James Fitzgerald Therapy PLLC

The Origins of Mindfulness

While all religions have contemplative branches and often practices that are quite similar to mindfulness, its roots as we teach it lie in the Buddhist tradition. The program presented in this book is based on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which is based on Vipassana or insight meditation, which is based on the larger teachings of Buddhism. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of where these teachings stem from and their sources in Buddhist philosophy.

The Buddhist Background

Mindfulness as taught in MBSR or pretty much any mindfulness class stems from the tradition of Vipassana, or insight meditation. During the last forty years, three main strands of Buddhism have gained massive popularity by Westerners in the United States and other Western countries: Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and Vipassana, the latter sometimes used synonymously with another form of Buddhism, Theravada.

Zen originates in China, Korea, and Japan; Tibetan obviously in Tibet, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama as its spiritual leader; and Vipassana stems from Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. All three are monastic traditions. As with most religions, there have been dogma splits throughout the centuries.

Two main schools have survived into the twenty-first century: Theravada and Mahayana. Mahayana split off from the main school of Buddhism in the first century BCE. Zen and Tibetan Buddhism are Mahayana schools. Vipassana is a practice form of Theravada. The Theravada traditions claim to teach from the direct words of the Buddha, the Pali Canon. Theravada Buddhism is still the main religion in South Asian countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Laos, and Burma. There are other Buddhist traditions in the West that are mainly practiced by “born” Buddhists, mainly Asian American groups.

Zen

Zen is mostly known in the West for its minimalistic Japanese aesthetics and succinct teachings. The word “Zen” has found its way into the vernacular of many Western languages as a synonym for “cool, laid back, and relaxed.” Zen, like Tibetan Buddhism, is a Mahayana school. It was brought to China in the sixth century CE as the Ch’an school and exported first to Korea in the third century and later to Japan in the twelfth century CE.

In Zen, the focus is not on the study of the scriptures and doctrine but on a meditation practice in every moment of life. It focuses on the attainment of enlightenment and realization into the truth of the teaching through direct insight and through the connection with a realized teacher.

The main meditation practice in the Soto school of Zen is silent illumination — close to “choiceless awareness” in Vipassana, often also called “just sitting,” “open awareness,” or “Dzogchen” in some Tibetan schools. Zen is famous for its cryptic stories and koans. A koan is a word or a sentence that seemingly doesn’t make sense or contradicts itself, like “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” or “What was your true face before you were born?” These koans are encoded “pointing-out instructions” meant to point out the true nature of reality. They confuse logical thinking and stop the mind so that insight can arise in a direct, nonconceptual way.

Tibetan Buddhism

Although many in the West are most familiar with Tibetan Buddhism through the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this rich tradition encompasses several distinct schools—including the Gelug (with which the Dalai Lama is associated), the Kagyu, the Sakya, the Nyingma, and more contemporary movements such as the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). All of these schools are rooted in the Vajrayana form of Mahayana Buddhism, which arrived in Tibet in the eighth century CE and merged with the local Bon religion.

Despite minor differences in emphasis and practice, they share the ultimate goal of guiding practitioners toward enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Tibetan Buddhism is known for its range of transformative methods, including elaborate visualizations, ritual ceremonies, devotional chanting, and the recitation of mantras. To many observers, it is also recognized by its vibrant iconography—colorful statues of deities, ornate temples, and fluttering prayer flags—and, of course, by its esteemed spiritual leaders, such as the Dalai Lama.

Vipassana

Vipassana is often understood as “clear-seeing” or “insight,” referring to a practice aimed at cultivating profound understanding and wisdom. By honing the ability to perceive phenomena precisely as they are, practitioners work toward liberation from suffering. Within this book, the essential principles of Vipassana unfold in the “Dharma Teacher Perspective” sections, illustrating its emphasis on personal insight.

Rooted in the Theravada tradition of Southeast Asia, Vipassana has various interpretations among different schools. However, for the purposes of this text, all the formal mindfulness exercises presented in class are treated as extensions of Vipassana teachings.

How Vipassana Buddhism Made It to the West

In the late 1960s and early seventies, many young people in the West were disenchanted with the politics of their countries, the cultural heritage of their parents, and the predominant religions. Some made the trip to India and other Asian nations to find a new meaning of life over there. While many influential teachers returned, three stand out as having had the most influence in bringing the Vipassana practice to the West: Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Sharon Salzberg.

In their early twenties they studied and practiced Buddhism and meditation for years in India and Thailand with different teachers. When they came back to the United States, Boulder, Colorado, was the “it” place to be for young people fascinated with meditation. The charismatic Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche had started Naropa University there in 1974. It’s where Kornfield, Goldstein, and Salzberg teamed up and started teaching longer silent Vipassana retreats. It was on one of these retreats that Jon Kabat-Zinn had his epiphany about MBSR. The Vipassana movement grew, and the group founded the Insight Meditation Society, in Massachusetts. Kornfield moved on some years later and started Spirit Rock Meditation Center, in Northern California. Both centers are still the go-to places in the United States for Vipassana retreats.