Does the power of Buddhist mindfulness practice diminish when it is adapted into forms suitable for psychological research and evidence-supported clinical practice? The answer, from the viewpoint of Buddhist scholarship and practice traditions, is a qualified “yes.” After a brief review of the migration of Buddhism across cultures and the methods and aims of Buddhist practice in the larger context of Buddhist teachings, this chapter traces the reasons for the unwillingness or inability of most research so far done to mine the full potential of Buddhist mindfulness practice to a divergence between some philosophical and methodological assumptions underlying the scientific endeavor, on the one hand, and those embraced by Buddhism, on the other. The assumptions that shape the research paradigm necessitate various requirements for any subject matter to be fit for being researched. These requirements are shown to marginalize or altogether rule out research, which would address the ontological inquiry that is at the heart of Buddhist mindfulness practice. These requirements also create a strong bias in favor of beginning-level mindfulness practice, which makes ignoring such ontological inquiry easier. How these biases and restrictions work in practice is illustrated in terms of the randomized controlled trial design, which sets the gold standard for research. A pathway forward is outlined which calls for suspension of some of the a priori restrictions and a return to the open stance of empiricism in which phenomena determine method of study rather than the other way round.
目次
11.1 Introduction 217 11.2 Migration of Buddhism Across Cultures 218 11.2.1 First Phase of Migration to the West: The Scholar–Explorers 219 11.2.2 Second Phase of Migration to the West: The Awakening of Popular Interest 219 11.2.3 Third Phase of Migration to the West: Empirical Research and Clinical Application of Mindfulness 220 11.3 “Essential Buddhism” Amidst Diverse Transmissions 221 11.4 Buddhist Practices in Psychological Research and Clinical Practice: An Overview 224 11.5 Major Adaptations of Buddhist Meditation Techniques 224 11.5.1 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 225 11.5.2 Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy 225 11.5.3 Dialectical Behavior Therapy 226 11.5.4 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 226 11.6 Central Theoretical and Methodological Concerns 227 11.7 Two Levels of Inquiry: Psychological and Ontological 228 11.8 The Psychological–Ontological Distinction in Buddhism 229 11.9 Foundational Assumptions: Buddhism and Psychological Research 230 11.10 What Can Be Studied and How It Must Be Studied: Requirements Specific to the Research Design 232 11.10.1 RCT: The Gold Standard of Scientific Research 232 11.10.2 The Quantifiability Requirement 233 11.10.3 The Requirement of Representative Samples and Standardized Scales for Measurement 235 11.10.4 The Conditionality Requirement 236 11.11 A Path Forward 237 References 240
