Facing Up to the Question of Ethics in Mindfulness-Based Interventions

Excerpt

Monteiro, Musten and Compson (2015) have highlighted three important areas for assessing contemporary mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in light of traditional Buddhist conceptions. First is the adherence of contemporary presentations to fundamental elements of “right mindfulness”. The second question is whether the practices taught in MBIs lead to insight into the roots of suffering or instead offer only more symptomatic relief. A third area of critique regards whether the presentation of MBIs should explicitly include the ethical context in which mindfulness is traditionally taught. Each of these areas is crucial for understanding both the potential and also the pitfalls for the modern development of MBIs. I suggest that questions about whether MBIs ought to adhere to Buddhist visions of right mindfulness and of ethical action can only be answered, if at all, as part of a continuing dialogue on the very general ethical question of how it is best for a human being to be. However, questions about the causes of suffering and how to most effectively address them may serve as an area of common concern across human cultures that can be appealed to as a basis for such dialogues on ethics. …