Mindfulness as Presence

Traditional mindfulness, as developed in India and practiced in Southeast Asia, is cultivated by focusing on one aspect of experience at a time. In Japanese Zen, one’s attention is directed to a sense of the unification of body, breath, mind, and the activity at hand, as one totality. Practice in Japanese Zen is directed to the endeavor of engaging awareness—clear-minded awareness without thought and this simple act of awareness is what allows us to be present for and open to each moment of life. I heard what I think is a good illustration of this difference in which traditional mindfulness was compared to exercising by working at a bench press where one set of muscles is developed at a time in a systematic way; whereas, Zen practice was compared to swimming where you jump in and use everything at once, in a unified way. …