Mindfulness and Religion

Mindfulness and Religion

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The power of meditation has been available to all of us for tens of thousands of years— but the concept of mindfulness is more recent. The historical evidence suggests that mindfulness was first taught 2,500 years ago by the individual famously known today as the Buddha.

In his teachings, the Buddha spoke of SATI, a special form of heightened deep awareness that often promotes the end of pain, suffering, and fosters happiness and well-being for all human beings.



Sati is famously known as the Buddha’s word that we now translate in English as “MINDFULNESS” consists of the Buddha’s teachings, mindfulness is often described as an essential element to eliminate the delusion, and seeing the planet and ourselves as they are with full awareness and without any judgment.

Although Buddhism has devoted more energy to studying the practice of mindfulness than any other religion, every major religious tradition prescribes something similar to it. These practices aren’t always as prominent in other religions as they’re in Buddhism, but they will often be found within a religion’s contemplative and esoteric dimensions.

Mindfulness isn’t a discipline that’s limited to religion. Various forms of mindfulness practices can be found in many different schools of secular philosophy in both the East and the West.



I.      Mindfulness in Different Religions

In Buddhism:

Mindfulness is described as a component of the Eightfold Path that often leads us to enlightenment and mindful freedom from the cycle of continual rebirth. Mindfulness thus promotes one’s aim of advancing one’s go after nirvana.

In the Christian traditions:

Mindfulness is usually understood to bring one closer to God and a lifetime of greater holiness, but it’s never been considered essential to salvation because Christianity grounds redemption on belief and doctrine.



In Hinduism:

Mindfulness is often said to peel away the many layers, and different illusions that veil and blur our clear perception of the ultimate reality and make us more judgemental.

In Confucianism:

Mindfulness is often considered a part of moral self-cultivation, the mindful regimen that usually enables individuals to realize their full humanity.

Note- In all traditions, mindfulness is seen as a way to rework one’s life in a deeper meaning, and wholesome way.

II.   Benefits of Mindfulness

One doesn’t get to regard mindfulness in metaphysical categories to seek out it as a particularly beneficial practice. Without discounting the religious and theological interpretations, it’s possible to spell out the very pragmatic value of mindfulness for living a more vital and happier life.

The primary goal and key objective of mindfulness, as its definition implies, is to increase deep awareness of the self and others without being judgmental.

Its other benefits, while considerable and of immense value, are of secondary importance. In other words, everything else you would gain from a mindfulness practice depends on strengthening your faculty of awareness.



Mindfulness Purposes

Although it’s used for these purposes, mindfulness isn’t about relaxation, stress reduction, or self-improvement. It is often described by some practitioners as the practice of knowing yourself and your world in a better way without judging.

With mindfulness, you’ll see how your mind operates and responds to its surroundings and the world. Because mindfulness requires us to focus our attention on what is happening within ourselves (internal factors) and our environment as it is occurring (external factors), so you can be mindfully present for your life without being too judgmental.

We learn within the mindfulness disciplines that there are tons of factors within and outside the world over which we’ve no control. Mindfulness teaches this fact not as an abstract fact or an idea to which we give attention, but as a concrete and demonstrated reality we need to accept more mindfully. At an equal time, mindfulness teaches that one among the items that we will change is that the operation of our minds.

Our responses to the weather of life that are out of our control are determined by our conditioning. We often tend to act out of habit—without giving much thought— and are unaware that we can be more deliberate and mindful about the way we usually allow events beyond our power to affect us internally or externally.



Mental Spaciousness

Practicing mindfulness can give us a mental spaciousness that gives us greater freedom to shape the type of person we’ll become in the future. Mental spaciousness is often described as an immense value in helping one manage the incessant colloquy of one’s judgments and negative commentary that forms and initiates the mindlessness lifestyle and state.

It also allows us to recognize the patterns of thinking that are detrimental to the well-being of ourselves and others and enables us to relinquish them and render them harmless.

Likewise, mindfulness helps us work with difficult emotional states like anger, greed, and fear, providing us with the resources to act on these states in ways that are beneficial rather than damaging.

With dedicated practice, you’ll learn to live more mindfully. You will also learn to handle your anger, be needless, and be courageous and compassionate.

(Related: Preconceptions About Mindfulness Meditation)


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