Mindfulness and Buddhism

Mindfulness: central term

Mindfulness is widely known in today's world as a training, a way to bring awareness to our lives, popular psychology and a source of inspiration. However, even though mindfulness has become such a common term, many don’t know where the concept comes from. The term ‘mindfulness’ is central to the Buddha's teachings and one of the most frequently used technical terms in his speeches. The term comes up time and again when he explains how we can diminish our burdens of pain and suffering.

In the Buddha’s teachings, everything hinges around mindfulness. Literally. And surprisingly, modern psychology is increasingly coming to realize that mindfulness is a "root construct", which serves as a basis for many psychological concepts and insights. This points to the tremendous value of deepening our understanding of the roots of mindfulness and to explore how mindfulness is described in the Buddha's writings.

Meditation technique or way of life

The Buddha said: ‘Practicing mindfulness is the most direct way to awakening.’ This is one of the reasons why Jon Kabat-Zinn chose the mindfulness training as an entry point for westerners who may want nothing to do with Buddhism and could surely benefit from its fruits.

At the same time, we can see that the Buddha did not consider mindfulness as merely a meditation technique. He perceived it as a way of life and as a way of treating each other in the world. He literally says in his teachings that meditation alone does not lead to enlightenment. Ethics for example, he considers as at least just as important, appearing even earlier in his Eightfold Path to awakening.

Buddhism according to the Buddha

Buddhist traditions: what good are they?

Following his death, the Buddha's doctrine was spread far and wide. The various Buddhist traditions that have arisen throughout the world all have a distinct interpretation of Buddhism, and blended with local cultures and practices. In this way Chinese, Tibetan and Thai Buddhisms grew with beautiful inspirations and sometimes with the limitations of that local culture. Apparently, a universal Buddism does not exist. For us the question to explore: what can early Buddhis - apart from its later cultural interpretations - mean in our modern time, for our Western culture?

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Mindfulness in our countries (especially Europe and North America) is standing on the shoulders of giants: the masters who brought Buddhism to our times. But especially on top of the shoulders of one giant: the Buddha himself. If we want to know more about the roots of what we practice as mindfulness in our world today, then it is helpful to listen to what the Buddha had to say about it. And there are people who have studied this from a deep understanding of the time in which the Buddha lived and who attempt to provide a translation and understanding of his words to today's world.

Mindfulness and conscious living now:
questions for early Buddhism

What did the Buddha mean by the word mindfulness (sati)? Why did he deem it the most direct way of freeing ourselves from pain and suffering? What is the value in leading a more ethical and conscious life? Who are the ‘friends and family’ of mindfulness, those other practices and concepts that support mindfulness and, vice versa, mindfulness supports? And, most importantly, what helps to make mindfulness a lived reality, one that helps us live with awareness? These are the questions that the Centrum voor Mindfulness' series on Mindfulness and Buddhism seeks to address.

A series of workshops

For this series, we have invited teachers that are specialized in ‘early Buddhism’, the form of Buddhism that existed before the emergence of traditions. The teachers have often practiced intensively in several traditions (in Asia), as monks or nuns, and later distanced themselves from it in order to further develop themselves. Some are academics, most have written books and articles about the topic, and all have decades of experience studying and teaching the topic that they are most passionate about: how can we understand the words of the Buddha and how are they useful today?

How to make the most out of the series

If you’re interested, our suggestion would be to regularly attend this series, because from experience we know that the process of developing insight in Buddhist thought is supported by some continuous dedication of our interest and attention. However, there are no specific requirements for attending the workshops. The modules are designed in such a way that they can be attended as standalone events.

The themes of the series are based on the actual interests of the teachers and do not build on one another. We suggest you consider reading the suggested literature list for each workshop, though this is not a prerequisite to attending or even following any workshop.

Collaboration with Bodhi College

The workshops are often, though not exclusively, organized in collaboration with Bodhi College, a European institute that has as its objective to make early Buddhist teaching available for today. Many of the teachers are also linked to Bodhi College.

Program

Below is the program for 2019 and 2020. You can get more information about the workshops and the instructors by clicking on the workshop title or the teacher's name.

23-24 March 2019 - Secular Dharma and the Phenomenology of Experience
Teacher: Stephen Batchelor
26-27 October 2019 - Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Buddha, Sceptics, Epicureans and Stoics
Teachers: Stephen Batchelor & John Peacock
ism Bodhi College
21-22 March 2020 - Self and Not Self
Teachers: Stephen Batchelor & John Peacock
ism Bodhi College
20-21 June 2020 - Meditation: between psychological development and spiritual growth
Teacher: Akincano Weber
ism Bodhi College
12-13 September 2020 - Autonomy, Imagination and Care
Teacher: Stephen Batchelor
21-22 November 2020 - Mindfulness, flourishing and the awakening factors
Docent: John Peacock
13-14 February 2021 - Titel volgt
Teacher: Akincano Weber
29-30 May 2020 - The Vedana
Teacher: Martine Batchelor

For whom

This series is for everybody who is interested in the background of mindfulness, in its modern form and as value in the traditions. It is also for those who wish to gain insights from the earliest form of Buddhism before it became a religion with traditions. You might be interested in the series because of your interest in mindfulness (you practice it, you have followed a training and want to know more for example). You are more than welcome also, if your interest in the series comes from a different vantage point. This series is especially relevant for individuals who propagate mindfulness such as mindfulness teachers, meditation teachers, or anybody else who draws from Buddhism for their professional interests. The workshop teachers are not bound to a specific tradition, religion or belief and their intention is to deepen the themes of the workshops in a spirit of free and open exploration.

Startdates

New dates will be published soon.
Registration will be possible when new dates are published.

Meet the teacher(s)

Akincano Weber
Buddhist Teacher
Akincano Weber
Akincano Marc Weber was born in Berne (Switzerland) and is a Buddhist teacher and contemplative psychotherapist. He learned to sit still in the early eighties as a Zen practitioner and later became a monk in Ajahn Chah’s tradition where he studied and practiced for 20 years in the Forest monasteries of Thailand and Europe.

He studies Pali and early Buddhist scriptures, holds a degree in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy and runs Atammaya Cologne, a small Buddhist centre in the Rhineland. He teaches Buddhist Psychology and meditation internationally in Dharma contexts and applied mindfulness in secular and healthcare settings and runs a therapeutic practice in Cologne. Together with fellow teachers his latest project is Bodhi College. Akincano lives with his wife in Cologne.

“Teaching is essentially translation. This means ferrying an authentic contemplative tradition across choppy waters into our psychological and cultural realities—without loosing the Teaching's vision nor the validity of our own immediate and embodied experience.”
John Peacock
Academic and Buddhist teacher
John Peacock
John Peacock is both an academic and a Buddhist practitioner of nearly forty years. Trained initially in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition in India, he subsequently spent time in Sri Lanka studying Theravada. He lectured in Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, is Associate Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and teaches on the Master of Studies programme in MBCT (Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy) at Oxford University. John has been teaching meditation for more than twenty five years and is a Gaia House guiding teacher.
Martine Batchelor
Boeddhistisch meditatieleraar
Martine Batchelor
Martine Batchelor was born in France. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in Korea in 1975. She studied Seon Buddhism under the guidance of the late Master Kusan in Korea until 1985. Her Seon training also took her to nunneries in Taiwan and Japan. From 1981 she served as Kusan Sunim's interpreter and accompanied him on lecture tours throughout the United States and Europe.

She returned to Europe with her husband, Stephen, in 1985. She was a member of the Sharpham North Community in Devon, England for six years. She worked as a lecturer and spiritual counsellor both at Gaia House and elsewhere in Britain. She has also been involved in interfaith dialogue.

In 1992 she published, as co-editor, 'Buddhism and Ecology'. In 1996 she published, as editor, 'Walking on Lotus Flowers' which in 2001 will be reissued under the title 'A Women's Guide to Buddhism'. She is the author of 'Principles of Zen' and her most recent publication is 'Meditation for Life', an illustrated book on meditation.

With her husband she co-leads meditation retreats worldwide. They now live in France.
Stephen Batchelor
Scolar, writer and Buddist teacher
Stephen Batchelor
Stephen Batchelor is a contemporary Buddhist teacher and writer, best known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. Stephen considers Buddhism to be a constantly evolving culture of awakening rather than a religious system based on immutable dogmas and beliefs. In particular, he regards the doctrines of karma and rebirth to be features of ancient Indian civilization and not intrinsic to what the Buddha taught. Buddhism has survived for the past 2,500 years because of its capacity to reinvent itself in accord with the needs of the different Asian societies with which it has creatively interacted throughout its history. As Buddhism encounters modernity, it enters a vital new phase of its development. Through his writings, translations and teaching, Stephen engages in a critical exploration of Buddhism's role in the modern world, which has earned him both condemnation as a heretic and praise as a reformer.

Currently he is also involved with the Bodhi College, a European educational centre for meditative learning, critical examination and practical cultivation of the Dharma as found in the early strata of Buddhist texts. Bodhi College aspires to recover core insights of early Buddhist teachings in order to develop fresh ways of understanding the Dharma today. It seeks to provide a contemplative education that inspires students to realize the values of the Dharma in the context of this secular age and culture. In the spirit of Buddha’s teaching Bodhi College is committed to a middle way of human awakening that integrates theory with practice, while encouraging both personal fulfillment and social engagement.

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