What Is The Link Between Buddhism And Mindfulness?
Full attention or mindfulness It is based on enhancing the brain’s ability to be self-aware and live the present moment fully.
Already at the dawn of psychology, William James left us the reflection that our ability to regulate our attention focus is the basis of will and good judgment. However, James already warned us that it is easier to define mindfulness than to embody it.
In any case, this notion of mindfulness or directed attention It is long before psychology as a science and even to other tools of human thought such as philosophy.
To talk about mindfulness as a Western discovery, a product of the evolution of our modern society, is to sin, at the very least, of naivety and clearly of misunderstood pride.
Mindfulness or the practice of full attention, as we know it in the West, draws clearly from the sources of the East, especially Buddhism and more specifically Zen Buddhism, a school integrated into what is known as Mahayana Buddhism or great vehicle.
Already in the 8th century, Master Linji, founder of a Zen school in northern China, encouraged paying attention to experiences as they appear, in the present. And without going any further, the Vietnamese Zen teacher and monk Thich Nhat Hanh, well known today in the West, was already talking about mindfulness in the 70s, referring to mindfulness as the energy of being focused on the present.
That is to say, since the dawn of psychology, the ability of the human mind to reflect on itself, to focus on its own activity and thus be able to tune in to the emotional states and thoughts that run within us has been in the center of the debate and has been the key in all models of psychotherapeutic approach and personal growth
On the other hand, from worlds as far removed from psychological reflection as many schools of Eastern meditation can be, especially within Buddhism, both Hinayana and Mahayana, the development of this capacity for self-awareness in human beings has been the cornerstone of their knowledge.
It seems clear, therefore, that today, no one questions this principle anymore. And that the concept of mindfulness or full consciousness It already enjoys wide popularity in all areas of psychology and health sciences
However, this mindfulness would be lame if we forget another Buddhist key, which is at the root of the Mahayana Buddhist concept of meditation, namely compassion.
The Buddhist perspective
In Buddhism, compassion, in the sense of the figure of the Tibetan bodhisattva (also Mahayana Buddhism) is the desire for others to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
It is based on valuing the feelings of others, especially when we have gone through the same difficulties. And even if we have never gone through what others are going through, we can put ourselves in their shoes and feel how terrible it must be. As we imagine how much we would like to be free of that, we long strongly for others to be free too.
That is why at Vitaliza we affirm that there is nothing more intelligent to get out of my suffering than welcome, collect, embrace and restore the suffering of the other And we thank all of you who walk alongside us in the retreats and meetings that we have been celebrating under the heading of “Sharing in Full Consciousness” for your effort and dedication to create spaces of embrace and communion, where minds rest, hearts open and Souls connect smiling in unison.
The editions of our “Sharing in Full Consciousness” meetings planned for 2019 will take place in Artzentales (Bizkaia) on April 4-9, June 20-23 and August 29 / September 1. For more information you can go to the Vitaliza website, agenda section, or contact us using these details.
