| Summary: | Mind-body approaches such as mindfulness meditation are increasingly
incorporated into health care. Despite a growing interest in mindfulness, its Buddhist
philosophical underpinnings remain unexplored in nursing. Without an awareness o f the
nondualistic assumptions embedded in mindfulness and Buddhism, interpretations of this
Eastern practice are limited. This inquiry engages Buddhist philosophical thought and the
experiences of meditation practitioners.
The purpose of this study was to explore mindfulness by those who regularly
practiced mindfulness meditation and were caregivers in a Zen hospice or living with a
life threatening illness. Approximately ten weeks of residency in a Zen monastery, and
participation in day-to-day volunteer caregiving in the Zen hospice were undertaken. Indepth
unstructured conversations were conducted; mindful, open-ended reflexivity
(Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 1991) and koan construction were used in ongoing
analyses and interpretation.
Theoretical explorations in this inquiry constitute and reflect knowledge(s) about
that which is unknowable, indistinct, and ambiguous. The inquiry addresses how we may
point to 'that' which is beyond words with attention given to language and what happens
with/in language as we write and are written through texts. Unconventional forms and
writing are used to question conventional privileging of representational binaries that
value words over silence, life over death, clarity over paradox, and knowing over
unknowing.
Death, re-interpreted in the Buddhist sense of the participants, is constructed as
momentary experience occurring each mind-moment. Life is not necessarily privileged
over death, but rather is seen as a doubling o f living/dying intertwining within
momentary awareness. A re-configuring of living/dying is suggested that differs from
Western perspectives where 'living' holds hegemony over 'dying'. Death is situated in
the midst o/:—liminal space(s) of being/not being and ubiquitous change while
mindfulness meditation is seen as a parallel process providing an embodied realization of
this transience.
These perspectives may help nurses and health care professionals go beyond
dualistic views and provide guidance for abiding in the midst of suffering that may be
beyond words. Further inquiry into non-conceptual awareness and its relationship with
health and wellness is needed. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
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