Mindfulness is "the intentional, accepting and non-judgemental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment", which can be trained by meditational practices derived from Buddhist anapanasati.

The term "mindfulness" is derived from the Pali-term sati,[3] "mindfulness", which is an essential element of Buddhist practice, including vipassana, satipahna and anapanasati.

Mindfulness practice is being employed in psychology to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and in the prevention of relapse in depression and drug addiction.[4] It has gained worldwide popularity as a distinctive method to handle emotions.

The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness" originates in the Pali term sati and in its Sanskrit counterpart smti. The Abhidhammattha-sangaha, a key abhidharma text from the Theravada tradition, defines sati as follows:

The word sati derives from a root meaning 'to remember,' but as a mental factor it signifies presence of mind, attentiveness to the present, rather than the faculty of memory regarding the past. It has the characteristic of not wobbling, i.e. not floating away from the object. Its function is absence of confusion or non-forgetfulness. It is manifested as guardianship, or as the state of confronting an objective field. Its proximate cause is strong perception (thirasa) or the four foundations of mindfulness.[5]

Sati means not only, "moment to moment awareness of present events," but also, "remembering to be aware of something or to do something at a designated time in the future".[note 1] In fact, "the primary connotation of this Sanskrit term [smrti] (and its corresponding Pali term sati) is recollection".[note 1]

The Pali-language scholar Thomas William Rhys Davids (18431922) first translated sati in 1881 as English mindfulness in samm-sati "Right Mindfulness; the active, watchful mind".[6] Noting that Daniel John Gogerly (1845) initially rendered samm-sati as "Correct meditation",[7] Davids explained,

sati is literally 'memory' but is used with reference to the constantly repeated phrase 'mindful and thoughtful' (sato sampajno); and means that activity of mind and constant presence of mind which is one of the duties most frequently inculcated on the good Buddhist."[8]

John D. Dunne asserts that the translation of sati and smti as mindfulness is confusing. A number of Buddhist scholars have started trying to establish "retention" as the preferred alternative.[9] Bhikkhu Bodhi also points to the meaning of "sati" as "memory".[10][note 2] The terms sati/smriti have also been translated as:

According to Brown, Ryan, and Creswell, definitions of mindfulness are typically selectively interpreted based on who is studying it and how it is applied. Some have viewed mindfulness as a mental state, while others have viewed it as a set of skills and techniques.[11][12] A distinction can also be made between the state of mindfulness and the trait of mindfulness.

Excerpt from:
Mindfulness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia