There are hundreds of forms of Buddhist meditation, some for developing deep states

of concentration and mental bliss, some for analyzing the constituents of mind and
body to find that there is no self, and some for meeting the Buddha face-to-face.
Among these, mindfulness, commonly assumed to be the primary form of Buddhist
meditation, has only recently risen to prominence.

Mindfulness mania is sweeping the land, with mindfulness being prescribed for high
blood pressure, obesity, substance abuse, relationship problems, and depression, to
name just a few examples. While some mindfulness teachers maintain that what they
are teaching is a distinctly secular pursuit, many others claim it is the very
essence of Buddhist practice. Regardless, in the current media, mindfulness is
strongly associated with Buddhism. �Moment-to-moment, nonjudgmental awareness,�
however, is not what mindfulness has historically meant in Buddhism. Indeed,
whatever relationship this interpretation of mindfulness has to Buddhist thought
can be traced back no earlier than the last century.

The Sanskrit term smrti (Pali, sati) was first translated as �mindfulness� in 1881
by Thomas W. Rhys Davids (1843�1922), a former British colonial officer in Sri
Lanka who went on to become the most celebrated Victorian scholar of Buddhism. In
Buddhism, smrti is not so much a type of meditation as a factor necessary for
success in any type of meditation. In a list of 37 factors conducive to
enlightenment, mindfulness occurs five times, and it is also included as the
seventh element of the eightfold path.

Among the three trainings (trisiksa) necessary for enlightenment�in morality,

meditation, and wisdom�mindfulness is included in the second, the training in
meditation (samadhi). It is mindfulness that places the mind on the chosen object
of meditation and returns the mind to that object when it wanders. As a well-known
meditation instruction says, �Tie the wild elephant of the mind to the post of the
meditation object with the rope of mindfulness.� Mindfulness prevents distraction.
Mindfulness is also said to protect the mind from the intrusion of unwanted
elements�whether they be from the senses or from thoughts�like a guard at the door.

Related: The Buddha�s Original Teachings on Mindfulness

The term mindfulness figures prominently in a famous discourse of the Buddha

entitled the Satipatthana Sutta (Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness). Four
objects of mindfulness are prescribed: mindfulness of the body; mindfulness of
sensations, which here refers to pleasurable, painful, and neutral physical and
mental sensations; mindfulness of mental states, in which one observes the mind
when influenced by different positive and negative emotions; and mindfulness of
dharmas, which here means the contemplation of several key doctrinal categories,
including the constituents of mind and body and the four noble truths.

The first of the four, mindfulness of the body, involves 14 exercises, beginning
with mindfulness of the inhalation and exhalation of the breath. This is followed
by mindfulness of the four physical postures of walking, standing, sitting, and
lying down. This is then extended to a full awareness of all activities.

Thus, mindfulness is not restricted to formal sessions of seated meditation but is

meant to accompany all activities in the course of the day. This is followed by
mindfulness of various foul components of the body (asubhabhavana), a rather
unsavory list that includes fingernails, bile, spittle, and urine. Next is
mindfulness of the body as composed of the four elemental qualities (mahabhuta) of
earth (solidity), water (cohesion), fire (warmth), and air (mobility). Finally,
there are �charnel ground contemplations�: mindfulness of the body observing nine
successive stages of decomposition of a human corpse.

Related: The Biggest Misconception About Buddhism

Mindfulness of the body is intended to result in the understanding that the body is
a collection of impure elements that incessantly arise and cease, utterly lacking
any semblance of a permanent self. That is, the body, like all conditioned things,
is marked by three characteristics (trilaksana): impermanence, suffering, and
nonself. Clearly, mindfulness here is hardly �nonjudgmental awareness.�

The story of how the popular understanding of mindfulness derived from modern
Vipassana meditation and how Vipassana first came to be taught to laypeople in
Burma in the early decades of the 20th century is told in Erik Braun�s article
�Meditation en Masse� in the Spring 2014 issue of Tricycle. There is thus no need
to retell that story here.

Armed with this knowledge, Buddhists of the world can unite in the fight against
high blood pressure, but need not concede that the mindfulness taught by various
medical professionals today was somehow taught by the Buddha.