The Centrality of Mindfulness-Related Meditations in Early Buddhist Discourse

This article surveys references to mindfulness-related meditations found in Pāli discourses in the first five chapters of the Majjhima-nikāya and their parallels, showing the ubiquity of a concern with contemplative practices in early Buddhist thought. Such concerns were, according to these texts, not confined to monastics, but also included lay practitioners. Overall, the impression emerges that meditation as a key element of early Buddhist thought stands within a wider doctrinal and even cosmological context.