I already wrote an "On Mindfulness" article[0]. Although, now, being exposed to new ideas, I believe I have a better grasp on "why the word 'Mindfulness'?".
I still believe that today's "Mindfulness" practices focus too much on emptiness, on "Mindlessness" (which is an okay thing), instead of the focus be on 'fulness'; like I said on my previous article about "Mindfulness". I won't get deep on the why of this, but I will tip my toes on this water.
A child's mind is mostly blank, and the emptier the mind, necessarily makes that mind closer to unity. A filled mind can be a divided mind. So, by practicing emptiness techniques to the mind, it will make that mind united (by means of emptying it) if that mind is divided.
I have now reached a conclusion that "Mindfulness" comes from having a mind[1] that is all united, a mind without partitions/barriers, an open mind, a mind that is all one[2]. 'Ful' here means "open".
So, my take is that "Mindfulness" disapproves techniques (or meditations) that divide the mind. For example, being judgemental creates division on the mind. Maybe that is why there is a quote from Buddha saying something similar to "Love is the lack of judgement".
Saying the relative word "not", also creates division on the mind of the speaker. Because "not" can be a sharp contrast to something that "is".
Finally, I believe that (Hatha?) Yoga is the best practices for a way into "Mindfulness". Although, this is just my conclusion.
[0] gopher://tilde.club/0/~keyboardan/phlog/2025-07-04__On_Mindfulness.txt
[1] For me, "mind" is not an external thing to the body. I regard "mind" as being "the brain", although I can accept the view of "mind" being the heart.
[2] If you start counting on "one", instead of starting to count on "zero".
tags: #mindfulness, #yoga, #buddishm, #kadampa
keyboardan
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