Intention, Motivation, Ethics, And Mindfulness Practice: A Reflection

Does our intention, motivation and ethical motives matter when it comes to practicing "mindfulness" or not?

Photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash

In Contemporary literature, mindfulness meditation is usually described as a practice centred around cultivating awareness of the present moment without judgment.  

Related to this, I was recently reading an article by Herman Schreuder (2024) where he argues,

“If you want to free yourself, you have to put all your heart into your practice, patiently developing your mind every day—day in, day out—without desiring results or wisdom.” (para. 11)

This statement stopped me in my tracks and made me reflect on some of the key aspects of mindfulness meditation.  Elements which I find are especially important to reflect on, whether we are seeking to practice with the motive of liberation from suffering (“dukkha”) or if we are practising to improve physical and psychological well-being.

But what really stuck in my head was the part of Schreuder’s statement, which says, “You have to put all your heart into your practice.”

‘’You have to put all your heart into your practice’’

Schreuder immediately starts by putting forth this notion of placing “all your heart into your practice.” This speaks volumes about the importance of having a genuine intention, the right motivations and sincere commitment when it comes to practising meditation.   From my own experience, I would also say that these are key.  Why?

Because before we do anything we need to form an intention to do it.  So likewise, when it comes to mindfulness meditation, first and foremost, there needs to be set a clear and genuine intention to start practising.  However, this alone is not enough, as it needs to be coupled with the right motivations.  What do I mean here?

In a previous article, I had written, “Is There a Place for “God” in Secular Mindfulness Meditation?” and was also published for Medium members a reader pointed out and replied with a comment that points to something very important: how “mindfulness” (note here the inverted commas) without the right motivations takes us nowhere as it can be used as an attentional practice to make you a more efficient killer or soldier.  I agree with this, and it is a criticism that is really warranted, that of “the mindful sniper.” 

This point was initially made by Matthieu Ricard (2009/2013).  In his own words, he wrote,

“Consider a sniper lying in wait for the victim he intends to kill: he certainly maintains a concentration centred on a defined object, remains unfailingly, calm and composed, in the present moment; he is capable of maintaining his attention for a long time and of bringing it back to his target as soon as it strays from it.  If he wants to achieve his sinister goal, he must eliminate all distraction and all relaxation, mental attitudes which are the two major obstacles to maintaining attention.” (Ricard, 2013, para. 6)

And in a more recent interview with Time, Matthieu Ricard commented,

“There are a lot of people speaking about mindfulness,” ........ “but the risk is that it’s taken too literally — to just ‘be mindful.’ Well, you could have a very mindful sniper and a mindful psychopath.  It’s true!  A sniper needs to be so focused, never distracted, very calm, always bringing back his attention to the present moment.  And non-judgmental — just kill people and no judgment.  That could happen!” (as cited in Krznaric, 2017, para. 4)

If used in that way, this is not mindfulness but attentional training.  This has been something that has been hotly debated and something that contemporary mindfulness interventions have been criticised for, that they neglect the ethical aspect of mindfulness, especially when used, for example, in the workplace to increase productivity or for military purposes (Davis, 2015; Greenberg & Mitra, 2015; Monteiro et al., 2015). 

Why?  Because inherently, mindfulness meditation has tied to it an ethical dimension. This is not only emphasised in Buddhism but also in other contemplative traditions that, of doing no harm (Gentry, 2016; Neusher & Chilton, 2009).  Usually, this is referred to as the golden rule of contemplative traditions, the ethic of compassion (Armstrong, 2011; Neusher & Chilton, 2009).  One very popular definition of compassion is the following:

“Being sensitive to the suffering of self and others with a deep commitment to try to prevent and relieve it.” (Gilbert & Choden, 2014, p. 1)

So, the first part of Schreuder’s statement that, ‘’you have to put all your heart into your practice,’’ made me reflect immediately on this sense of the importance of a genuine commitment to practice regularly to reap its benefits. 

Indeed, when looking at mindfulness meditation as applied towards psychological well-being, it is regular, sustained practice over time that leads to changes in brain structure and function, especially in areas associated with attention and emotion regulation, and self-awareness (Wielgosz et al., 2019).  But here the question arises: Is commitment to practice, to reap its benefits enough?  Does this lead to “genuine mindfulness”?

Is commitment to practice to reap benefits enough?

Considering what we mentioned before related to its ethical dimension, it made me further reflect on whether practising “mindfulness’’ purely for its psychological and physical benefits is “mindfulness” or just something that stems from a materialistic motive.

This brought me to the next thing how, “my heart has to be in the right place” when it comes to practising mindfulness – so the ethical dimension or right motivations.  This is not to say that benefiting in areas such as emotional and attentional regulation and self-awareness is bad. 

But, on a personal level, it made me reflect on the importance of Buddhist philosophical principles such as right view, right action, right speech, right livelihood and right effort, and how they are tied to practising “mindfulness” or “right mindfulness”.   

What do I mean?  For example, if I am practising mindfulness to improve my ability to  concentrate and regulate my emotions as per the previous example to become a better, more efficient soldier or sniper, is that “right mindfulness.”   

This further led me to reflect on what I need to keep in mind and ask myself when practising mindfulness meditation, are the benefits from practising mindfulness for myself resulting in harm to others because if so as Greenberg and Mitra (2015) put it,

“Whether or not as a result of conscious intention, then such practice cannot be considered as right mindfulness.  Without this extension into ethical actions, our good intentions and focused energies may result in cultivating miccha sati (wrong mindfulness).” (p. 77)

This underscores the importance of a balanced approach when it comes to mindfulness.  What do I mean?

So, if I am practising mindfulness just to improve my emotional and attentional regulation and self-awareness, there is nothing wrong with that.  But at the same time, I would question myself if that is “mindfulness.” 

On the other hand, if I am practising mindfulness to improve my emotional and attentional regulation and self-awareness, not only to benefit myself but also with the genuine heart-felt motivation of doing it because this, in turn, will also benefit others.  An example could be, maybe, as a person, I am very emotional, and because of this, sometimes I automatically say things without “thinking”, which after I genuinely regret because I unwillingly end up hurting people.  So, I want to practice mindfulness, with one of the aims being to improve my emotional regulation so that, in turn, I will become less reactive and so less likely to hurt others.   

There, there is another dimension to that, not only how my mindfulness practice will benefit me but also how this will be of benefit to others.  So, an ethical dimension to it, how my mindfulness practice will also benefit others.  Because as Buddhist Monk, humanitarian, and author Matthieu Ricard (2013) argued,

“Pure attention, however refined it may be, is never anything more than an instrument that can be used to achieve Awakening, but it can just as easily be the cause of immense suffering.” (para. 6)

As Feldman and Kuyken (2019) clearly state out in their book, when discussing ethics and secular mindfulness-based programs how,

This is a key point: Mindfulness is inherently ethical. It is a path of understanding and a way of being and acting rooted in non-harming and beneficence. If it is not rooted in this intentionality, it is not mindfulness. (p. 209)

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References

Armstrong, K. (2011). Twelve steps to a compassionate life [epub]. New York, go to sleep: Three Rivers Press.

Davis, J. (2015). Facing up to the question of ethics in mindfulness-based interventions. Mindfulness, 6(1), 46-48. doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0374-3

Feldman, C., & Kuyken, W. (2019). Mindfulness ancient wisdom meets modern psychology. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

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Gilbert, P., & Choden. (2014). Mindful compassion. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

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Monteiro, L. M., Musten, R. F., & Compson, J. (2015). Traditional and contemporary mindfulness: Finding the middle part in a tangle of concerns. Mindfulness, 6(1), 1-13. doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0301-7

Neusher, J., & Chilton, B. (Eds.). (2009). Golden rule: The ethics of reciprocity in world religions. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Purser, R. (2019). Mcmindfulness: How mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. United Kingdom: Watkins media.

Ricard, M. (2009, April 28). The sniper's "vigilance". Retrieved July 23, 2024 from Matthew Ricard - Buddhist Monk, humanitarian, author and photographer: https://web.archive.org/web/20150504114621/https://www.matthieuricard.org/blog/posts/a-sniper-s-mindfulness

Ricard, M. (2013, April 5). The sniper's "vigilance". Retrieved July 23, 23 from Matthew Ricard - Buddhist Monk, humanitarian, author and photographer: https://www.matthieuricard.org/la-vigilance-du-tireur-d-elite/

Schreuder, H. (2024, Jan 15). Don't read, meditate! Retrieved July 26, 2024 from TrIcycle: https://tricycle.org/article/ahba-abhidhamma/

Wielgosz, J., Goldberg, S. B., Karl, T. R., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2019). Mindfulness meditation and psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychopathology, 15, 285-316. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093423