Ron Purser - David Loy - Beyond McMindfulness

03/03/14 23:35Ron Purser: Beyond McMindfulness

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Beyond McMindfulness

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Get Religion Newsletters:Enter email SubscribeSuddenly mindfulness meditation has become mainstream, making its way into schools, corporations, prisons, and governmentagencies including the U.S. military. Millions of people are receiving tangible benefits from their mindfulness practice: lessstress, better concentration, perhaps a little more empathy. Needless to say, this is an important development to be welcomed -- but it has a shadow.

The mindfulness revolution appears to offer a universal panacea for resolving almost every area of daily concern. Recentbooks on the topic include: Mindful Parenting, Mindful Eating, Mindful Teaching, Mindful Politics, Mindful Therapy, MindfulLeadership, A Mindful Nation, Mindful Recovery, The Power of Mindful Learning, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Way throughDepression, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion. Almost daily, the media cite scientific studies that report the numeroushealth benefits of mindfulness meditation and how such a simple practice can effect neurological changes in the brain.

The booming popularity of the mindfulness movement has also turned it into a lucrative cottage industry. Business savvyconsultants pushing mindfulness training promise that it will improve work efficiency, reduce absenteeism, and enhance the"soft skills" that are crucial to career success. Some even assert that mindfulness training can act as a "disruptive technology,"reforming even the most dysfunctional companies into kinder, more compassionate and sustainable organizations. So far,however, no empirical studies have been published that support these claims.

In their branding efforts, proponents of mindfulness training usually preface their programs as being "Buddhist-inspired." Thereis a certain cachet and hipness in telling neophytes that mindfulness is a legacy of Buddhism -- a tradition famous for itsancient and time-tested meditation methods. But, sometimes in the same breath, consultants often assure their corporatesponsors that their particular brand of mindfulness has relinquished all ties and affiliations to its Buddhist origins.

Uncoupling mindfulness from its ethical and religious Buddhist context is understandable as an expedient move to make suchtraining a viable product on the open market. But the rush to secularize and commodify mindfulness into a marketabletechnique may be leading to an unfortunate denaturing of this ancient practice, which was intended for far more than relievinga headache, reducing blood pressure, or helping executives become better focused and more productive.

While a stripped-down, secularized technique -- what some critics are now calling "McMindfulness" -- may make it morepalatable to the corporate world, decontextualizing mindfulness from its original liberative and transformative purpose, as wellas its foundation in social ethics, amounts to a Faustian bargain. Rather than applying mindfulness as a means to awakenindividuals and organizations from the unwholesome roots of greed, ill will and delusion, it is usually being refashioned into abanal, therapeutic, self-help technique that can actually reinforce those roots.

Most scientific and popular accounts circulating in the media have portrayed mindfulness in terms of stress reduction andattention-enhancement. These human performance benefits are heralded as the sine qua non of mindfulness and its majorattraction for modern corporations. But mindfulness, as understood and practiced within the Buddhist tradition, is not merely anethically-neutral technique for reducing stress and improving concentration. Rather, mindfulness is a distinct quality of attentionthat is dependent upon and influenced by many other factors: the nature of our thoughts, speech and actions; our way ofmaking a living; and our efforts to avoid unwholesome and unskillful behaviors, while developing those that are conducive towise action, social harmony, and compassion.

This is why Buddhists differentiate between Right Mindfulness (samma sati) and Wrong Mindfulness (miccha sati). Thedistinction is not moralistic: the issue is whether the quality of awareness is characterized by wholesome intentions and positivemental qualities that lead to human flourishing and optimal well-being for others as well as oneself.

According to the Pali Canon (the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha), even a person committing a premeditated andheinous crime can be exercising mindfulness, albeit wrong mindfulness. Clearly, the mindful attention and single-mindedconcentration of a terrorist, sniper assassin, or white-collar criminal is not the same quality of mindfulness that the Dalai Lamaand other Buddhist adepts have developed. Right Mindfulness is guided by intentions and motivations based on self-restraint,

March 3, 2014

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wholesome mental states, and ethical behaviors -- goals that include but supersede stress reduction and improvements inconcentration.

Another common misconception is that mindfulness meditation is a private, internal affair. Mindfulness is often marketed as amethod for personal self-fulfillment, a reprieve from the trials and tribulations of cutthroat corporate life. Such an individualisticand consumer orientation to the practice of mindfulness may be effective for self-preservation and self-advancement, but isessentially impotent for mitigating the causes of collective and organizational distress.

When mindfulness practice is compartmentalized in this way, the interconnectedness of personal motives is lost. There is adissociation between one's own personal transformation and the kind of social and organizational transformation that takes intoaccount the causes and conditions of suffering in the broader environment. Such a colonization of mindfulness also has aninstrumentalizing effect, reorienting the practice to the needs of the market, rather than to a critical reflection on the causes ofour collective suffering, or social dukkha.

The Buddha emphasized that his teaching was about understanding and ending dukkha ("suffering" in the broadest sense). Sowhat about the dukkha caused by the ways institutions operate?

Many corporate advocates argue that transformational change starts with oneself: if one's mind can become more focused andpeaceful, then social and organizational transformation will naturally follow. The problem with this formulation is that today thethree unwholesome motivations that Buddhism highlights -- greed, ill will, and delusion -- are no longer confined to individualminds, but have become institutionalized into forces beyond personal control.

Up to now, the mindfulness movement has avoided any serious consideration of why stress is so pervasive in modern businessinstitutions. Instead, corporations have jumped on the mindfulness bandwagon because it conveniently shifts the burden ontothe individual employee: stress is framed as a personal problem, and mindfulness is offered as just the right medicine to helpemployees work more efficiently and calmly within toxic environments. Cloaked in an aura of care and humanity, mindfulness isrefashioned into a safety valve, as a way to let off steam -- a technique for coping with and adapting to the stresses and strainsof corporate life.

The result is an atomized and highly privatized version of mindfulness practice, which is easily coopted and confined to whatJeremy Carrette and Richard King, in their book Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion, describe as an"accommodationist" orientation. Mindfulness training has wide appeal because it has become a trendy method for subduingemployee unrest, promoting a tacit acceptance of the status quo, and as an instrumental tool for keeping attention focused oninstitutional goals.

In many respects, corporate mindfulness training -- with its promise that calmer, less stressed employees will be moreproductive -- has a close family resemblance to now-discredited "human relations" and sensitivity-training movements thatwere popular in the 1950s and 1960s. These training programs were criticized for their manipulative use of counselingtechniques, such as "active listening," deployed as a means for pacifying employees by making them feel that their concernswere heard while existing conditions in the workplace remained unchanged. These methods came to be referred to as "cowpsychology," because contented and docile cows give more milk.

Bhikkhu Bodhi, an outspoken western Buddhist monk, has warned: "absent a sharp social critique, Buddhist practices couldeasily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo, becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism." Unfortunately, a moreethical and socially responsible view of mindfulness is now seen by many practitioners as a tangential concern, or as anunnecessary politicizing of one's personal journey of self-transformation.

One hopes that the mindfulness movement will not follow the usual trajectory of most corporate fads -- unbridled enthusiasm,uncritical acceptance of the status quo, and eventual disillusionment. To become a genuine force for positive personal andsocial transformation, it must reclaim an ethical framework and aspire to more lofty purposes that take into account the well-being of all living beings.

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DARON_LARSON 31 Fan

Publishing trends aside, I think there is room for a lot of challenging clarification abouthow to support people staying awake to their humanity and feeling at home in theirlives regardless of their belief systems. Buddhism doesn't own contemplation, even ifother religious traditions have tended to lose contact with their contemplative practicesin favor of an emphasis on literalism and legalism. I think these fears actually nudge theBuddhists into demonstrating that they aren't immune from the same impulses.



Is physical fitness in danger of being exploited by the greedy who make huge profitsselling the promise of quick fixes? Obviously. Are contemplative practices from everyreligious tradition at risk for being stripped of their cultural associations? Absolutely.Will more people consider giving mindfulness strategies a chance to work if they arenot associated with a religion? I really think so.

This is really a conversation about human maturity and the cultivation of wisdomregardless of a specific doctrine. It's an exploration of beneficial WAYS of navigatingthoughts and feelings instead promoting THE WAY. It extends beyond the realm ofreligion to also include psychology, sociology, philosophy, art, and literature.

Fast-food sells in our culture, so we all need to share the responsibility of promotingthe benefits of giving something more nutritionally substantial a try -- especially whenwhat's at stake will never have a robust marketing budget: reflection, contemplation,wisdom, and compassion.

Daron Larson, Freelance ContemplativeAttentional Fitness Training http://www.attentional-fitness.com/daron1 JUL 2013 10:49 PM

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Chuck Brotton (CMB1969) 3SUPER USER 117 Fans raging moderate

I know that about a year and half ago, I had to sit through a sta meeting in which oneof the least serene, most un-mindful executives I have ever met was lecturing us aboutmeditation and spiritual fulfillment. I kept a blank expression on my face through therest of the meeting--didn't want to show any actual knowledge about spirituality andget either: A. tagged as a "troublemaker" or B. assigned to be a facilitator.2 JUL 2013 2:30 AM

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jesssicasss 30 Fans

This is lovely investigation into what can happen when the Buddha's teachings aredivorced from the practice of meditation. Absent spiritual friends (kalyanamitta), agrounding in the precepts, and practice based on generosity, virtue and spiritualcultivation, mindfulness practice can be like a rudderless boat -- it will surely sail, but towhat end?2 JUL 2013 12:12 AM

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David_Hykes 2376 Fans

A very important article which sums up what many of us traditionally-orientedpractitioners and teachers have been feeling for a while now. I'm afraid however thatthe same reservations apply often to a more complex and subtle area-- that of"traditionally-trained" western author-teachers whose every new book title or blurb maynot contain the buzz words "mindfulness," "compassion" or "lovingkindness," yetwhich for me at least evoke the question of the relationship betweenbook/tape/seminars/retreat sales, and authentic Dharma practice and dissemination.2 JUL 2013 8:04 PM

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bodhibabe 11,036 Fans *living art* empath-healer, meditator, counselor,



hear, hear!3 JUL 2013 2:14 AM

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Mirek (Miro_Cansky) 20 Fans

Thanks to the authors for this article which will certainly generate a lot of discussion.

It all depends on the person delivering the training and on their ethical principles. Themindfulness-based stress reduction programme developed back in the 80s, from whichall subsequent mindfulness-based approaches arose, was certainly not a method ofsubduing the workforce and manipulating people into corporate obedience. Theprinciples of any mindfulness training stemming from the tradition of Jon Kabat-Zinnare firmly rooted in wakefulness, kindness, bravery to face diculties, compassion, andthe recognition of wholesome and unwholesome actions.

The fact that some trainers or organisations attempt to turn mindfulness into acommodity, is an inevitable fact reflecting the state of our society, and the samehappened with yoga and some forms of psychotherapy.

We cannot throw all 'corporate mindfulness' into the same bag. It all depends on themotivation and intention of each individual trainer.3 JUL 2013 12:14 AM

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Bert_Lee15 Fans

You caught it, as have others - a peremptory bias is against whatever is less thanpure. Even some modicum of mindfulness in corporate America, half-heartedlygiven lip service, proers of future where mindfulness is increasingly part of thepopular vernacular.

Well here's news: The Buddhist Big Tent is far from pure to begin with. Riven withBuddhalotry, shamanism, with heaping helpings of metaphysics, mythic &establishmentarian baloney -- much in contravention or superposition of the coreTipitaka.

But *this*, this is the dawning of the dharmacalypse ... of Rinzai for the Samurai ...a slippery slope sure to yield the Barbarians at the Gateless Gate.

Oh. My. God.3 JUL 2013 5:59 AM

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ThisIsFalse 20 Fans

continued...

Also, ever since I heard Zizek's criticism of Western Buddhism on the basis that it wascollaborating with capitalism, I've been puzzled by the assumption that Buddhism wasor ought to be anti-capitalist. Where does this assumption come from? The Buddhadidn't preach revolution or even very much in the way of social reform. He harmonisedhis movement within the monarchistic, caste-based society in which he lived. Andthose societies where Buddhism has traditionally thrived have tended to bemonarchies, communist dictatorships or inegalitarian theocracies, surely involving, ifanything, more suering for the ordinary person than modern Western 'capitalist'



3 PEOPLE IN THE CONVERSATION Read Conversation

democracies. What wonderful replacement for capitalism is being proposed? Andwhere in Das Kapital did the Buddha define it? People might be moved to engage withsociety by reforming it, but views as to what this reform will be is going to vary withattitude. Nor does anything I learned about Buddhism imply that it is anti-individualisticand pro-collectivist. The individual and the group are both aspects of human life.3 JUL 2013 2:49 PM

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CBella 1372 Fans

I won't bother writing what I wanted to say... I will just agree with you. Thank you.3 JUL 2013 3:59 PM

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brooklynamerican49 21 Fan

This is a terrific, timely and much needed piece, thank you both. Yes, we need toquestion the faddish, unmindful practice of mindfulness that is devoid of a deeperwisdom and a universal moral basis, and to see it as inseparable from challenginginstitutional greed, ill-will, and delusion fostered by corporate and self-servingelements. Some other recommended readings: "Can Mindfulness Change aCorporation?" (David Loy), "Frozen Yoga and McMindfulness" (Miles Neale), "OccupyMindfulness" (David Forbes).1 JUL 2013 7:35 PM

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kmknox 21 Fan

A timely and much-needed article - thank you! There's much more to say, but in myview the key points are these: (1) mindfulness as part of the Eightfold Path, meaningpreceded by right view/wise intention and a committment to ethics and non-harming, isvery dierent from what is being hawked in the marketplace; and (2) the most popularpurveyors of "mindfulness" have no idea what it actually means. I've commented onthis at some length in this blog post:http://caeinatedcalm.blogspot.mx/2013/01/mindfulness-without-morality.html1 JUL 2013 11:38 PM

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hutree 20 Fans

Initially indignant about the mining of Buddhism for technology to be packaged andsold but have relaxed about it. McMindfulness appeals particularly to people put o byTibetan liturgies or Zen enigmas or belief in reincarnation or the rigidity of religioushierarchy - many of whom would otherwise not approach meditation in the first place -and opens the door to a deeper exploration of Buddhism for those inclined.

In any case, starting decades ago, many of us took what interested us and left whatdidn't appeal, no? We didn't accept traditional Buddhist norms of gender inequality orsexual prohibitions against gay relationships, etc. which were included in Buddhismapparently back to the beginning. We were part of the process of abstraction andtranslation of Buddhism to a new culture which has now led to the 'new' mindfulness.

It is uncomfortable to watch corporate consultants selling an a diminished version of



what our teachers gave for free and in more depth, but it beats the higher costs ofantidepressants and anxiolytics for those ground down in the capitalist machinery.McMindfulness is a dilution of something much more profound, but if it's alleviatingsuering and initiating - for some - a deeper engagement with Buddhism, then it'smore positive than negative.3 JUL 2013 12:06 AM

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Mirek (Miro_Cansky) 20 Fans

As both a Buddhist and a mindfulness trainer I have been aware that some Buddhistpractitioners feel insulted and threatened, and possibly envious when they see so manynon-Buddhists teaching meditation. Perhaps they feel that it's not fair and that onemust 'deserve' the privilege of teaching others.

I think that we need to continually ask ourselves the questions this article raises andscrutinise our values and principles, to avoid degeneration of the mindfulnessapproaches. But ultimately, mindfulness does not belong to Buddhism any more thanto any other domain of humanity. As a Buddhist, I have to say that greed and egotismwas something I encountered in the Buddhist world and not just in the 'evil' corporateworld.3 JUL 2013 10:17 PM

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ThisIsFalse0 Fans

Well said.4 JUL 2013 11:32 AM

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