Abstract
Shakyamuni Buddha expounded a path to spiritual awakening approximately 2500 years ago. He recognised that the human mind has a propensity to be eternally distracted, and taught mindfulness as a means of helping individuals regulate maladaptive thinking patterns and introduce spiritual awareness, calm, and focus into their minds. This chapter begins by summarising the probable motivations of the Buddha, both in terms of his desire to dedicate his life to spiritual development and his decision to teach mindfulness as a central component of the path to awakening. Subsequent sections of the chapter introduce the various themes and subjects explored in this volume. More specifically, we explicate how the current volume discusses mindfulness in the context of the practices and principles that were traditionally understood to give rise to its effective cultivation, and how the component chapters likewise examine the manner in which mindfulness activates and cooperates with these supporting spiritual practices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Davey, G. C. (2008). Psychopathology: Research, assessment and treatment in clinical psychology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gombrich, R., (2009). Early Buddhist historiography: The need for authentication. In B. Ray (Ed.), History of science, philosophy and culture in Indian civilization. v.XIV, Part 4: Different types of history (pp. 43–58). Delhi: Pearson Longman.
Milarepa. (1999). The hundred thousand songs of Milarepa: The life-story and teaching of the greatest poet-saint ever to appear in the history of Buddhism (Chang, G. C. C., Trans.). Boston: Shambala.
Shonin, E., & Van Gordon, W. (2015). The lineage of mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6, 141–145.
Shonin, E., Van Gordon W., & Griffiths, M. D. (2014). The emerging role of Buddhism in clinical psychology: Toward effective integration. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6, 123–137.
Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., Griffiths, M. D., & Singh, N. N. (2015). There is only one mindfulness: Why science and Buddhism need to work together. Mindfulness, 6, 49–56.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., Singh, N. (2015). Mindfulness and Buddhist Practice. In: Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., Singh, N. (eds) Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18591-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18591-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18590-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18591-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)