Kabat-Zinn, J. (2000). Indra’s net at work: the mainstreaming of dharma practice in society. In G. Watson, S. Batchelor, & G. Claxton (Eds.), The psychology of awakening: Buddhism, science, and our day-to-day lives, 225-249. Samuel Weiser. https://www.mapoflove.org/science
Chems-Maarif, R., Cavanagh, K., Baer, R. et al. Defining Mindfulness: A Review of Existing Definitions and Suggested Refinements. Mindfulness 16, 1–20 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-024-02507-2
The oldest writings on Mindfulness are credibly reported to be the teachings of Siddartha, who became known as the Buddha, or “enlightened one”, and lived in what is now Nepal in 600 to 500 BCE. His teachings were passed down as an oral tradition for several hundred years. The oldest surviving documents of Buddhist writing date to the first to sixth century CE. Buddhist teaching about mindfulness remains one of the most comprehensive sources of teachings about mindfulness meditation and mindful living.
The modern scientific study of Mindfulness began in the 1970’s and have exploded exponentially since then. In Indra’s net at work: the mainstreaming of dharma practice in society , Jon Kabat-Zinn, recognized as a leader in the interpretation of Buddhist teachings on Mindfulness into contemporary secular English explains his motivation and intention: as seeking a way to “… bring it into the world in a way that doesn’t dilute, profane or distort it, but at the same time is not locked into a culturally and tradition-bound framework that would make it absolutely impenetrable to the vast majority of people, who are nevertheless suffering and who might find it extraordinarily useful and liberative.”
Kabat-Zinn describes how the Dalai Lama addressed this question at a conference about Buddhism and science in 1990. The Dalai Lama was asked if bringing these teachings into the world “… in ways that might require giving up much of the traditional form and vocabulary, and whether that was possible without … profaning and betraying the moral and ethical foundations of … the practice? The Dalai Lama responded by saying ‘There are four billion people on the planet. One billion are Buddhists, but four billion are suffering.’
Kabat-Zinn writes: “The implication was clear. It made no sense to withhold the [teachings] , which we know to be fundamentally universal, so that its teachings are only accessible to Buddhists. The challenge is to make it accessible to all human beings, and to do it in ways that are authentic … but at the same time not so locked in or wedded to tradition and vocabulary that prevent the practice from …” becoming accessible to people who had no interest in studying Buddhism.
Part of the challenge of translating the practice into contemporary terms is the difficulty of finding a concise description of Mindfulness which is congruent with the deep history of the practice and which lends itself to being operationalized in scientific inquiry.
In the January 2025 review Defining Mindfulness: A Review of Existing Definitions and Suggested Refinements, the authors note that “Mindfulness research is hampered by the multiplicity of definitions of mindfulness.” The purpose of the review was to explore “… traditional and contemporary definitions of mindfulness, aiming to extract core components and provide a refined and clearly specified definition suitable for underpinning measurement in psychological science.”
The review includes an exploration of traditional Buddhist teachings, the phenomenological approach to understanding mindful attention, and the multiplicity of definitions of mindfulness in contemporary research into Mindfulness Based Interventions and mindfulness practice.
Central aspects of mindful awareness in Buddhist teaching (described in the Heart Sutra) are awareness of
- the body
- feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral))
- perceptions
- mental formations (contents of the mind)
- and consciousness.
The authors of this study have a similar description as “… present-centeredness as awareness of and attention to “
- body sensations,
- affective valence (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant, neutral),
- cognition and emotional states (including impulses and action tendencies),
- and the external environment (i.e., external sensory experience and interpersonal interactions)
All within an encompassing attitude of an “allowing and equanimous attitude.”
The authors conclude that “For the purposes of psychological science” Mindfulness may be defined as “… present-centered awareness of and bare attention to body sensations, affective valence, cognitive and emotional phenomena, and the external environment with an allowing and equanimous attitude.”
The practice of mindful meditation and mindful living do not require the study of Buddhism. It is important to understand that the Buddha himself denied that he was divine. He was an empiricist using phenomenological methods to discern the nature of the human experience and develop a practical approach to living which would reduce one’s own suffering and the suffering of others.
Although many practitioners (and especially teachers) of mindfulness do study the ancient wisdom (often taught by contemporary Buddhists (such as the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh) the practice of teaching as a fully secular practice supported by contemporary neuroscience and psychology is widely accepted.
Researchers have access to the teachings “… in ways that are authentic and which are expressed [in fully secular language ]which is … not so locked in or wedded to tradition and vocabulary that prevent the practice from …” becoming accessible to all people.