Is mindfulness scientific?
2500 yrs ago Buddha taught the world a path to complete liberation from suffering. It was the Noble Eightfold Path focusing on three fundamental principles- morality, concentration and wisdom. Buddha emphasized two types of meditations – Anapana meditation (called Right concentration by the Buddha) and Vipassana meditation (called Right meditation by the Buddha). In recent times, these techniques became popular by the spread of Vipassana all over the world through the teachings of most revered Vipassana teacher of the century- Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Many teachers like Sri S N Goenka learnt under him and spread the teachings throughout the world including the west. In recent times, a psychologist named Thomas William Rhys David studied Buddhist philosophy and gave these methods an English name calling them “mindfulness”. Now these techniques and the philosophy as a whole are known more popularly as mindfulness principles.
What does a scientific method mean?
A scientific method is an objective exploration of a truth. It involves an object to study and a tool that is used for observation. There are two rules for the tool-
- The tool must be objective in nature and not color or bias the reality in any way.
- The tool should be capable of observation. For example to observe radiation coming from space, one cannot use the microscope. Similarly one cannot use a telescope to observe virus or bacteria on a slide. For normal day to day things like color of sky or clouds, using the human eye is considered a valid tool of observation.
What are we studying in mindfulness meditation?
The object of our study in mindfulness is understanding how suffering arises in the mind and how it can be eradicated. For that what we basically study is mental phenomena.
What is the scientific tool used to study mental phenomena?
Buddha understood the principles of a scientific method really well. He understood the two rules of observation of any truth- the tool must be objective in nature and should be capable of observing mental phenomena. To observe mental phenomena we could only use the mind. Science and technology cannot observe thought or feelings even in today’s world. It is a different kind of vibration and too subtle to be observed by a scientific tool. Only mind could observe the mind. But how could we make the mind objective so it could observe without any bias? Buddha knew that a concentrated mind is sharp and is objective in nature. He had learnt meditation techniques that could allow us various levels of concentration called Jhanas in those times (Dhyaan or Samadhi in Hindi). He knew that mind could become limitlessly sharp if one’s mind was trained in these meditations and the sharper and subtle it became, the more objective it was. So the tool used to study mental phenomena was a sharp, focused, objective mind. This is completely aligned with scientific principles.
Buddha's technique in simple words-
- To observe mental phenomena objectively, one must sharpen the mind first using Anapana meditation- a simple concentration technique.
- Once the mind became objective enough, one could observe the mental phenomena of arising and cessation of suffering nonjudgmentally. Which mental phenomena did Buddha ask us to study- thoughts and feelings. So, the technique to observe thoughts and feelings with objectivity is called Vipassana meditation.
When we observe with a calm and peaceful mind that can observe all the subtle vibrations inside us without any bias or judgment, one remains detached to them and suffering slowly ceases to arise in us. The suffering only happens because we believe in our thoughts and feelings as real, we believe they belong to an “I”. Hence we get attached to them. It is the attachment that causes the suffering. The thoughts and feelings by themselves, don’t cause any harm and simply arise to pass away. Our job is to remain objective and detached. This is the basic principle of mindfulness, the teachings of the Buddha.
Evidence based verification of the mindfulness method
Having covered the fundamental scientific principles of objectivity and truth exploration, let us come to the last point of verification. How do we know what we have observed is correct or reliable or truthful and will universally apply to all? Is this evidence based? Yes, it is. Since human mind is universal and follows the same laws or principles for every being, what we discover on the path following the methods is also universal. By observing mental phenomena with an objective mind all will find the same realities within. The path of Anapana and Vipassana is well laid out and as a meditator develops in objectivity he or she is bound to come across certain states or experiences which are experienced by all. For example, on practising Vipassana with a sharp focused and objective mind, millions of meditators come across the state of “Bhanga”- which is total dissolution of any solidity of the body. The body disappears and what one only experiences is vibrations everywhere within one’s space. This is an important destination on the path of mindfulness where one clearly sees that body is also just simply made up of only vibrations and there is really no “I” that exists as we presume in our daily life. It is only physical and mental phenomena arising out of their own accord following universal principles with vibrations of different kind in the form of thoughts, feelings etc arising and passing away. Similar to this there are many experiences one is bound to experience as one progresses on the path. Hence, mindfulness or the method of Vipassana is an evidence based verifiable method that reveals knowledge as we grow in objectivity.
