Open AccessOnce Again on External Mindfulness
Author(s) -
Bhikkhu Anālayo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mindfulness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.509
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1868-8535
pISSN - 1868-8527
DOI - 10.1007/s12671-020-01481-9
Subject(s) - mindfulness , meditation , psychology , psychotherapist , buddhism , quality (philosophy) , mindfulness meditation , applied psychology , epistemology , philosophy , theology
The proposal to understand an external application of mindfulness to refer to being objective rather than subjective is not well supported by the relevant sources and fails to be directly applicable to actual meditation practice. The most commonly accepted understanding in Buddhist sources and contemporary research, which considers external mindfulness to refer to being aware of other persons, remains the most meaningful and applicable explanation. Adopting this understanding can open the door to new avenues in mindfulness research, proceeding from the widely recognized internal dimensions of mindfulness, concerned with what happens within a practitioner, to giving more explicit room to the potential of the same mental quality in understanding and relating to others.