Mindful Living Research Group, Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Higashi Ichijokan 1 Naka-Adachi-Cho, Yoshida, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, 606-8306 Japan.
2 papers in the library · 10 citations · publishing 2022-2025
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) can help higher education address student distractibility and superficial engagement caused by information overload, guiding the journey from information to knowledge and from knowledge to wisdom. Drawing on Buddhist studies, philosophy of education, anthropology, clinical psychology, and psychiatry, the article argues that mindfulness training should move beyond isolated interventions to become the very thread of learning. It reviews evidence on student mental health, listens to students' existential concerns, and uses T. S. Eliot's questions about information, knowledge, wisdom, and Life to frame an epistemic and developmental model. Ultimately, mindfulness is conceived as forming attention and fostering the joy of learning to achieve both academic excellence and human flourishing.
In Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, mindfulness (smṛti/dran pa) is the foundation of the threefold development of wisdom: study, reflection, and cultivation. In Tibet, this model characterized the gradual approach to awakening, while the simultaneous approach emphasized a state beyond ordinary mindfulness. The Nyingma tradition, which holds Dzogchen as the ultimate teaching, sees these approaches as complementary. This paper analyzes two guidance texts on mindfulness by Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798), including a first English translation of one. Jigme Lingpa articulates a twofold typology: an effortful, conditioned mindfulness and the distinctive mindfulness of Dzogchen inseparable from pure awareness (rigpa). He uses this framework to integrate Buddhist teachings and clarify alternative modes of practice along the Dzogchen path.