Mindfulness: Where It Comes From and What It Means

by Sarah Shaw

From the time of the Buddha to the age of meditation apps, this straightforward introduction gives an entire overview of the use of the term "mindfulness" in Buddhist meditative traditions. Drawing upon years of experience through practicing, researching, and teaching the history of mindfulness, Dr. Sarah Shaw offers the first-ever accessible guide to the roots of this ancient meditation technique that continues to benefit millions throughout the world.

Although the term is heard everywhere from boardrooms and classrooms to gyms and yoga studios, surprisingly little is known about the origins of mindfulness. This easy-to-read short history will give readers, whether they are seasoned or novice practitioners, a better sense of the most practiced meditation in the world.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Buddhism, Meditation, Psychology

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2020

About the author

There is more than one author with this name.

Reviews

[Nikko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly good book about Mindfulness. I consider it essential read for Buddhists of all stripes who will be pretty amazed at the depth and and variety of mindfulness practice in each tradition - they are all covered. It is also essential for the secular mindfulness audience as it will leave them with an even deeper appreciation - even awe - at the roots of the tradition and the sophistication of the exploration and articulation of mindfulness over the last 2,500 years.

Highly recommended.

Note: I work for Shambhala Publications but this is an objective review. I only revew a few Shambhala.books each year, and review many others from other publishers.

[Rakesh R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and sweeping survey of the meaning of Mindfulness (Sati in Pali, Smṛti in Sanskrit), the spiritual practices it denotes and how these have evolved over time in different geographies and traditions (primarily Buddhist, and in some cases modern-day secular). The book charts how the term evolved from meaning something akin to “memory” in the pre-Buddhist spiritual environment of ancient India to indicating something more like “wakefulness to the present” in Theravada Buddhism. It reviews how Mindfulness is applied in the context of the Buddha’s famous discourses on “The Foundations of Mindfulness” (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta) and “Mindfulness of Breathing” (Ānāpānasati Sutta), and also considers its interplay with the other constituent parts of the Eightfold Path, the Seven Factors of Awakening and the Thirty-Seven Factors of Enlightenment. The book goes on to review the more technical aspects of Mindfulness as featured in the Abhidhamma (the ancient texts detailing the implications in introspective psychological terms of the Buddha’s recorded discourses). It then considers the term’s usually expanded (as opposed to changed) scope in the later Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of East Asia and Tibet respectively, before touching on the modern secular Mindfulness movement and its connections with the Vipassana movement of nineteenth-century Burma. The book very helpfully draws the reader’s attention on several occasions to the ethical dimension of mindfulness practice as intended by the historical Buddha, this dimension being critical to reaching the higher stages of the path to enlightenment. This book is highly recommended as a comprehensive yet lucid overview of Mindfulness and includes an extensive bibliography for those seeking to deepen their understanding of specific facets of this broad and important subject. It is beautifully and engagingly written, being peppered with delightful and insightful turns of phrase that are the hallmark of that relatively rare breed of the scholar-practitioner.

[Miranda Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating overview of the trajectory of mindfulness from the time of the Buddha to the modern day, treading with great deftness and accessibility the fine line between secular and spiritual interest.

Sarah Shaw ia an academic and as such displays great learning and knowledge in this book, but she is not just setting out cold facts: she is also a meditator with a close personal understanding of what mindfulness means to her.

The book became my bedtime read, a wonderful companion as it moves through time and space setting out the journey of mindfulness and its meaning from the time of the Buddha through to its present day secular adoption, taking in an array of of traditions and cultures within which the understandings and uses have been shaped and deployed over the history and geographical movement of Buddhism's influence in an ever-changing world.

A fascinating journey of insights into a myriad of practices from 'simple' mindfulness of breathing through Abhidhamma, to martial arts to Japanese tea ceremonies and many more, interspersed with friendly examples explaining potential day to day practices and experiences, and written with warmth and clarity, this is an excellent and highly recommended read.

[John]

I haven't yet read this book. I intend to, as I feel confident that the "M" word is being used, on this occasion at least, by a person with considerable knowledge & experience on the subject. Nevertheless, I'm slightly surprised to discover that, once again, there's no reference made at all to the man without whose presence "mindfulness" would never have even been heard of in the West: Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan Tantric Master who established The Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado and penned such timeless classics as "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" and "Shambhala:The Way of The Warrior". I'm a little confused. I had the enormous privilege of meeting Rinpoche in the mid 1980s, and he was The Real Deal.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi, friends. The word "mindfulness" is getting a lot of play these days, but not everyone who uses or hears it knows what deep roots and what wide range the word has. Sarah Shaw's book is the perfect remedy for this. "Sati"--the Pali word that "mindfulness" translates is such a core concept throughout Buddhism that Shaw is able to provide a complete overview of Buddhist history and teaching by following this one idea through all its wonderful permutations. Sarah Shaw is not only an Oxford scholar of Buddhism, not only a teacher and practitioner of mindful meditation, Sarah is a genial and engaging writer who carries you along easily from the beginning to the end of her delightful exploration. If you want to read one book on mindfulness, this is a good one.

[Tod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find this book to be quite valuable, and I very much appreciate the sense of breadth and context it brings to the topic of mindfulness.

The book traces the development of mindfulness, looking at pre-Buddhist roots, how it is developed and described in Early Buddhism in both poetic and in analytic terms. The book follows these developments into later forms of Buddhism as it evolved, spread, and adapted, up to some of the modern interpretations. It even considers how the term "mindfulness" was used in English before it was associated with Buddhism.

At every point in these developments we get a sense of what "mindfulness" means to the practitioner, as a living quality to be developed or discovered. These developments come out of generations of practitioners engaged in a creative exploration of mindfulness, trying to illuminate it in practical ways from sometimes subtly different angles.

From the academic or historical side, we see the evolution of thought around sati/smṙti in context, as part of living tradition(s). For those with a practice interest, this same history provides a window into how generations of practitioners have explored this fundamental quality. This book is not a manual, but it does provide perspectives and fuel for reflection which may open up possibilities in practice.

In short, I think this book is a valuable contribution of broad interest.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. For years I’ve been on the look out for a book on mindfulness combining the warmth and assurance that comes from deep personal experience with detail of where mindfulness comes from. Both are combined in this book. I liked how mindfulness turns out to a key element of a wider tradition of learning about ourselves. The book explores different approaches, spanning many countries and time periods, to draw out the differing ways mindfulness has been used and discussed. Most turn out to shed light on our current day concerns. I hope you enjoy it too.

[oli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is now the essential book on mindfulness. A must-read for anyone interested in that term, which is bandied about all over the place nowadays. Shaw grounds mindfulness in its Buddhist roots, writing an engaging and exciting introduction not only to mindfulness itself but also to the wider philosophical system surrounding it.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow reading at first when she spends a lot of time defining words but picks up towards the end when she gets to the subject matter. I've read several books on the subject and this one is a different slant than most.

[Salvador · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to understand the roots of mindfulness, extensive bibliography and very clear explanations of the evolution of the term from pali/sanskrit to the present moment, it also gives a brief but to the point summary of the different buddhist schools.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly technical and a bit tedious.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt like a thesis on mindfulness from the perspective of a Buddhist researcher. Had some good thoughts but was more academic than what I was looking for.