Can "secular" mindfulness be separated from religion?

Candy Gunther Brown

pp. 75-94

in: Ronald E. Purser, David Forbes, Adam Burke (eds), Handbook of mindfulness, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

This chapter questions the supposition that 'secular" mindfulness programs teach a purely secular, universal technique. It argues that nominally secular programs instill culturally and religiously specific and contested worldviews, epistemologies, and values. Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program receives special emphasis, given its unparalleled influence on cultural perceptions and other mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). The chapter explores three common patterns: (1) Code-Switching (skillful means, stealth Buddhism, Trojan horse, and scripting), (2) Unintentional Indoctrination, and (3) Religious and Spiritual Effects. Rather than argue that mindfulness is inherently or essentially religious, the chapter asks how, in particular cultural contexts, "mindfulness' might be conceptualized, communicated, and practiced in ways that explicitly or implicitly convey religious meanings or facilitate religious and spiritual experiences. This task requires defining the terms religious, spiritual, Buddhist, and secular, and assessing mindfulness programs in terms of these categories; yet, regardless of such classifications, particular individuals or cultural groups may retain deep convictions about the nature of mindfulness that cannot be negated by analytical fiat. The chapter concludes that although it may be theoretically possible to separate mindfulness from religion, and a specific interpretation of Buddhadharma, such a separation has often not occurred despite the use of secularizing rhetoric. Upon closer examination, the asserted boundaries between Buddhist and secular mindfulness in many instances dissolve.