The Lineage of Mindfulness

Whenever we are travelling or teaching in the West and we meet new people, they invariably initially respond in one of three ways. The first way is to immediately state or exclaim that ‘you are monks’. We haven’t quite worked out yet whether this is supposed to be a manner of greeting, an expression of shock or just a statement of fact. The second response—which also happens to be the one we prefer most—is for people to either shake our hands or to put their palms together before all parties gently bow. The third response that we frequently encounter—which brings us onto the subject of this article—is for people to forgo even saying hello and to straightaway ask the question ‘What lineage are you?’ We don’t encounter people asking this question quite so much when we are in the East, but in the West, people seem to place a great deal of importance on establishing which particular lineage a person ‘belongs’ to. It is not just between Buddhist meditation practitioners where lineage seems to be a frequent topic of discussion because we have also observed that the subject is increasingly being debated amongst individuals that follow secular approaches to meditation—including secular mindfulness-based approaches. In this Mindfulness in Practice article, following a brief explanation of the meaning of lineage, we introduce the concept of ‘authentic spiritual transmission’ and discuss the implications for Buddhist and non-Buddhist mindfulness practitioners wishing to advance along the path of awareness. …