If you are a Christian, the basis, rationale, and goal of Mindfulness is in complete conflict with a Christian worldview and with the reality presented by God in his Word. Mindfulness has nothing in common with biblical meditation, which is thoughtful contemplation and pondering of God’s Word; nor is it biblical prayer.

Editor’s Note: Although some Buddhist concepts are explained here, the thrust of the article is to describe the Western take on Buddhism via the New Age and the secular culture, and how some of its practices and concepts, especially Mindfulness, have migrated to the West, particularly the United States. In order to make a distinction between a generic understanding of the term mindfulness and the specific term used for the practice based on Buddhism, “Mindfulness” in this article will be spelled with a capital “M.” (This first appears in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of the Midwest Christian Outreach Journal beginning on page 6)

We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.¹

Developing wisdom is a process of bringing our minds into accordance with the way things really are. Through this process we gradually remove the incorrect perceptions of reality we have had since the beginningless time.²

Be lamps unto yourselves.³

Mindfulness is a Buddhist concept and practice. Yet we now find Mindfulness taught and practiced in schools, businesses, hospitals, and prisons. People as diverse as educators, health workers, psychologists, corporation honchos, and clergyman advocate it. Its popularity is increasing with rapid-fire speed. Therefore, Christians need to know what it is, how it is being promoted, and if there is any conflict with the Christian faith.

The Meaning of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a meditative practice and an outlook on life and reality that ideally results from the type of meditation designed to cultivate the Buddhist concept of “detachment.”⁴ Mindfulness is often defined as a moment-by-moment, non-judgmental awareness of the present.

Why is “detachment.” necessary, and what does that mean? To understand, we should know these essential teachings of Buddhism:

1. Life in this world is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire for and attachment to this world, which will continue the cycle of rebirths into this world
3. The remedy for suffering is to cultivate detachment and thereby to reach enlightenment, and thus, escape rebirth.
4. The final goal is nirvana—a state of release from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. Nirvana means to extinguish.

The world, as it is perceived in Buddhist thinking, is not substantively real. The individual self has no permanent reality (it is called the “no-self,” “anatman,” or “anatta”), and what one recognizes as the individual self is based on faulty perceptions (this is sometimes called the “conventional self”). According to this view, feelings, thoughts, physical sensations, and sense of identity have fooled us into thinking we each exist as an individual. Continuing to believe this allegedly keeps us trapped in this life and the cycle of rebirth.

Desire, which is a grasping at or attachment to this world, is the cause of suffering; and so “detachment” must be cultivated, mainly through Mindfulness. Moreover, since the mind is part of this nominal reality, thoughts are in the way of realizing the true nature of reality and self. Mindfulness, as a meditation practice, is the tool by which one sees beyond or in between thoughts as a process of awakening to truth. The promotion of Mindfulness often includes the commonly heard maxim, “Be in the present,” since the goal includes detaching from past and future.

Practicing mindfulness as moment-to-moment, nonjudgmental awareness supposedly prepares one for a breakthrough in perception—an awakening to the realization that ultimate reality is formlessness devoid of any form or structure (“sunyata,” usually translated as “emptiness”). Mindfulness is particularly emphasized in Zen Buddhism and, aside from TM (Transcendental Meditation), is the Eastern meditation practice that has most deeply penetrated the West.

Mindfulness meditation is a technique of sitting still (though there is also a walking meditation), observing the breath, being aware solely of the present moment and learning to let thoughts pass by without entertaining them. Because there is no permanent content to the present moment since it comes and goes, eventually, a state of “no-thinking” is reached. The goal is to divorce the mind and thinking process from one’s observation so that the meditator realizes he is not his thoughts, and eventually understands the “I” observing the thoughts (called the “Witness”) is not the conventional self, but rather, it is the “universal” or “Buddha-self” (terms vary). This Buddha-self is the “Buddha nature” of the universe, which is the only permanent reality.

For many years, this writer attempted to incorporate Mindfulness into her life prior to becoming a Christian, and I can attest to its power in altering one’s worldview and conforming one’s thinking to embrace Buddhist concepts.

The Chattering Monkey

How can an anti-individualistic worldview worm its way into a highly individualized culture as exists in the United States? This happens slowly through Buddhist meditation, which conditions the mind through employment of certain terminologies and familiar terms, but which have been redefined using Buddhist concepts.

You might notice the term “monkey mind” popping up here and there. In promoting Mindfulness, the thinking mind is targeted as a “chattering monkey.” Thoughts are the chatter, and meditation is used to tame and silence this “monkey mind,” so that it can become “Buddha mind.” As one source puts it:

Often in meditation, that monkey mind doesn’t transform into a peaceable primate, but continues to scurry about, distracting attention. Indeed, it is common for thoughts to appear to increase in intensity during concentrated meditation practice. This is either because whilst in the confines of the practice the monkey mind reacts with increased activity, or because in focused meditation thoughts are “lit up” and are noticed more than they normally are.⁵ Thoughts are treated as an independent activity, divorced from one’s true self—the “Buddha-self.” The temporal world, including the mind, is part of a “rising and falling”⁶ which is not substantively real. One must transcend this rising and falling through meditation practice.

Meditation trains the person to watch thoughts so that the meditator does not attach to the thoughts and follow them. Eventually, the space between thoughts widens until there are no thoughts, and “no mind” is reached. The site continues:

Buddha Mind is our real nature, the unconditioned “Mind” – and words are metaphors here, remember – that lies beneath the conditioned monkey mind that is interdependent with the world with which it interacts.⁷

Phrases such as “impermanence,” “rising and falling,” “being, not doing,” “monkey mind,” “chattering mind,” and others are appearing more frequently in literature and other media, including Smartphone apps, that give advice on reducing stress. This denigration of thinking portrays the mind as the problem and thoughts as a source of confusion. Moreover, when such terms become more familiar and popular, the concepts attached to them also tend to become more widely accepted over time. There is a prevailing assumption that we cannot truly function nor have any peace unless we practice this type of meditation.

Mindfulness meditation is, therefore, the Buddhist way to tame the so-called “chattering mind” and uncover the silent “Buddha-mind” underneath all the “rising and falling.” It was not designed for stress reduction or to be a trendy dabbling for harried Westerners. It is rigorously religious and strictly spiritual.

The Secularization of Mindfulness

Several people have pushed Mindfulness as a concept and practice in the United States. They can’t deny its religious basis, yet they present it as a secular method. One of the most influential, Zen Buddhist Jon Kabat-Zinn (b. 1944), whose PhD is in Molecular Biology, runs the Center for Mindfulness (formerly the Stress Reduction Clinic), which he founded in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn’s stress-reduction and Mindfulness program—MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction)—has spread to over 200 hospitals and medical centers around the country. One news article reports:

Kabat-Zinn is reluctant to use the word “spiritual” to describe the approach to healthy living that he promotes, characterizing it instead as being “grounded in common sense.”

“I don’t have to use the word ‘spiritual,’” he said. “Part of it is the power of silence and stillness. And part of that power is the power of healing that happens when you move from the domain of doing to being. It’s transformative.”⁸

In a self-contradictory statement, he said:

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