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Taking the Buddha out of Buddhism: A literature study on the concept of mindfulness

Carlsson, Sebastian LU (2022) SANK03 20221
Social Anthropology
Abstract
This paper was aimed at synthesising a comprehensive understanding of the sometimes opposing conceptualisations and practical applications of mindfulness in Western societies. Mindfulness is a part of a meditation practice derived from ancient Buddhist doctrine, in the form of the Pāli word sati. After proven successful against stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn started promoting it in 1990. It became popular among both the New Age movement and secular groups. There has been, however, a multitude of critique regarding the use, definition and role of mindfulness. With the anthropological theory of symbolism, this literature study analysed the historical, psychotherapeutic and capitalist contexts alongside the critique against mindfulness.
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This paper was aimed at synthesising a comprehensive understanding of the sometimes opposing conceptualisations and practical applications of mindfulness in Western societies. Mindfulness is a part of a meditation practice derived from ancient Buddhist doctrine, in the form of the Pāli word sati. After proven successful against stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn started promoting it in 1990. It became popular among both the New Age movement and secular groups. There has been, however, a multitude of critique regarding the use, definition and role of mindfulness. With the anthropological theory of symbolism, this literature study analysed the historical, psychotherapeutic and capitalist contexts alongside the critique against mindfulness.
Mary Douglas’ theory of purity and pollution was used to define a new symbolic system here called mental normality. Like Douglas’ system, mental normality contains five distinct reactions to anomalies. In in this study those reactions were suggested to correspond to conceptualisations of mental health. The fifth reaction is postulated to be the practice of mindfulness in the contemporary Western context. Mending holes as they appear in the categories of mental health may not be the most constructive approach. Instead, the deconstruction of the system behind those categorisations is implied to be worthwhile. (Less)
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author
Carlsson, Sebastian LU
supervisor
organization
course
SANK03 20221
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Mindfulness, meditation, literature study, Symbolism, Social Anthropology
language
English
id
9083355
date added to LUP
2022-06-08 09:46:48
date last changed
2022-06-08 09:46:48
@misc{9083355,
  abstract     = {{This paper was aimed at synthesising a comprehensive understanding of the sometimes opposing conceptualisations and practical applications of mindfulness in Western societies. Mindfulness is a part of a meditation practice derived from ancient Buddhist doctrine, in the form of the Pāli word sati. After proven successful against stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn started promoting it in 1990. It became popular among both the New Age movement and secular groups. There has been, however, a multitude of critique regarding the use, definition and role of mindfulness. With the anthropological theory of symbolism, this literature study analysed the historical, psychotherapeutic and capitalist contexts alongside the critique against mindfulness. 
Mary Douglas’ theory of purity and pollution was used to define a new symbolic system here called mental normality. Like Douglas’ system, mental normality contains five distinct reactions to anomalies. In in this study those reactions were suggested to correspond to conceptualisations of mental health. The fifth reaction is postulated to be the practice of mindfulness in the contemporary Western context. Mending holes as they appear in the categories of mental health may not be the most constructive approach. Instead, the deconstruction of the system behind those categorisations is implied to be worthwhile.}},
  author       = {{Carlsson, Sebastian}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Taking the Buddha out of Buddhism: A literature study on the concept of mindfulness}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}