Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Year Published
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
Scholarly discussions of mindfulness normally treat the term as reflecting a specific, independent, psychological function. Here, mindfulness is placed within a broader understanding of the Buddhist cultivation of consciousness, with special attention to the ethical aspects of mindfulness. Focusing on sources from early Buddhism, the article demonstrates how ethics was thought to have a positive, indeed a necessary, effect on a successful practice of mindfulness. The article moves beyond the Sati-paṭṭhāna-sutta (“The Foundations of Mindfulness”), which has been emphasized in scholarship, to related texts in the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima-Nikāya) and beyond them to other Pāli sources. Here, we learn that “You should cultivate the four applications of mindfulness based on ethics, established in ethics.” While the emphasis on ethics in these sources reminds us of the conceptual dimensions of mindfulness, it also allows scholars to see both ethics and mindfulness as partaking in the broader attempt to enrich consciousness and make it healthier, softer, and more lucid. Buddhist practice works to change the structures of subjectivity and make them more conducive to liberation, in whatever way it may be defined. Thus, the Buddhist contemplative tradition can be seen to participate in an effort to change the quality of consciousness, rather than being a mere attempt to reach an annihilation of “suffering.” These considerations allow us to see mindfulness as a form of ethical activity in itself.
Scholarly discussions of mindfulness normally treat the term as reflecting a specific, independent, psychological function. Here, mindfulness is placed within a broader understanding of the Buddhist cultivation of consciousness, with special attention to the ethical aspects of mindfulness. Focusing on sources from early Buddhism, the article demonstrates how ethics was thought to have a positive, indeed a necessary, effect on a successful practice of mindfulness. The article moves beyond the Sati-paṭṭhāna-sutta (“The Foundations of Mindfulness”), which has been emphasized in scholarship, to related texts in the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima-Nikāya) and beyond them to other Pāli sources. Here, we learn that “You should cultivate the four applications of mindfulness based on ethics, established in ethics.” While the emphasis on ethics in these sources reminds us of the conceptual dimensions of mindfulness, it also allows scholars to see both ethics and mindfulness as partaking in the broader attempt to enrich consciousness and make it healthier, softer, and more lucid. Buddhist practice works to change the structures of subjectivity and make them more conducive to liberation, in whatever way it may be defined. Thus, the Buddhist contemplative tradition can be seen to participate in an effort to change the quality of consciousness, rather than being a mere attempt to reach an annihilation of “suffering.” These considerations allow us to see mindfulness as a form of ethical activity in itself.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.