Post by Admin on Mar 23, 2017 19:44:40 GMT -5
Since the mindfulness meditation we use in Jon Kabat Zinn (and UMass Center for Mindfulness) MBSR was originally culled from the Buddhist tradition it should come as no surprise that some Buddhists might not like what we've done in'secularizing' their mindfulness. At the same time, in our groups here at Wilmington VA we often discuss the current trend towards popularizing (and capitalizing) on the sweeping trend of Mindfulness. Truth be told, we know that many now are jumping on the bandwagon, calling something 'Mindful this' or 'Mindful that' when they actually have never meditated a day in their lives and merely seek a profit. So, among the wonderful teachers there are indeed charlatans. As for the on-going debate among some Buddhist Mindfulness practitioners, they have their concerns and disagreements on all this. Would love to hear anyone's opinion here as well.
So, I found this Buddhist's critique of popular mindfulness to be very interesting. He says at one point:
...My main issue with the popular mindfulness movement and its ideas expressed through countless publications is that it oversimplifies the Way by offering illusory, pocket-sized solutions to calm one’s guilty conscious for not making a real effort to resolve the issues one is being hunted by. It can even cause harm by inflating one’s ego by attaching “spirituality” label to it. Try to go on the whole day without unskillful actions, words and thoughts. Compare it with an effort of coming back to the breath for few seconds. For above reasons I don’t read anything about mindfulness that contains words: “simple”, “easy“, “steps”, “minutes”, “per day”, “hacks”, “productivity” or having a title starting with a digit...., by Adrian in Meditation, blog at: remainsittingstill.wordpress.com
To read his whole comments on Mindfulness go HERE And, offer your thoughts here please.
