Buddhist Romanticism

ourselves rewoven into the pattern of wholeness, into the immensity
of life, always happening, always here, whether we’re aware of it or
not.”
This attitude of acceptance is said to be developed through mindfulness
practice, which—contrary to the Buddha’s definition of mindfulness as a
function of active memory—is here defined as bare attention: an open,
receptive, pre-verbal awareness of all things as they impinge on the senses.
“Mindfulness is best described as ‘a noninterfering, non-reactive
awareness.’ It is pure knowing, without any of the projections of our
ego or personality added to the knowing.”
“Mindfulness is presence of mind, attentiveness or awareness. Yet
the kind of awareness involved in mindfulness differs profoundly
from the kind of awareness at work in our usual mode of
consciousness.… The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare
attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and
around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness
the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert,
contemplating the present event. All judgements and interpretations
have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped.
The task is simply to note whatever comes up just as it is occurring,
riding the changes of events in the way a surfer rides the waves on
the sea.”
* * *
10) (b) Because religion is a matter of taste, there is no one path for developing
this attitude of receptivity. The most that any teacher can offer are his or her own
opinions on the matter, in the event that they will resonate with other people. In
fact, the refusal to follow any prescribed path is a sign of authenticity in Emerson’s
sense of the word.
“No one can define for us exactly what our path should be.”
“To opt for a comforting, even a discomforting, explanation of
what brought us here or what awaits us after death severely limits
that very rare sense of mystery with which religion is essentially
concerned.… [I]f my actions in the world are to stem from an
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