What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?

In fact, these two concepts are never black and white. The current mainstream consensus among the public is that mindfulness belongs to a branch of meditation. However, many practitioners with traditional practice backgrounds believe that meditation is just one of the carriers of mindfulness practice, and no one is included. The definitional boundaries originally change according to the context of use.

Speaking of which, I also figured out the difference between the two when I first came into contact with the practice. I signed up for an introductory camp at that time, and the teacher gave an example of the scene on the first day - you were on the subway in the morning and someone stepped on your foot. The moment you were about to get angry, you suddenly realized "Oh, I am angry now" and did not let your temper flow. This is that you have practiced mindfulness in daily life, but you can't say that you were meditating just now, right?

This actually corresponds to the earliest definition in the academic world. When Kabat-Zinn separated mindfulness from traditional meditation for clinical intervention, the definition he gave was "the purposeful and non-judgmental anchoring of attention in the state of current experience." In essence, it is a state of awareness that can be seen in all scenes of eating, walking, and working. , and meditation while sitting with your eyes closed is just a training method to help you quickly become familiar with this state of awareness. Just like practicing reversing in an open field when you are learning to drive, that is training. When you really hit the road and can handle the road conditions freely, you have truly mastered the ability. In this case, practicing driving in an open field is meditation, and the state of being on the road is mindfulness.

Of course, there are different opinions. After all, the word "meditation" itself is a general term. It was originally a general term for concentration practices and meditation practices in all religions and non-religions. Transcendental meditation, lovingkindness meditation, and mindfulness meditation are all included in the category of meditation. If you look at it this way, it is fair to say There is absolutely no problem that mindfulness is a subdivision of meditation. Many novice introductory courses on the market now use the two words interchangeably. There is nothing wrong with it. After all, for those who are new to it, no matter what it is called, the core is to help you learn to bring back your wandering thoughts and stop fighting with the distracting thoughts in your mind.

I have been practicing for almost six years, and I rarely ask about the definitions of the two when talking to my colleagues. If someone really asks about the difference, I usually tell them not to worry about the name first, and just find a 10-minute guided audio and follow it. You can feel the moment of "Oh, I was distracted just now", and you will naturally You understand - if you sit there with your eyes closed and practice, you can call it mindfulness meditation. If you bring this awareness into life, then it is mindfulness. As for meditation, it is just the key you use when you enter. When the door opens, it doesn't really matter what the name of the key is.