledge the fact that they have learned these wholesome  practices from Buddhism.

One reason may be the fact that these practices may not be of much appeal to the ordinary Westerner, if religion” or a faith tradition is associated with it.  Most Westerners perceive erroneously that Buddhism is a religion or a belief system in the conventional sense.  The trend among modern day Westerner  is to distance themselves from religion which some perceive to be a corrupt outmoded and outdated institution which is generally corrupt and has a divisive effect on society.

In this light, the Buddhist Bhikkhu communities of the different Buddhist traditions should be in the forefront highlighting what the Buddha Dhamma or the teachings of the Buddha is all about, how it differs from the conventional theistic faith traditions and the overall spiritual benefits that could be attained through Buddhist practices such as Mindfulness as propagated in Buddhist teachings.

It is a pity that our Buddhist Bhikkhus who are found in abundance in the Western world are not actively involved in this popular trend in the West, highlighting the spiritual aspect of Mindfulness practice, and showing that spirituality associated with Mindfulness practice involves no belief system but is focused on inner transformation leading to calm and peacefulness. It will help one to deal effectively with everyday difficulties and to live a richer, happier and a fulfilling life. But more importantly, it will help one to develop a state of consciousness leading to a state of awakening to realities of life, to the ultimate meaning of life.

Mindfulness meditation helps one to develop emotional intelligence, self regulation, and empathy necessary for successful relationships. It is remarkably useful for facing interpersonal challenges.

In the Western corporate culture, in the rush to secularise it, Mindfulness have been turned into a technique divorced from ethical responsibility. In fact, its training and promotional ventures are highly commercialized often associated with a high price tag.

Mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition is to transform one’s sense of self. It is not about attaining personal goals attached to personal desires. The goal of mindfulness practice is to liberate oneself from greed, ill will and delusion (loba, dosha moha” or the three main defilements in Buddhist teachings) and not to achieve stress reduction.  The real focus of Buddhism is on awakening, on coming to some insight or wisdom about our true nature. Without that, we cannot get at the real source of our ‘dukkha’or suffering. 

From the Buddhist perspective, the ‘mindfulness movement' that is becoming increasingly popular in the Western World is not addressing the most deep-rooted forms of human suffering or ‘dukkha’. In fact, it seems to be reinforcing the kind of self-centred individualism that seems to be the basic problem in Western society.

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Buddhist Practice Is About the Kind of Person You Are

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The world has always needed people who are kind and wise and who can effectively and skillfully relate to the cries of the world. It would seem that Buddhist practices and values are designed to produce such people. That is what attracted me to Buddhism as a young man, and has kept me in the Buddhist fold for my whole adult life.

However, over the decades much of what I have learned about Buddhism concerns the ways these lofty promises have been exaggerated or unfulfilled -- perhaps partly due to my own idealization and wishful thinking. Of course Buddhism exists in the human realm and is practiced and taught by flawed and corruptible human beings.

How could it be otherwise? It is true that Buddhism has produced some extraordinary people. It is just as true that Buddhist individuals and institutions--past and present -- have caused harm and suffering. We have only to look at the continuing drumbeat of bad news regarding present-day Buddhist teachers, leaders and institutions to realize that Buddhists -- like people of every faith -- come in all shapes and sizes.

Once Thich Nhat Hanh was asked to summarize Buddhism in one word, and he said, "Ahimsa," which means "non-harm." Following his example, when I am asked to briefly explain what Buddhism is about, I say, "It is about the kind of person you are and what you do." Of course it is about more than that too, but if it is not about that -- if it is only about some heady ideal of perfect enlightenment unconnected to character and action -- then I wonder what use it is.

On that point, I like the Chinese Zen story about an eccentric Zen teacher known as the Tree Master -- since he lived in a tree. Once a high lord, on hearing about the Tree Master's wisdom, visited him and asked, "What is the deepest truth of Buddhism?"

The Tree Master replied, "Do good, avoid evil, benefit beings." These are the three pure precepts of the Bodhisattva, which would have been known to every person of that time.

The lord, perhaps affronted by the apparent triviality of the teacher's response, said, "Why, even a three-year-old child knows that!"

The Tree Master retorted, "Yes, but even a hundred year old man can't fully practice it."

The Tree Master knew that the world of flawed human beings includes intrigue, treachery, betrayal, ambition, pride, rigidity and duplicity -- even among those who profess to be deeply spiritual. All religions -- East and West -- seem to partake of this darkness to some degree. Many adult converts to Buddhism have yet to fully accept this -- perhaps because so much of their knowledge comes from books or reading, which tend to display Buddhism's best face.
Once a senior monk from a training monastery in Japan was visiting a large Zen center in America, and was astonished to see the meditation hall full of Americans silently meditating. The Japanese monk turned to his American host and said, "How do you get them to meditate without beating them?" Apparently in Japan it was unusual for Zen monks to actually like meditation.

In the 1970s, I once asked a highly regarded Japanese Zen teacher how many enlightened Roshis there were in Japan. The teacher paused and finally replied, "Four or five." I was taken aback. I had naively assumed that there were hundreds more just like him. That was an important lesson for me. Saints are rare, whatever the country or the era.

That being said, Buddhists ought not to be discouraged or disillusioned by hearing the news of how things really are. After all, "how things really are" is what the word "dharma" means. While I have at various times been dismayed on hearing bad news about some Buddhist individual or institution, I keep taking refuge in the thought that this too is Dharma. To know how things really are and to face those facts with clarity and courage is our work as Buddhists.

May that work long continue.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-richmond/buddhist-practice-is-abou_b_3570465.html
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Lewis Richmond is a Buddhist writer and teacher. Follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lewrichmond

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Aging as a Spiritual Practice

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Every religion has its form of contemplative practice. Though Buddhism has many meditation practices, it is first and foremost an ethical teaching and a way of life. I have heard anecdotally that Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen teacher, was once asked to summarize all of Buddhist teaching in one word.

He said “Ahimsa,” which means “non-harm” or “nonviolence.” This is the first ethical precept of Buddhism. The term is thousands of years old and goes back at least to the Vedic Hinduism of ancient India. Mohandas Gandhi made ahimsa the centerpiece of his doctrine of nonviolence.

When the Dalai Lama says, “My religion is kindness,” he is saying much the same thing. More fundamental even than meditation for Buddhists is the sense that all life is sacred, and all life in one. That is the doctrine that underlies nonviolence. If all life is related, then we avoid harming others as much as we avoid harming ourselves. Thich Naht Hanh calls this connection “interbeing.” Shunryu Suzuki Roshi said, “When you feel the oneness of everything, you naturally don’t want to harm anything.”

This is the Golden Rule spoken as a Buddhist. To practice ahimsa is to follow Buddhist values, whether you call yourself a Buddhist or not. Meditation grows out of the ahimsa spirit and is a central expression of it. The application of Buddhist meditation to aging is another application of the ahimsa spirit. Our increasingly fragile and infirm bodies and minds are sacred, and worthy of the greatest kindness and care. To respect our aging at every stage is the greatest kindness we can offer to ourselves and those we love.

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From “Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser” by Lewis Richmond (Gotham Books, 2012)

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Tibetan Buddhists practice sky burial for the dead

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Tibet, China -- Sky burial is a funerary practice in China's Tibetan regions, where the dead are laid out in a high flat place and ritually cut up, usually by a monk and rogyapas (body-breakers) and then fed to birds of prey, most commonly the Eurasian Griffon vulture.

Sky burial dates back thousands of years and probably started because above the treeline wood is too scarce for cremation and the ground too hard for burial.

The practice was banned in China in the 1960s, but was allowed again in the 1980s when China started to reform after the Mao Zedong era.

The photo taken on April 5, 2013 shows vultures (bottom) gathering to eat as a Tibetan Buddhist monk (bottom, centre) prepares dead bodies for a sky burial while tourists and monks (back) watch in Seda, in the western region of China's Sichuan province.

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Gender discrimination in religious practice

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Timphu, Bhutan -- Gender inequality took over to blend with spirituality in the second session of the Mountain Echoes festival, which began yesterday at the Tarayana Centre in Thimphu.

<< Writing the spirit: Swati Chopra, Kunzang Choden and Dr Tashi Zangmo

Three women speakers constantly argued and discussed that women have equal spirit to attain the level of spirituality as men, while they referred to religious traditions that underestimated the spirits of women.

The conversation revolved around Buddhist traditions where, at one point, Swati Chopra, who writes on spirituality and its relevance to modern lives, explained the Madhyamika ideology and the middle path teaching, associated with change and impermanence.

According to her, the irrational system that became a tradition blocks change, where women are deprived from certain spiritual teachings, even in Buddhism.

“Change has to be enlightened change, not just jettisoning tradition in entirety, but certain aspects of tradition should be questioned, which unfortunately in India there is less tolerance of questioning tradition,” she said.

The oral tradition of Buddhism, which says that to achieve nirvana one has to be born as man is ‘irrational’, Swati Chopra said. “If there is no gender in enlightenment or nirvana, according to Madhyamika teaching, why do we have to be born as man to achieve enlightenment?” she questioned. “In enlightenment, you can’t be even Buddhist.”

Well-known Bhutanese author, Kunzang Choden, said that, while there are beliefs being implanted that a woman would take nine generations to achieve nirvana, there are no such written references so far noticeable.

“Three years ago, a woman asked Jamyang Khyentse rinpoche, if a reference can be found that says so, and rinpoche said he couldn’t find it anywhere,” Kunzang Choden said.

She said the protagonist in her book, The Circle of Karma, is also looking for her spirit, and believes she will find this through literacy.  She receives basic teaching from a spiritual master, shaves her head, and wears the robes, but realises that appearance is not everything, and that spirit and appearance don’t go together.

“You can’t just trash tradition, we have to segregate it,” Kunzang Choden said, referring to patriarchal society. “With education, empowerment, opportunities, you begin to question things.”

When a male from among the audience asked how men are responding to empowerment of women efforts, Swati Chopra said, “They dig in their heels, and use tradition as a reason, but women also don’t support women, as a result of internalising tradition; but right now there is nothing to worry about, the wave is still being built.”

“Nunneries follow the same curriculum as the monk body, but smaller nunneries don’t have any set curriculum, but very ritualistic kind of practices, no qualified teachers, no proper classrooms,” explained Dr Tashi Zangmo, director of Bhutan nuns foundation.

“Households prefer male monks for pujas, while they invite nuns only when there are prayers that include fasting,” she said.

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The Buddhist Practice of Dana [Giving]

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San Francisco, CA (USA) -- The traditional religious life in ancient China, Korea and other Buddhist countries includes an emphasis on the mutually dependent relationship between lay people and their spiritual teachers. 

This relationship is characterized as being  “spiritual friend[ship]” (Sanskrit: maitri).  This spiritual relationship is embodied in the tradition called dana, a sanskrit word which means ‘generosity’ or ‘giving’.  In addition to having a religious value (the “perfection of giving” [dana paramita]) it also embodies a social value of keen interest in this modern age; it leaves the control of the role of spiritual teaching in the hands of those who are the purported beneficiaries of said teaching.  In other, more free market oriented, words;  the consumer sets the value of the service, not the ‘vendor’.  Were this idea to catch on in society, many professions could be affected.

Typically,  a Zen monk’s sojourn in a monastery is a temporary thing. Historically, the vast majority of Zen monks leave their monastic community and lifestyle and return to lay life. Most simply return to regular livelihoods such as farming or manufacturing but some find a special place within the spiritual life of their communities as a teacher; and those who value the role make donations to sustain a teacher.  These donations are generally anonymous, completely voluntary and intended as a direct expression of gratitude. 

Zen monks are not entitled to charity.  Monks who have little to offer of an intrinsic and widely acknowledged  value will not receive any donations because there’s no special value; at least in theory.  I know ssomething called dana is often routinized and practiced automatically, but in my opinion any formalized remuneration, such as  titheing, ought not to be called dana.  I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just say it’s not that subtle religious idea; Buddhist dana.  True, everyone’s free to take it or leave it, but that is not a spacious enough sentiment to contain the depth of the spiritual friend relationship.  Plus, it leaves out anyone who wants to hear the Dharma but cannot afford the price.

As a Zen monk living in the world I want very much to teach meditation in a way that ordinary, intelligent people are able to see a real value for themselves in their real, everyday life.  I believe that people will recognize that value and reflect it by giving what their means allow toward retaining that value.  Alternatively, the teacher will become unavailable through the need to work a regular job. 

My coaches in the business world disagree with me on this, by the way.  They consider me hopelessly naive.  They say that people will just take the value and pay nothing even if they can afford it and even if they would cheerfully pay other counselors’ large fees.  My experience so far proves this common but cynical analysis to be only sometimes true.  This is encouraging, and one cannot help but wonder how professional relationships with lawyers and accountants would be affected if consumer-determined value became the ethical norm.

Source: http://blogs.timescolonist.com/2012/01/04/the-buddhist-practice-of-dana-giving/

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Practice! Practice!

Tissa,
Get with ‘it’.
Don’t let ‘it’ pass you by.

Those who miss ‘it’ grieve,
when they’re stuck in hell.
Practice! Practice!

- Tissa

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