What's Wrong with Mindfulness (And What Isn't)

Mindfulness seems to be everywhere-but are we sure that's a good thing? Teachers Sallie Jiko Tisdale, Gil Fronsdal, Norman Fischer, and more explain how removing mindfulness from Buddhism may set a dangerous precedent. Mindfulness is in fashion. Oprah loves it, Google teaches it to employees-it has become widespread as a cure-all for stress, health problems and psychological difficulties, interpersonal trouble, and existential anxiety. However, when its proponents try to make it more accessible by severing it from its Buddhist roots, they run the risk of leeching mindfulness of its transformative power. Taught outside of its ethical and spiritual context it becomes a mere means to an end, rather than a way of life. Mindfulness is in danger of being co-opted into the spiritual equivalent of fast food: "McMindfulness." Instead of being better people, we just become better employees, better consumers. The Zen teachers gathered here ask a bold question: Is universal mindfulness really a good thing? Ranging from thoughtful critiques to personal accounts of integrating mindfulness into daily life, each chapter offers insights to ground mindfulness in a deeper understanding of both where it comes from, and where it might be headed. With contributions from Marc Poirer, Robert Meikyo Rosenbaum, Barry Magid, Hozan Alan Senauke, Sallie Jiko Tisdale, Gil Fronsdal, Max Erdstein, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Janet Jiryu Abels, Grace Schireson, Sojun Mel Weitsman, and Robert Sharf.

Robert Meikyo Rosenbaum is a neuropsychologist and psychotherapist who now devotes himself full time to Zen and Dayan (Wild Goose) Qigong. He received lay entrustment from Sojun Mel Weitsman of Berkeley Zen Center and is authorized by Master Hui Liu as a senior teacher of the Taoist practice of qigong in the lineage of Yang Meijun. Bob is the founding teacher of the Meadowmont Sangha in the Sierra foothills and the author of Walking the Way: 81 Zen Encounters with the Tao Te Ching and Zen and the Heart of Psychotherapy. He also enjoys leading annual meditation/qigong trekking retreats in the Nepal Himalayas (www.zenqigong.com). Rosenbaum lives in Emeryville, CA. Barry Magid is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practicing in New York City, and the founding teacher of the Ordinary Mind Zendo, also in New York. He is the author of the Wisdom titles Ordinary Mind: Exploring the Common Ground of Zen and Psychoanalysis, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness: A Zen Guide, and Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans. Magid lives in New York, NY.