Andrew Skilton
King’s College
Mindfulness or vipassanā meditation has recently been adapted to be of great use in therapeutic interventions in Western medicine. Such meditation technique is applied for a variety of purposes, including the relief of depression – which we might tentatively view as the opposite of happiness. While we can analyse the nature of happiness itself, we can also look to an ancient form of meditation, borān kammaṭṭhāna, that is no longer widely practiced, but which places the development of happiness at the beginning of the Buddhist path. This meditation technique prioritises the development of delight and happiness as physically experienced qualities, allowing us to speculate on the potential therapeutic value of such a practice.
(Presented in the 2015 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Understanding Happiness, 16-17 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)