Abstract
This chapter examines the question of the role of intellectual analysis and ethical judgement in ancient Indian Buddhist accounts of sati and contemporary discourses about ‘mindfulness’. Attention is paid to the role of paññā (Sanskrit: prajñā: ‘wisdom’ or ‘analytical insight’) and ethical reflection in the cultivation of sati in mainstream Abhidharma and early Mahāyāna philosophical discussions in India, noting the existence of a subordinate strand of Buddhist thought which focuses upon the non-conceptuality of final awakening (bodhi) and the quiescence of mind. Modern discourses of mindfulness are examined in relation to detraditionalization, the global spread of capitalism and widespread adoption of new information technologies. It is argued that analysis of the exponential growth in popularity of ‘mindfulness’ techniques must be linked to an exploration of the modern history of attention, more specifically, the possibility that the use of fast-paced, digital, multimedia technologies is facilitating a demand for fragmented or dispersed attention. It is argued that the fault line between divergent contemporary accounts of mindfulness can be seen most clearly over the issue of the role of ethical judgements and mental ratiocination within mindfulness practice. The two most extreme versions on this spectrum see mindfulness on the one hand as a secular mental technology for calming the mind and reducing stress and discomfort, and on the other as a deeply ethical and experiential realization of the geopolitics of human experience. These, it is suggested, constitute an emerging discursive split in accounts of mindfulness reflective of divergent responses to the social, economic, political and technological changes occurring in relation to the global spread of neoliberal forms of capitalism.
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Notes
- 1.
Ribot (1898: 2).
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
Kosambī Sutta, Saṃyutta Nikāya II.68, translation in Bodhi (2000: 611).
- 5.
Anguttara Nikāya VI, 46, translation in Bodhi and Thera (1999: 163–164).
- 6.
I use this phrase because it resonates more generally with the trend in yogic philosophical circles to focus on techniques for pacifying mental vacillation in advanced states of concentration (samādhi). Note for instance how in the Ur-text of the Hindu Brahmanical yoga school, Patañjali defines yoga precisely as the ‘cessation of mental whirring’ (cittavṛttinirodhāḥ, YS1.2).
- 7.
- 8.
See for instance, Vernon (2015).
- 9.
Asad (1993:190).
- 10.
Peacock (2014). Referring in particular to Dhammasaṅghaṇi 16, Gethin (2013: 270) notes the following early Abhidhamma terms associated with sati: recollection (annusati), recall (paṭissati) remembrance (saraṇatā), keeping in mind (dhāraṇatā), absence of floating (apilāpanatā) and an absence of forgetfulness (asammussanatā).
- 11.
Translation in Ñāṇamoli (1975: 467).
- 12.
Rhys-Davids and Rhys-Davids (1910: 322).
- 13.
For a useful discussion of the role of mental cognition in Pali canonical Buddhist accounts of sati see Bodhi (2013)
- 14.
Dreyfus (2013)
- 15.
Anālayo (2012: 214)
- 16.
What Patañjali means by ‘prajñā’ here is of course up for discussion. Is it to be viewed as a general term for wisdom/insight or does it denote something like the Abhidharma technical usage of the term as analytical insight into the nature of things, that is, as a form of analytic cognition?
- 17.
Jaini (1977: 403).
- 18.
Nayanakkara (1993). It is linked to a growing awareness of the three marks of existence.
- 19.
Abhidharmakośa VI.4, translation by Buescher (1982).
- 20.
- 21.
Dunne (2013: 79).
- 22.
For a critique of Zizek’s arguments in this regard see Bowman (2007).
- 23.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Foreword to Williams and Penman (2011: 10). Indeed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2010, Kabat-Zinn goes even further, remarking that ‘Mindfulness, the heart of Buddhist meditation, is at the core of being able to live life as if it really matters. It has nothing to do with Buddhism. It has to do with freedom’. Cited by Morris (2010) http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/02/local/la-me-1002-beliefs-meditation-20101002
- 24.
Davenport and Beck (2001: 3).
- 25.
- 26.
Nhat Hanh (1991).
- 27.
Nhat Hanh (2004), (see webpage: http://www.purifymind.com/ManNotEnemy.htm).
- 28.
See for instance, Nhat Hanh (2009).
- 29.
Steven Batchelor asserts that ‘Ethics as practice beings by including ethical dilemmas in the sphere of meditative awareness- to be mindful of the conflicting impulses that invade consciousness during meditation. Instead of dismissing these as distractions (which would be quite legitimate when cultivating concentration), one recognizes them as potentials for actions that may result in one’s own or others’ suffering.’ (my italics for emphasis). See Batchelor (1993).
- 30.
Payutto, for instance asserts that ‘Buddhadhamma emphasizes the importance of sati at every level of ethical conduct. Mindfully conducting your life and your practice of the Dhamma is called appamāda, or conscientiousness [ and is ] of central importance to progress in the Buddhist system of ethics’. Reciprocally, ‘ proper ethics have value because they because they nurture and improve the quality of the mind’. Payutto (1995).
- 31.
The best example I have found of this in Nhat Hanh’s writings are his reflections on his poem ‘Please Call Me By My True Names’ where Nhat Hanh makes explicit the link between the individual and the political: ‘Do our daily lives have nothing to do with our government? Please meditate on this … When we pick up a Sunday newspaper, we should know that in order to print that edition, which sometimes weights 10 or 12 lb, they had to cut down a whole forest. We are destroying our Earth without knowing it. Drinking a cup of tea, picking up a newspaper, using toilet paper, all of these thing to do with peace. Nonviolence can be called ‘awareness’ We must be aware of what we are, of who we are, and of what we are doing.’ See Nhat Hanh (1988: 31–39).
- 32.
Nhat Hanh (1987).
- 33.
Liogier (2004).
- 34.
Sivaraksa (2011: 83).
- 35.
For an insightful discussion of Nyanaponika’s focus on ‘bare attention’ as a characterisation of sati see the discussion in Bodhi (2013: 27f).
- 36.
Williams and Penman (2011: 5).
- 37.
Thera (1968: 1).
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King, R. (2016). ‘Paying Attention’ in a Digital Economy: Reflections on the Role of Analysis and Judgement Within Contemporary Discourses of Mindfulness and Comparisons with Classical Buddhist Accounts of Sati . In: Purser, R., Forbes, D., Burke, A. (eds) Handbook of Mindfulness. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44019-4_3
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