Mindfulness and its Indian roots
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
Mindfulness is now taught in Western hospitals, schools and offices. It comes from Buddhist meditation that began in India.
Indian contribution, later developed elsewhereCulture, games, language & ideas
Indian claim
Mindfulness is the Buddhist practice of sati, taught by the Buddha in India and preserved in vipassana meditation.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Kabat-Zinn's early academic writing traced mindfulness meditation to Theravada vipassana, Mahayana and Zen traditions, and to yogic practices.
- The practice of sati (mindfulness) is described in early Buddhist texts such as the Satipatthana Sutta.
Commonly credited to
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) was created in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts by Jon Kabat-Zinn as a secular, scientific programme.
Evidence for the other claim
- MBSR deliberately removed religious language and was tested in clinical studies; this work in the US made mindfulness part of modern medicine and psychology.
- Much of its immediate inspiration came through Zen and Theravada teachers outside India.
What historians and scientists say
Mindfulness began as an Indian Buddhist practice. Its modern clinical form was developed in the United States from 1979.