The practice of meditation has traditionally been passed orally from teacher to student, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint its exact evolution throughout history. It was always thought that meditation should be taught by a teacher at the personal level, and that the written word would be misinterpreted, particularly without the chance for proper guidance when important questions arose.
Meditation Begins
Nevertheless, we can trace meditation or contemplative practices back to at least 3000-5000 BCE, where wall art paintings from this period have been found, depicting people sitting in meditative cross-legged postures with eyes half-closed.
However, written records from around 1500 BCE have been found in India, which tended to focus on the training of the mind, often referred to as Jhana. Many of these records come from Hindu traditions of Vedantism, where the Vedic texts originate from. However, most in-depth texts, particularly those related to mindfulness, did not start appearing until sometime around 200-400 BCE.
The main aim of meditation is considered to have always been liberation from the suffering of the physical world – a way to transcend beyond and achieve a state of lasting peace. Much of texts and philosophy of that day provided commentary on meditation as a practice to reduce attachment to sensual desires and that the body was the source of suffering. They taught the common person not to be attracted to external objects that provided pleasure, which would result in further suffering.
This led to many serious practitioners or ‘yogis’ undertaking ascetic practices which involved abstinence from all sensual and worldly pleasures. They renounced all material possessions and spent large amounts of time with very little food.
The Origins of Mindfulness
A Way Out of Suffering
Around 500 BCE, a man named Siddhartha Gautama discovered a unique philosophy of meditation, which is widely referred to today as Buddhism, and even comes under the guise of ‘mindfulness’. However, Siddhartha did not teach Buddhism – he taught a way of life. His teaching was only made sectarian by those that followed his teachings over the next few centuries.
He practiced all the existing techniques in his day, including ascetism and the deepest levels of mental concentration (the Jhanas), but found that he was still not fully liberated from all the defilements in his mind.
At the time, most believed that the wisdom they received from listening to others or reading would liberate them. It was a common belief that once a person heard the truth, it would be enough that one accepted it at the intellectual level and continued it out of faith and devotion. This is why rituals are commonly practiced in many of these traditions. Many practicing meditators were also of the view that sensual desire, or craving, caused suffering. However, this was mostly aimed at external objects and the practice was to not to react to these external objects of craving.
Unique Contribution of the Buddha
Siddhartha’s unique contribution to meditation was that he discovered a way to directly experience one’s own nature as impermanent, unsatisfactory and substanceless, which cut at the root cause of suffering. He taught that the source of suffering was within oneself, not from any external objects. This root cause was ignorance about the true nature of reality within oneself – so he taught the development of insight by direct experience of this reality.
This practice is commonly referred to as Vipassana – meaning to see things as they really are. It is also the practice from which mindfulness stems. As a result of this insight into the nature of reality, craving and attachment disappear, and a person is set free from all ignorance and suffering.
Siddhartha showed a way to go beyond mere beliefs or philosophies. He realised that to accept the truth at the intellectual level was insufficient to liberate one from the cycle of suffering. To attain final liberation, one must witness the truth of impermanence, suffering and substanceless directly within oneself.
His unique contribution showed that between the external object and the mental reflex of craving, there is a missing link – with that link being the sensations one feels. Whenever an object is encountered through the five physical sense or the mind, a sensation arises, and with that sensation craving arises – either a craving to prolong it or a craving to be rid of it. He discovered that it was this habit pattern that led to suffering and as a result, discovered the path out of suffering.
While many of his discourses pointed a person in the direction of this truth, there is one discourse that stands out amongst the rest. This teaching, from which the practice of mindfulness arose, was said to be the direct path to liberation – the Satipatthana Sutta, also commonly referred to as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
History of Satipatthana and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
The Satipatthana discourse was said to be delivered by the Buddha in the city of Kuru, a market town in northern India, around 450BCE. There was a good reason he decided to give this discourse in the town – it was full of people well established in morality. Morality was, and is always still considered the foundation for a strong meditation practice, without which one cannot proceed very far on the path of meditation. A moral mind leads to a stable mind. Since these people were already very diligent in their morality, he could teach them the direct path to realisation.
The discourse taught the establishing of four foundations of mindfulness:
- Mindfulness of the body
- Mindfulness of feelings
- Mindfulness of the mind
- Mindfulness of mental contents
It instructs followers to be mindfully aware of every experience through these foundations, from moment to moment, without reacting to it, knowing that this experience is impermanent.
The teaching was recounted by Buddha’s chief disciple and assistant, Ananda, who was said to be perfect in memory. It was then passed down orally, as was tradition, until around the time of Emperor Asoka around 200 BCE. After experiencing the benefits of Satipatthana, this emperor began the introduction of the first Buddhist texts as a way to preserve the teaching.
However, the Satipatthana Sutta was only written in its entirety in the present form we see it today around 20-50 BCE. At the time, there was much war going on and the lineage of oral transmission of the Tipitaka (the Buddhist teachings) was nearly broken. The Sangha (the followers of the teachings) made the momentous decision to write down the Tipitaka, asserting that study and preservation of the texts was more important than practice of their contents.
Modern Mindfulness
The concept of meditation began in the West in the 1700s, when some of the Eastern philosophical texts began to be translated into different European languages. However, they were only really read and discussed by historians and philosophers, including Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, who used these texts to complement their thinking. Even Thoreau and Emerson received much inspiration from Eastern philosophy.
The 1900s saw many more ancient Pali texts being translated to English, particularly those in the South East Asian Theravada tradition of meditation – which are based on the teachings of Buddha and the Satipatthana Sutta. These texts emphasized the development of mindfulness of the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude. Other texts, such as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, published in 1927, also started to draw much interest from scholars and some members of the public alike.
Meditation really only kicked off in the West in the 1900s when yogis such as Swami Vivekanda, Paramahansa Yogananda and Maharishi Mahesh started teaching and spreading these philosophies in the United States. Adoption of some of these practices by famous bands such as the Beatles, in addition to the ‘hippie’ movement helped spread these teachings, although it was still limited to a very small proportion of the population.
In the 1970s, more research was starting to be conducted into the benefits of meditation, which started building more interest in a Western population that needed hard scientific evidence of its benefits. Dr. Herbet Benson, a Harvard professor, studied the effectiveness of meditation and published The Relaxation Response in 1975, another widely influential text.
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn introduced his Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) program, based on ancient Buddhist mindfulness practices, and opened the Stress Reduction Clinic. This program started to conduct many studies and was cited a large number of times by many journals. It adapted the concept of mindfulness from the Satipatthana Sutta to a more westernised approach. In the 1990s, mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) started to be used to treat patients, with some great results.
More and more celebrities, such as Oprah, began to practice and preach the benefits of meditation during the late 1990s – which is when these practices, including mindfulness, started to gain traction. Many more books were starting to be written – including Eckhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’, which really emphasized the importance of developing constant awareness of the present moment. Thicht Nhat Hanh, sometimes referred to as the father of mindfulness, was also a massive influence on the mindful movement, publishing over 70 books.
Many contemporary psychologists and science journalists also started practicing meditation to test its benefits in the field. Daniel Goleman, Daniel Siegel, Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg and Tara Brach, just to name a few, really propelled the movement with their various publications and talks.
Most of these figures actually began their practice in Vipassana meditation, with Burmese teacher, S.N. Goenka. Goenka brought the actual practice of Vipassana to the world on a mass scale, eventually setting up over 300 meditation centres in over 80 countries around the world. They would go on to become the first Western teachers of mindfulness as we know it today. In the year 2000, there were only 10 journal article publications on mindfulness. In 2018 alone, there was 842 studies conducted.
However, arguably one of the most influential factors that has assisted the spread of the actual practice of mindfulness is the role of technology. Modern day apps such as Headspace and Calm teach mindfulness in a simple and easy to access form for everyone to practice. Prominent figures such as Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk and co-founder of Headspace, brought this practice to the masses in a non-religious, non-sectarian way that suited a fast-paced modern lifestyle.
Today, meditation and mindfulness is taught in schools and across many organisations. Mindfulness programs and retreats are available everywhere, with more and more people experiencing its benefits. There are hundreds of apps and millions of meditation recordings available from many sources. Meditation is becoming much more mainstream, and may soon become a part of everyday life, and a way of life, for most people on the planet.
A (Very) Brief History of Mindfulness
| 3000 – 5000 BCE | First recorded depictions of humans sitting in meditative postures on wall art in India. |
| 1500 BCE | Ancient Vedic texts are written, mentioning meditation and the training of the mind. |
| 400 – 500 BCE | Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, seeks liberation from suffering, discovering a technique which forms the foundation of modern mindfulness. |
| 50 – 200 BCE | A series of wars and changes in thinking caused the first Pali texts to be written based on the Buddha’s teachings. |
| 1700s | The first Eastern philosophical texts began to be translated into English and other European languages, inciting interest amongst scholar. |
| 1800s | First Western philosophies based on Eastern teachings begin to emerge – particularly from Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Thoreau. |
| Early 1900s | Many more Pali texts start to be translated to English. The first early piece of scientific research on meditation is published. Eastern ‘yogis’ start delivering speeches at international conferences. |
| 1950s | The death of Mahatma Gandhi arouses interest in meditation. More studies on relaxation effects are conducted, particularly using EEGs. Transcendental meditation takes off slowly based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. |
| 1960s | The Vipassana movement starts gaining traction, with SN Goenka starting to conduct the first 10-day courses. |
| 1970s | Jon Kabat-Zinn introduces his Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) program. Dr. Herbet Benson publishes The Relaxation Response. |
| 1980s | Vipassana meditation centres are opened in Massachusetts and Blackheath, Australia, becoming one of the first outside India. |
| 1990s | Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) starts to be used to treat patients, with great results. Increased attention in meditation and mindfulness from celebrities. |
| 2000s | Hundreds of studies into the benefits of mindfulness are conducted. Thousands of books are published. Interest among the public starts to take off with widely available information and the introduction of modern day apps. |