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Mindfulness and the Outer Work of Social Change

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The Dharma and Socially Engaged Buddhist Economics

Part of the book series: Studies in Buddhist Economics, Management, and Policy ((SBEMP))

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Abstract

Depending on the extent of our practice, mindfulness can lead to a spectrum of benefits ranging from enhanced ability to deal with stress to a deep spiritual enlightenment as experienced by the Buddha. As people become more aware of the many benefits of mindfulness, it has become enormously popular and possibly commodified. This chapter takes a critical view of how mindfulness is being coopted as corporate ideology and of how it is used as an instrument of profit-making rather part of a system of ethics centered on liberation from suffering.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dewey, John, Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Modern Library, 1930), pp. 106–107.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., p. 108.

  3. 3.

    Ibid., pp. 112, 114.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., p. 117.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., p. 125.

  6. 6.

    Wheatley, Margaret and Senge, Peter, “Toward a Theology of Institutions,” Seeing (things) Whole, December 6, 2010, http://www.seeingthingswhole.com/PDF/STW-toward-theology-of-institutions.pdf.

  7. 7.

    Dewey, Human Nature, pp. 125–126.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Fromm, Erich, “Our Way of Life Makes Us Miserable,” The Saturday Evening Post, July 25, 1964, p. 8.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    Fromm, Erich, The Sane Society (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1955), p. 13.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., p. 14.

  13. 13.

    Lears, T.J. Jackson, “The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 3, June 1985, p. 568.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., p. 570.

  15. 15.

    Jones, Ken, The New Social Face of Buddhism: An Alternative Sociopolitical Perspective (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003), p. 27.

  16. 16.

    Dewey, John, Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Modern Library, 1930), pp. 126–127.

  17. 17.

    Reck, Andrew, ed., Selected Writings: George H. Mead (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), p. xxxiv.

  18. 18.

    Veblen, Thorstein, “The Higher Learning,” in The Portable Veblen, (New York: Viking Press, 1948), p. 508.

  19. 19.

    See Bhikku Bodhi, http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma10/bbodhi10.html.

  20. 20.

    Phra Prayudh Payutto, Buddhadhamma: Natural Laws and Values for Life, Olson, Grant, trans. (New York: State University of New York, 1995), pp. 159–160.

  21. 21.

    Paramananda, Change Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Meditation (London: Windhorse Publications, 1996), p. 5.

  22. 22.

    Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation (New York: Broadway Books, 1998), p. 8.

  23. 23.

    Hanh, Thich Nhat, Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990).

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 77.

  25. 25.

    Jones, New Social Face, p. 31.

  26. 26.

    Taigen Leighton, Daniel, trans., Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of the Zen Master Hongzhi (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1991), p. 144.

  27. 27.

    Sheng Yen, The Method of No Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2008), p. 140.

  28. 28.

    Ibid.

  29. 29.

    Tull, Deborah, Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Ourselves, Each Other, and the Planet (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2018), p. 29.

  30. 30.

    Nyanaponika, Thera, The Power of Mindfulness: An Inquiry into the Scope of Bare Attention and the Principal Sources of Its Strength [1968–1997] (Penang, Malaysia: Wheel Publications, 1997). Open source at http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/powermindfulness.pdf, p. vii.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., pp. vii–viii.

  32. 32.

    Tull, Relational, p. 65.

  33. 33.

    Kabat-Zinn, Jon, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (New York: Bantam, 2013), p. 17.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., p. xlix.

  35. 35.

    David Gelles, Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out (New York: Mariner Books, 2016).

  36. 36.

    Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace (New York: Workman Publishing, 2014), pp. 2–3.

  37. 37.

    Gelles, Mindful Work, p. 81.

  38. 38.

    Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living, p. 473.

  39. 39.

    Purser, Ronald and Ng, Edwin, “Corporate Mindfulness Is Bullsh*t,” Salon, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/09/27/corporate_mindfulness_is_bullsht_zen_or_no_zen_youre_working_harder_and_being_paid_less.

  40. 40.

    Purser, Ron, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality (London: Repeater Books, 2019), pp. 10–11.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., p. 17.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., pp. 77–78.

  43. 43.

    Szasz, Andrew, Shop** Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), p. 4.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., p. 3.

  45. 45.

    Purser, McMindfulness, p. 82.

  46. 46.

    Kramer, Gregory, Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom (Boston: Shambhala, 2007), p. 3.

  47. 47.

    Loy, Money, Sex, War, Karma, p. 81.

  48. 48.

    Paramananda, Change Your Mind, p. 5.

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  • Kramer, Gregory, Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom (Boston: Shambhala, 2007).

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    Joel Magnuson

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Magnuson, J. (2022). Mindfulness and the Outer Work of Social Change. In: The Dharma and Socially Engaged Buddhist Economics. Studies in Buddhist Economics, Management, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97224-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97224-0_8

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