抽離或重構語境的正念？傳統佛教與當代之詮釋

Mindfulness De- or Recontextualized? Traditional Buddhist and Contemporary Perspectives

過去幾十年裏，源出佛教的正念禪修等方法迅速的受到肯定，認為有助於促進身心健康並提昇幸福感。然而，這股熱潮近來卻廣受批評，質疑這類的正念法，是在西方文化中被理解／曲解與移用／濫用。論者特別指出「玄秘正念」（mystifying mindfulness）的危害：將正念從傳統的框架中抽離，轉化為一種稀釋並去脈絡化的自助方法。儘管持有同感，但我們認為，應該給予這些評論適度的限制。首先，論者常忽略佛教並非同質性之傳統，它展現了顯著的多樣性。一般來說，論者的主張根據的是阿毗達摩（印度部派佛教），並傾向於忽略其它佛教傳統（尤其是北亞與東亞）的貢獻。本文憑藉於近來研究藏傳佛教大手印與中國佛教早期禪法的著作，論證當代正念觀夙有淵源，這對目前的論爭意義非凡。特別是，涵括了北亞與東亞的佛教傳統，我們得以對正念脈絡化的過程獲致更為精細的概念，並且彰顯出冥想期中正規練習的狹義語境，以及在冥想期之間非正規練習的廣義語境之不同。那麼用於研究後者之現代方法則需更加審慎，並放棄絕對去脈絡化之單純本質論。最後，本文對基於苦難與存在轉化廣義概念的正念之存在語境重構，進行了初步的個案研究。

In the past few decades, mindfulness meditation and other techniques of Buddhist origin have been rapidly gaining in recognition as means of facilitating psychophysical health and well-being. However, this growing enthusiasm has recently been checked by a host of criticism that questions the ways mindfulness has been (mis)construed and (mis)appropriated in Western culture. Critics have been especially vocal about the dangers of ＂mystifying mindfulness＂: extracting it from its traditional framework and transforming it into a watered-down, decontextualized self-help method. Although sympathetic to its main thrust, we believe such criticism must be appropriately qualified. To begin with, what critics often neglect is the fact that Buddhism is not a homogenous tradition, but exhibits great diversity. For the most part, critics base their claims on Abhidamma Buddhism and tend to ignore the contribution of other (particularly Northern and East Asian) Buddhist traditions. Drawing on recent work on Mahamudra in Tibetan Buddhism and early Chan in Chinese Buddhism, the paper argues that contemporary conceptions of mindfulness have telling historical precedents, which have important implications for current debates. Specifically, we suggest that the inclusion of Northern and East Asian Buddhist traditions provides us with a more nuanced conception of the process of contextualization and allows us to distinguish between the narrow context of formal practice (during meditation sessions) and the broad context of informal practice (between meditation sessions). It is then argued that contemporary approaches need to be more heedful of the latter and give up on the naïve essentialist notion of absolute decontextualization. Finally, we make a tentative case for an existentialist (re)contextualization of mindfulness based on a broader conception of suffering and existential transformation.