Mindfulness: The History
Mindfulness can be found in many religious and secular traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, yoga, and more recently non-religious meditation. Mindfulness has been practiced for thousands of years by people, either as a standalone practice or as part of a larger tradition.
Mindfulness was most popularized in the East by spiritual and religious institutions. In the West, however, it can be traced back to specific people and institutions. Even the West’s secular mindfulness tradition owes much of its origins to Eastern traditions and religions.
However, mindfulness is a subject that most Western mindfulness teachers and practitioners have learned from the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. This article will therefore focus on mindfulness as a Buddhist or Hindu perspective.
This is not meant to be taken to mean that mindfulness has been denied in other religions. Interested readers are encouraged to search for information on mindfulness as it relates to other religions. Leisa Aitken is a practicing Christian psychologist and clinical psychologist. This is only one possible point of entry.
A Short History of Hinduism
Although Hinduism is generally considered the oldest religion on the planet, it is difficult to trace its history.
It is because it was originally a combination of several religious traditions from the historical region that makes up India.
Also, Hinduism does not have a single founder or a concrete starting point.
The religious tradition was not called Hinduism, nor was it considered a single entity until British writers began to call Vedic traditions “Hinduism”, in the 1800s.
The Indus Valley, now Pakistan, was home to the earliest traditions that have been incorporated into Hinduism.
These religious traditions were still being developed in Vedic writings that date back to 2,500-3,000 years ago. These writings contained rituals and worship of gods, which are common to modern-day Hinduism.
Additional texts, which were written between 1,500 and 2,500 years ago, are part of present-day Hinduism. These texts include texts that introduce the concepts of dharma, temple worship, and texts about how to get there.
A few hundred years ago Hinduism was challenged in India by Islam’s rise. But 19th-century reformers revived Hinduism and helped to tie it to India’s national identity.
It worked because middle-class Indians began to identify with Hinduism in the middle of the 19th century (Hatcher 2007). The Indian independence movement in India consolidated this connection a hundred years later.
For millennia, mindfulness has been intertwined in Hinduism. The history of Hinduism is largely a history about mindfulness, from the Bhagavad Gita’s discussion of yoga to Vedic mediation. It is only a part of the history. Buddhism is another important player in the history mindfulness. And it should also be noted that Buddhism owes a lot to Hinduism.
