Contemplative Science and Secular Ethics

Brendan Ozawa-De Silva

doi:10.3390/rel7080098

Abstract

This article argues that the emerging project of contemplative science will be best served if it is informed by two perspectives. First, attention should be paid not only to non-analytical and/or mindfulness-based practices, but to a fuller range of contemplative practices, including analytical styles of meditation. Second, the issue of ethics must be addressed as a framework within which to understand contemplative practice: both theoretically in order to understand better the practices themselves and the traditions they come from, and practically in order to understand the ways in which contemplative practices are deployed in contemporary societies. The Tibetan Buddhist Lojong (blo sbyong) tradition and secularized practices derived from it, which are now an area of study in contemplative science, are examined as a kind of case study in order to make these two points and illustrate their importance and relevance for the future of this emerging field.

Highlights

Increasing interest in the scientific and interdisciplinary study of contemplative practices is giving rise to a field of study that may be called “contemplative science.” Despite the growing number of publications that examine in an empirical way the effects of contemplative practices such as meditation, theoretical work that would contextualize these studies lags far behind
The Tibetan Buddhist Lojong tradition and secularized contemplative practices adapted from that tradition are used in this article as a kind of case study in order to make these two points and illustrate their importance and relevance for the future of this emerging field
In this article, secularized Lojong-based approaches are examined to expand the purview of contemplative science and to show how a non-metaphysical basis for the entire field can be elucidated by pointing to key universal human experiences that can serve as axiomatic foundations for ethical reasoning

Summary

Introduction

Increasing interest in the scientific and interdisciplinary study of contemplative practices is giving rise to a field of study that may be called “contemplative science.” Despite the growing number of publications that examine in an empirical way the effects of contemplative practices such as meditation, theoretical work that would contextualize these studies lags far behind. The Lojong tradition emerged in Tibet in the eleventh century and consists of texts that concentrate on relatively simple to explain ( not necessarily simple to execute) practices that are often not elaborated upon in a very philosophical manner. In this article, secularized Lojong-based approaches are examined to expand the purview of contemplative science and to show how a non-metaphysical basis for the entire field can be elucidated by pointing to key universal human experiences that can serve as axiomatic foundations for ethical reasoning. This approach could help the emerging field of contemplative science. Other traditions can be examined in similar ways to expand the purview of contemplative science

Contemplative Science and Secular Ethics

Expanding Beyond Mindfulness

Compassion

Secular Ethics