What is the origin of Mindfulness ? There is no doubt that it is a technique that has won many adherents in recent years. However, although athletes and celebrities have made it fashionable, it is much more ancestral than some may think. Let's know where he was born.
What is mindfulness
Mindfulness has a peculiar origin. But first, remember what this technique is. And it is nothing more than a full consciousness at all times . Whatever you do, always keep in mind that you are fully in control of your own breathing.
It is clear that this technique is very useful in various tasks of life. It favors concentration, efficiency, happiness Ahora Now, when I was born. Let's discover its origin.
What is the origin of Mindfulness
At this time we have to go back to Kapilavastu . This remote corner of the world was in what is now the border of India with Nepal. In addition, we not only march away in distance, but also in time, since we go back up to 2500 years. So old is Mindfulness .
In this situation, an ancient prince named Siddharta Gautama, son of the king of the Sakya known as Suddhodana, began to hate his palatial and easy life . In fact, he felt deep inner pain from the suffering he saw around him.
So Siddharta Gautama decided to get away from the comforts of the palace and his real life and chose to surround himself with an absolute asceticism. Then he gave himself to a deep and constant meditation, in which he hoped to find relief, but it was not.
Desperate to find answers, Siddharta Gautama decided to sit under a sacred fig tree located in Uruvela . As they say, his tiredness of the pain of others transported him to that place, where he took the seat from which he would not move until he found true knowledge .
Legend has it that the same night he sat under the sacred fig tree, he found response and revelation . However, it was not without first passing all the tests imposed by the god Mara. He tried to trick the young prince in a thousand ways, but they were all unsuccessful.
And from there, under the sacred fig tree in Uruvella, on the banks of a river that flows to the famous Ganges, Siddharta Gautama found enlightenment, so he became known as Buddha, whose translation is The Illuminated .
Buddha and the origin of Mindfulness
Buddha found a new way of life in Mindfulness, being fully aware of everything that happens in his life at all times. However, he left no written teaching. Even so, the essence of the philosophy of this endearing enlightened prince has survived for more than 20 centuries to the present day.
And hence the solid principles of Mindfulness were born . It is the case of being fully aware at all times of our life, giving total presence to the present. Also learning from one's experience, whether positive or negative, using love and never prejudice. And of course, always have an open heart, being compassionate and friendly.
Subsequently, teachers such as the Tibetan Buddhist monk Rinpoche, fled from Chinese repression in Tibet, studied the eyes of the Western human being. And this was a strong connection that others like Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn took advantage of to help their patients at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
It is curious how techniques such as Mindfulness, as ancestral almost as civilization itself, take force today as if they were a novelty. However, in our human history there is enormous wisdom that we do not always know how to take advantage of for our benefit. Luckily, Buddha's teachings are still valid and we can enjoy his great knowledge and goodness.
By Pedro, editor of the Great White Brotherhood
