Reclaiming the Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness: Toward a Dharma-Guided Clinical Paradigm

Title

Reclaiming the Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness: Toward a Dharma-Guided Clinical Paradigm

Creator

Sheikh, Mohammad Asif

Description

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have gained clinical prominence yet often omit the ethical and ontological dimensions central to Buddhist traditions. Building on the public health analysis by Oman (2025) of mindfulness along 14 axes (A1A14), which finds alignment on prevention, stress/mental health, resilience, and multisectoral collaboration but identifies gaps in epidemiologic foundations, multilevel intervention design, cultural/religious adaptation, equity, and attention to the collective attentional environment, we propose a Dharma-guided model that directly addresses these implementation challenges (A6A13). Specifically, we outline: (a) culturally responsive adaptations that preserve ethical integrity; (b) multilevel delivery (individual, group, institution, and community) through stepped-care and community-owned pathways; (c) clinician competencies in intercultural/interreligious literacy; (d) metrics and study designs that build the missing epidemiologic base; and (e) interventions responsive to societys attentional environment. This public health-oriented translation repositions MBIs as vehicles for existential insight, moral development, and culturally grounded healing with population-level relevance, complementing the agenda of Oman (2025) and advancing an implementation-ready framework for diverse settings. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.

Source

Mindfulness;Volume;16;Issue;11;pp.3348-3357

Date

01-01-2025

Publisher

Springer

Subject

Buddhist psychology; Clinical mindfulness; Cultural adaptation; Dharma-guided mindfulness; Ethical foundations; Mindfulness-based interventions

Coverage

Sheikh M.A., School of Psychological Sciences, Christ University, Bangalore, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 18688527;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Letter

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-025-02684-8

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019502811?origin=resultslist