Recontextualizing mindfulness: Theravada Buddhist perspectives on the ethical and spiritual dimensions of awareness.
Abstract
Although mindfulness has been embraced by the West, this has mostly been a secular ‘de-contextualised’ form of mindfulness, dis-embedded from its original Buddhist nexus of beliefs/practices. This has arguably deprived the practice of its potential to effect more radical psychospiritual development. This paper therefore argues for the ‘re-contextualisation’ of mindfulness, drawing explicitly on Buddhist philosophy to enhance our appreciation of it, and offers a contribution to such re-contextualisation. It presents a novel (in the context of Western psychology) theoretical model of mindfulness, drawing on concepts in Theravada Buddhist literature. In particular, it suggests that Buddhism identifies three main ‘forms’ of mindfulness: sati (awareness of the present moment), appamada (awareness suffused with ethical care), and sampajañña (awareness suffused with a sense of spiritual development). Although currently only sati has been recognised in the West, we have much to gain from also recognising the potential ethical and spiritual dimensions of mindfulness.
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Within academia there is a call for 're-contextualising' mindfulness: 'resituating it in the context of Buddhist theory and practice'.
“within academia there is a call for 're-contextualising' mindfulness: 'resituating it in the context of Buddhist theory and practice' (Lomas 2016).”
From Spacious Awareness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and Its Role in the Modern Mindfulness Movement (2017) · cites this paper as Lomas 2016
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- Authors
- Lomas, T.
- Affiliations
- University of East London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lomas, Tim
- ORCID
- Lomas, Tim
- Venue
- Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 209-219
- ISSN
- 1941-1022 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-1562
- OpenAlex
- W2410647726
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 10.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (publishedVersion)
- UEL Research Repository (University of East London) (acceptedVersion)
- UEL Research Repository (University of East London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- mindfulness, Theravada Buddhism, sati, Buddhist philosophy, ethical care, spiritual development, secular mindfulness
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