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Theoretical Foundations to Guide Mindfulness Meditation: A Path to Wisdom

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Abstract

Mindfulness interventions are becoming increasingly popular across a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical settings where they are often employed to promote psychological well-being. Mindfulness in its original context presented in Buddhist practice is used to systematically understand one’s moment-to-moment experience, and to gradually develop self-knowledge and wisdom. Buddhist teachings describe wisdom as seeing things just as they are - a requisite for the complete freedom from suffering. In psychological writings, although the construct of wisdom lacks a commonly accepted definition, direct experiential self-knowledge is considered to be an essential element of wisdom. The purpose of this article is to examine the three major trainings of the Buddhist path, as well as some of the key Buddhist theoretical constructs, in order to explore their contribution to the gradual development of experiential self-knowledge and wisdom. In Buddhist traditions, mindfulness is practised in the context of a moral and philosophical system, and the mind is described as a sequence of momentary mental states, each distinct and discrete, their connections with one another being causal. We explain how a clear understanding of mindfulness within the context of this broader theoretical framework can be helpful to individuals engaging in different levels of the mindfulness meditation practice, and how this understanding can result in more sustained outcomes for mindfulness interventions. Further explorations are made into how various barriers and motivators to mindfulness meditation can be better understood by linking the theoretical aspects with current research literature on mindfulness.

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Notes

  1. All traditions of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana) have the common goal of ethical awareness, practising meditation, and developing wisdom as the path to gaining a penetrative understanding of phenomena (Kang and Whittingham 2010; Van Gordon et al. 2015; Wallace and Shapiro 2006).

  2. Ignorance (or delusion), in Buddhist teachings refers to individuals’ deeply rooted mistaken views or lack of wisdom into the true nature of human experience (Bodhi and Nārada 2012, p. 83; Ñanamoli and Bodhi 1995).

  3. Attachment manifests as craving, and in Buddhist texts, the word “craving” is also often used to denote attachment (Bodhi and Nārada 2012).

  4. In terms of the aggregate of material form, the teachings present the similarity between material elements that make up the physical body and elements in the external environment, where materials in the external environment are continuously moving to and from the physical body (Anālayo 2006; Karunamuni 2015; Ñanamoli and Bodhi 1995, discourse 140, p. 1089). Contemplating this process gradually results in the understanding that there is no unchanging entity to be found in the aggregate of material form that can be pinned down and labeled as a “self.”

  5. The instructions given to Bāhiya were: “In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress” (Bāhiya Sutta Ud1.10. 1994).

  6. According to the teachings, the last thought one has at the time of death influences the life form into which one is born next (Bodhi and Nārada 2012, p. 206). A wholesome last thought is described as resulting in a favorable rebirth and an unwholesome last thought, in an unfavorable rebirth. Someone who has engaged in mainly wholesome volitions during their lives is said to have a higher likelihood of having a wholesome or peaceful thought at the time of death, although this cannot be guaranteed (Ñanamoli 2013). Working towards enlightenment by engaging in ethical practices, as well as meditation and mindfulness practices, is described as increasing the likelihood of a wholesome rebirth, which would facilitate the ultimate freedom or release from the continuous rebirth process (Bodhi 2006; Ñanamoli 2013).

  7. In one mindfulness intervention, individuals who discontinued the study had significantly lower baseline levels of dispositional mindfulness (Van Gordon et al. 2014). In another study, an individual had to undergo a preparatory treatment phase of CBT that addressed life coping skills, before being successfully treated using a meditation intervention (Shonin et al. 2014b).

  8. Rather than being aloof, indifferent, uncaring or unengaged (which can be common misconceptions about nonattachment), the nonattached individual is genuinely caring, engaged and responsive to the present situation without falling into self-aggrandizement or self-degradation (Sahdra et al. 2010, 2016).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Venerable S. Dhammika, Dr. Anjani Karunaratne and Dr. Paul Ritvo for reviewing an earlier version of this manuscript and providing helpful feedback. We also express our gratitude to a Buddhist meditation teacher in Sri Lanka who prefers not to be named, for providing guidance on theoretical aspects of Buddhist teachings.

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  1. Rasanjala Weerasekera

    Present address: Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

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  1. Centre for Health Promotion Studies, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Nandini Karunamuni

  2. School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rasanjala Weerasekera

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Karunamuni, N., Weerasekera, R. Theoretical Foundations to Guide Mindfulness Meditation: A Path to Wisdom. Curr Psychol 38, 627–646 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9631-7

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