[Avodah] Mindfulness & Does Judaism Promote it

[Micha Berger]

To reiterate my own position, after having spent many hours talking to
JuBus (which admittedly is a very skewed sliced of Buddhism as a
whole).

Mindfulness is NOT a Jewish value. "Eizehu chakham, haro'eh es
hanolad" -- we don't want to encourage people being in this minute to
the exclusion of the consequences of what they're doing.

Buddhism inherently encourages "sheiv ve'al ta'aseh" (as RnSB put it)
because they look at the moment as a static thing, the here-and-now.
We view it as part of a flow into the future. (With its moments of
advance and of retreat and preparation, but always heading forward.)

They look at being, we look at becoming.

The Kotzker asked his Chassidim, "If you see two people on a ladder,
one on the fourth rung and one on the tenth, which is higher?” The
chassidim, probably knowing it was a leading question, answered the
obvious, "The one on the tenth rung." "No," the rebbe replied, "he
might be descending the ladder. It is the one who is climbing upward."

The Dalai Lama wouldn't ask you if you're ascending or descending, but
rather if you took the time to fully enjoy the view your rung uniquely
affords.

Life is an avodah. Plan, work, progress.

Buddhism asks its followers to focus on the matter at hand, and if you
do that, the future will be inherently taken care of. The Torah asks a
person to actively plan and work toward the future -- and therefore
you're not only thinking of this point in time and space, but
everywhere your action will ripple outward afterward.

When selling this to a Jew who still has emotional attachment to
Buddhism, I call it "Mindfulness 2.0" -- "be here now", but realize
how broad here and now are. Not because I believe we encourage or
value anything a Buddhist would consider Mindfulness but because I
think they are more willing to accept the idea if viewed as a
modification and enhancement rather than being brought as a stark
contrast.


To give credit where due, Rick Roberson, a Buddhist (non-Jewish) co
worker, helped me write this post. (He thinks my bias is blazing, but
the content accurate.)

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha


-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv