Day-to-day mindfulness
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 4 minute read This excerpt is from the chapter ‘Buddhist Practice’ and it explores day-to-day mindfulness. It follows on from ‘Mindfulness of Breathing: focus on detail.’ Day-to-day mindfulness The Mindfulness of Breathing develop awareness within the most conducive conditions; that mindfulness can then be applied to our day-to-day activities. In terms of mindfulness of the body we need to try and preserve the principles we learned in the Grounding Meditation, by attending to the state of our body and looking after it as we go about our daily business. Our body needs to be a vehicle that we are looking after, that will thus support our mind and emotions in their activity to bring about happiness. It is helpful if we are mindful of our body as we go about in the world, by moving in a way in which our spine is balanced and takes our weight as we move, and by minimizing the amount of muscular tension employed in our bodily activities. Our bodily use would be inspired by ideas developed by F. M. Alexander in the Alexander Technique; ideally, we would retrain ourselves to move naturally, as children and animals do, with grace and poise; at the very least, we would look after our body through regular trips to the gym or through taking Epsom salt baths. Other aspects of day-to-day mindfulness might include organizing our lives better so that for instance we know where we have left our car keys, as outlined in Maitreyabandhu’s Life with Full Attention. In general, any mental action or remembrance that helps us avoid unnecessary suffering is an aspect of day-to-day mindfulness. Certainly, it can help our mind feel more secure, and thus reduce mental suffering, when we ‘spell out’ to ourselves our situation; where we are, what we are doing, how we are feeling, and so on. This activity of ‘noting’ is a key tool in Theravada Buddhist meditation where the practitioner endeavours to make everything more conscious and it certainly has its use, although it does not cover every aspect of practice. In day-to-day mindfulness there is a sense in which we need to be appreciating our surroundings for the experience they have to offer, as illustrated in the ‘raisin exercise’ commonly used in week one of a secular mindfulness course. We come out of automatic pilot and consciously experience what is in front of our noses, thus maximizing the pleasure of sensory experience, though not at the expense of other sources of happiness–for ourselves or others. Mindfulness of the body’s posture and physical movement The monk...
Mindfulness and Conditionality: the body
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 14 minute read This excerpt is from the chapter ‘The Undiscovered Foundations’ and it explores the way in which the Buddha’s teaching on Conditionality; that all phenomena arise in dependence on (multiple) conditions applies in the case of the Buddha’s central teaching on mindfulness: namely the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. In this case we see how the body conditions the other Foundations: namely feeling, mind (including emotions) and views, in a manner similar to the cognitive model from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. This excerpt follows on directly from The Satipatthana Sutta. ii The Cognitive Model Although the principle of Conditionality is explicit in Buddhism, we can see it operating implicitly in other fields, such as in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT is a psychotherapeutic intervention which looks at what can be observed and worked with on the ‘surface’ of our experience, rather than focusing on our internal states. It’s cognitive model[1] identifies four factors that influence moods, such as from depression or anxiety, and which, when changed, will change the mood. Environment–a mood can be changed by altering ones’ ‘psychosocial’ (physical or social) environment. To improve one’s mood one might choose to socialize with people who are positive and cheerful, or to tidy one’s flat. Biology / ‘Physical reactions’–a mood can be changed by altering ones’ bodily state, by taking better care of it, exercising more, getting better sleep, eating more nutritious food, and so on. When a depressed person takes exercise, thus generating greater vitality in their body, it is natural that their mood will lift to some extent. Thoughts–a mood can be changed by altering one’s thoughts, by consciously cultivating more balanced (less catastrophic) thoughts; one puts one’s thoughts ‘on trial.’ Behaviours–a mood can changed by looking for the effect of one’s behaviour on one’s mood and acting accordingly; if acting in a more friendly manner, even when one does not feel like it, improves ones’ mood then one should do that. iii Conditionality at work between the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Correlation between the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Cognitive Model Although the foundations are presented in a linear fashion, one after the other, in the Satipatthana Sutta they don’t stand from in isolation and the real juice occurs in the interplay between the foundations. If we are to understand how mindfulness works, we cannot treat the foundations in isolation, but need to see clearly how they are affected by each other. Perhaps as they both concern the human being and its’ situation it is not surprising that the four foundations and the four central aspects...
The Satipatthana Sutta
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 19 minute read This excerpt is from the chapter ‘The Undiscovered Foundations’ and it explores the basic structure of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s central teaching on mindfulness. The path of mindfulness Mindfulness has been touted as a great solution to the problems of modern life, and many Westerners today will have been introduced to the concept. While respectfully touching upon its origin in Buddhism, advocates of mindfulness move quickly to emphasize its non-religious nature, citing its universal applicability in current times. Chewing a raisin with awareness or looking at a flower mindfully; these are examples of sensory experiences which can be practised and appreciated by anyone, regardless of their belief system. Such sensory experiences provide us with a cue to slow down and notice our life, and to not let it pass by in ‘busyness.’ In our fast-paced world, time itself has become the shrine at which we, as mindfulness practitioners, might worship in three-minute bursts as we take breathing spaces from the sphere of digital information that dominates many of our lives: never-ending emails, burgeoning apps, smart phones constantly interrupting us with social media notifications and alarm reminders, all catching us in an endless stream of information. Mindfulness practices help us to manage our reactions and agitations, supporting us in releasing tension. So, we build mindfulness into our day; we might share our meditation sessions with friends and strangers on meditation apps, we’ll chew our food more slowly, and we’ll build a structure of awareness into our day. We fit mindfulness into our lives, experiencing its benefits. This is good, it works, it’s definitely worth doing, and it’s certainly better than not doing it, but mindfulness has so much more potential and scope. For some, mindfulness is deeply embedded in every single aspect of the living of life. The most advanced Buddhists practice, or strive to practice, the ‘full-works’ of mindfulness, encompassing connectedness with others, ethics and actions, the imagination and insight, the whole of life, the whole shebang, all of it. Whilst modern mindfulness emphasizes the development of awareness in the present moment, its actual origin in Buddhism was exclusively concerned with whatever is life-affirming or life-denying, in Buddhist terms ‘skilful’ or ‘unskilful’, ethical, not ethical. In the early days of Buddhism mindfulness was encountered by the Greeks who settled the Indian subcontinent in the wake of Alexander’s conquest. The Greek king, King Menander, sought to understand this intriguing religion. Upon enquiring about the mark of mindfulness, he was told that mindfulness is to be aware of that which is ‘light’ and that which is ‘dark’ and to stay with the...
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