< Issue No. 17 (2022)Article
Applied Buddhism: The Three Trainings and the Benefit of Integrating Wisdom (Prajñā) and Ethics (Śīla) with Mindfulness in Secular Contexts
Stanley, D. Phillip, Naropa University
Abstract
While the Buddhist path is classically described as the Three Trainings of ethics, meditation, and wisdom, starting in the 1980s, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have emphasized Buddhist-based meditation to the exclusion of the other elements. Recently some MBIs have incorporated elements of ethics and, more rarely, of teachings from the wisdom aspect. This paper explores teachings on wisdom and ethics that could be considered for inclusion in MBIs to increase their effectiveness, based on the highly developed psychological model of how we create and can work with painful afflicted mental states (kleśas) from the Vaibhāṣika and Sautrāntika schools that have been studied in the Central Asian and East Asian traditions to this day. Teachings from these two schools have been little used in the development of MBIs. Thus, the benefits of applying their distinctive teachings will be examined. The approach explored here is to use a non-normative pedagogy in secular contexts, aided by a method of contemplative inquiry based on the wisdom-related analytical meditation of the Indo-Tibetan tradition, to support personal inquiry into Buddhist teachings to enhance personal transformation beyond what is possible with the relative exclusion of wisdom and ethics. Parallels with Constructivist and Humanistic Theories of Learning, the emerging pedagogy of Contemplative Education, and the Cognitive Appraisal Model of Emotions will be explored to illustrate the potential effectiveness of the approach proposed here.