Expanding the border of science education through the lens of Buddhist mindfulness

Abstract

This is a hermeneutic phenomenological study that describes and interprets Wong’s, the first author lived experience in the borderlands of science and Buddhist mindfulness as a science education doctoral student in Thailand. I explore my experiences in learning with multiple mindfulness teachers, including Thich Nhat Hanh from Buddhist traditions. and Additionally, I explore the affordances of being in the borderland of science and Buddhism, and how Buddhism can expand the border of science education through the inclusion of important topics, such as mindfulness, emotional wellbeing, and interbeing. This study also examines the roadblocks that are preventing deeper integration of science and mindfulness, including empiricism, scientism, individualism, materialism, and dualism. My standpoint is that to overcome the 21st grand challenges, teachers of science need to have the courage to cross the borders of various disciplines and help students develop essential skills for cultivating a healthy, balanced, and mindful lifestyle.

Living in borderlands

I, the first author, was born in Hong Kong, a metropolitan city in China that was once colonized by British over a century ago. In the past, there was a political border separating Hong Kong as the British sovereign state and mainland China. A border is a rigid and clear-cut form of boundary (Mura 2016). It set, organized, and regulated people’s social and psychological existence (Marsico 2016). Unlike borders, borderland is fuzzy and diffuse. Hong Kong was a borderland, a political and geographical area near a boundary where the East met the West. On the surface, Western values such as capitalism, consumerism, and individualism appeared to dominate the mainstream culture of the city. However, many Hong Kong Chinese still upheld many Chinese values and traditions. After the turnover to China in 1997, Hong Kong Chinese remain as border citizens living in a cultural interface.

Life in the borderlands often produces uncertainty, tension, and constant negotiations of identities because it is a space where differences and contradictions become explicit (Nelson and Phillips 2019). Throughout my life, I have been crossing many geographical borders as well as ideological borders. I always negotiate between different identities such as Chinese, British, Thai, teacher, science educator, and mindfulness practitioner. As a seasoned border citizen, I do not feel the need to adhere to a particular identity or an ideology. All ideologies are different lenses that people use to see the world depending on the space and time. I see difference as a learning opportunity. Egon Guba and Yvonna Lincoln (1994) wrote that any given paradigm or worldview merely represents the most sophisticated view of its proponents, and they are all inventions of the human mind that are subject to human error, no matter how well argued. Problems arise when people become attached to a fixed identity or a particular ideology that they fail to notice the biases associated with their lenses and reject other knowledge systems prematurely. When a person is fixated on certain beliefs about what the world should be like, how the world should be known and what knowledge is more valuable than others, it leads to prejudice, discrimination, and oppression of other knowledge systems.

In this article, I examine the borderlands of ideologies, particularly science and Buddhism. Since the rise of Enlightenment in the West, there has been a division between science and spirituality. Science has evolved from a rational methodology for inquiry into scientism, a new scientific and dogmatic worldview that informs people what to believe and how they should live their lives (Walach and Rich 2019). Scientism originates from logical empiricism, which is an ideology that aims to structure philosophical discourse for verifying scientific theories and to align all knowledge into a scientific worldview (Godfrey-Smith 2010). The ontological and epistemological assumptions of scientism are oppressing other ways of knowing (Tobin 2015) and limiting the potential of science education in moving global citizens toward a healthier and more sustainable future. As a result, it has been challenging for science to integrate with mindfulness more deeply because of its association with Buddhism, despite of considerable evidence showing its various benefits for our wellbeing.

Spirituality can also be rational. For example, practicing mindfulness is about knowing when the mind is biased and how our emotions mediate our thoughts, our being, and our relationship with others. It is about knowing that thoughts, views, beliefs, feelings, emotions, and even consciousness are uncertain, everchanging, and imperfect. And all these mental phenomena play an important role in how we make sense of this world. It is vital for scientists to know how all faculties of the human mind work together, rather than just fixating on cognition. In addition, mindfulness supports the cultivation of self-awareness, resilience, empathy, and the ability to take alternative views, which are important qualities for being a socially responsible global citizen. Thus, I advocate mindfulness to be included as an important part of the twenty-first century school curriculum.

A border is an outer edge, the end of a safe zone, and the beginning of an unsafe zone (Nelson and Phillips 2019). A safe zone is where certainty and coherence are assumed, whereas an unsafe zone is an uncertain and an open space. Crossing borders presumes fear and risk (Lugo 1997). Quite often, people build thick borders around an identity and around a community so that they can feel somewhat safe. However, we are suggesting that rigid ideological or disciplinary borders are not necessary. The purpose of this study is to dissolve boundaries in social science and science education, science and spirituality, self, and others, human and nature, through the lens of mindfulness. Through including multiple voices and worldviews, I intend to demonstrate that embracing uncertainty can lead to innovation, awakening, and healing.

This is a hermeneutic phenomenological study about my experience as a science educator working in Thailand, crossing the borders between Buddhist mindfulness practice and science education. Phenomenological studies aim to understand the essential meanings of a social phenomenon through penetrating deep into human experience (van Manen 1997). Paul Ricoeur explains that hermeneutic phenomenology used self as the subject matter of knowledge, creation, and value acts (Petrovicci 2013). Through describing and interpreting the subject’s lived experiences, the readers get to see how the subject makes sense of the world.

I consider cogenerative dialogue (i.e., cogen) as an appropriate research method to study borderlands because cogen aims to examine the contradictions and nuances between different ontologies. Cogen is a multilogical research method developed by Kenneth Tobin and his colleagues. Cogen embraces diversity of voices as a resource and addresses the needs of all stakeholders without prioritizing anyone’s voice in discussions around a salient topic of interest (Tobin 2015). To gain a deep understanding of Buddhists’ ontology, epistemology, and axiology, I invited Jess Koffman, an experienced mindfulness instructor from Canada, to engage in a series of cogens surrounding the topics on mindfulness, education, and society. Later, Koffman introduced Venerable Krit Nimmalo and Malee Palawongse, who are renowned mindfulness educators in Thailand to join our conversation. All coresearchers participated in a hermeneutic cycle to interpret the transcripts of cogens. I seek to explore the affordances for being in borderlands and transcend the roadblocks that are blocking the deeper integration of science and mindfulness practice, including scientism, individualism, materialism, behaviorism, dualism, and religious dogmatism.

Behaviorism in contemporary psychology

My interest in studying the human mind comes from my motivation to help a close relative called Lucy (pseudonym) who suffered from depression. Lucy grew up in a turbulent family and experienced physical abuse in her childhood. Although she had a successful career and a loving husband in adulthood, she had difficulty in managing her emotions. She constantly ruminated about her traumatic childhood experiences and seemed to be trapped in the past. Whenever a stressful situation arose, Lucy began to have suicidal thoughts. Her unstable mental state had a negative impact on her health, but she refused to seek professional help.

Depression is a common disorder that has enormous medical, social, and personal costs. It often starts early in life and runs a recurrent course (Fletcher 2021). I wanted to understand the cause of depression and find a way to help Lucy as well as other friends who suffered from depression. Therefore, about 20 years ago, I chose psychology as my major in college. Since the beginning of the twentieth century until now, psychology and education were dominated by a variety of empiricist epistemologies, including behaviorism, instrumentalism, and pragmatism (Kincheloe and Tobin 2009). Behaviorism is a derivative of empiricism, assuming that objective behavior is the only concern of research and the only basis of theories that explain one’s social life. Hence, behaviorism rejects introspection and consciousness, and the main goal of behaviorist psychology is to predict and control human behaviors (Kincheloe and Tobin 2009). Throughout the six years of studying psychology, I learned how to understand people through examining their brain activities or behaviors with psychophysiological tests. However, I rarely learned how to self-reflect or to understand my own suffering at a deeper level.

I tried to apply the theories that I learned from psychology courses into practice while I was volunteering as a crisis hotline counselor at the New River Valley Community Center for about 18 months. My job was to provide counseling service to people who attempted to commit suicide, and to liaise with the police to identify their locations in case of emergency. The knowledge that I gained from lectures on clinical psychology and neuroscience helped me identify what kind of mental illnesses my clients suffered from. However, I realized that it was not enough to help my clients get unstuck from their negative emotions and the vicious cycle of self-harm. Quite often, clients with depression were trapped in a negative narrative about themselves and others. Most of them were taking psychiatric drugs, which helped them alleviate some symptoms but rarely cured their mental illnesses. Sometimes, the use of anti-depressant comes with some negative side effects, such as lower libido and weight gain, which deter patients from using anti-depressants.

Understanding the physicality of the brain is not the same as understanding how the human mind works. Based on many cases of suicides that I dealt with, I learned that depression is more complex than a chemical imbalance in the brain. Every client has a unique journey of self-discovery and spiritual growth. Through offering my attention and empathizing with my clients’ lived experiences, I understood a lot more about suffering than interpreting numerical data from psychometric tests. I recognized that reducing all mental phenomena to scientific accounts of physiological processes and states does not lead to insights about the root cause of mental illness, the essence of people’s lived experiences, or any meaningful individual and social transformations. Moreover, most of my clients were college students. I noticed that mental stability was crucial for concentration and school satisfaction. However, in many schools, students are rarely taught how to manage their own emotions when their lives get difficult.

Turning to Buddhism

I was baptized as a Catholic when I was five. Most of my family members, including Lucy, are Catholics and we joined the Sunday service every week for many years. I love the story of Jesus, who is the symbol of love and compassion. However, I do not like the idea that God banishes those people who are not Christians to hell. I think that is not what a loving god will do.

After graduating from college, I began to learn about Buddhism. I explored how contemplative practices could help people get unstuck from negative emotions and suicidal thoughts. I moved to Thailand in 2009 and worked as a science and math teacher in an international school in Bangkok. During a one-day retreat in 2010 in Pakchong, I came across Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk who founded the Plum Village monastery in France. The retreat began in early morning. We first had vegan breakfast and Hanh led a walking meditation. Hanh asked his students, “Do you know how to walk? Have you arrived?” I found these questions intriguing because who did not know how to walk. Hanh explained, “When we walk, we bring our body and mind to the present.” This was the first time that I had practiced walking meditation. I noticed that my mind was always busy thinking while I was walking. However, I experienced several short moments in which my mind stopped thinking and just enjoyed the silence. Those moments of getting unstuck from thoughts were rejuvenating.

After the walking meditation, followers from different countries and religions gathered to listen to Hanh’s dhamma talk. Hanh shared his experiences in the Vietnam War. He was a peace activist who tried to persuade both the American leaders and the communist party in Vietnam to stop the war. However, he was not welcomed by both parties and was exiled to France. In other words, he had lived in a borderland as well. His experiences motivated him to promote world peace through engaged Buddhism. Hanh’s passion in engaging young people in mindfulness practice and reducing their suffering deeply touched me.

After the retreat, I began to study Hanh’s teachings. I recognized that Hanh dedicated his life to breaking down boundaries. For example, in his book entitled Going home: Jesus and Buddha as brothers, he explains how such concepts as holy spirit and mindfulness converge. He also encourages people to embrace Buddha and Jesus, the symbols of compassion, in every moment of their daily life. Before reading this book, I worried that my identity as a Catholic might conflict with my new identity as a Buddhist. However, this book brought me the peace of mind because according to Hanh, both Christianity and Buddhism aim to help people reduce suffering.

Hanh emphasizes the importance of cultivating true happiness and true love. He said true happiness is possible when we love ourselves, others, and every part of nature in an equanimous way. Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare (2017) propose that mindfulness helps us overcome dualistic way of thinking, that is a mentality that separates good from bad, suffering from happiness, human beings from nature and so on. Moreover, his book entitled Interbeing explains the dialectic relationship between human beings and nature. Interbeing is the insight of the interconnection among all beings and things in our ecosystem. Through the insight of interbeing, we can empathize with the suffering of other beings and stop harming each other.

Since 2011, I have been participating in a by-monthly gathering with the Plum Village community called A Day of Mindfulness. Later, I joined the Mindful Living program with a few fellow teachers and spent time with the monastics. Most of the participants had been through some traumas, such as wars, abuse, or death of loved ones. They regarded the Plum Village as a place for healing and for transform sadness into wisdom. Spending time in nature, getting away from city life, and being in noble silence are essential for the mind to take a good rest. Living in the Plum Village made me fell in love with the forests. I thought it would be a wonderful learning experience for my students to appreciate the richness of nature, rather than just reading about it from science textbooks.

I slowly adopted the practices from the Plum Village, such as being with nature, being present with every daily activity, deep relaxation, and slowing down, my lifestyle. Moreover, I began to explore how I could use mindfulness practice to enhance my students’ psychological resilience. I described my experiences in a book chapter entitled An autobiographical study about an educator’s journey in awakening, healing and liberation through mindfulness practices (Yau Yan Wong 2020).

The problem with scientism

Since 2011, I have been devoting my energy to enhancing students’ emotional intelligence through conducting research related to mindfulness practice in my classroom. Wellness, sustainability, and literate citizenry are the highly desirable goals of science education and mindfulness practice is a promising practice in achieving these goals (Powietrzynska et al., 2015). I consider the science classroom as an appropriate context for mindfulness practice. Since 2019, I pursued a doctoral degree in science education, attempting to promote wellbeing and a sustainable lifestyle in my school community through mindfulness practice.

In the beginning of my doctoral study, I realized that I stepped into a borderland. I faced resistance from many researchers that I came across in Thailand, who considered mindfulness as a construct that is limited to Buddhism or psychology only. I came across a science educator in Thailand who told me that scientists are supposed to study phenomena that are observable and measurable. Hence, he argued that human emotions, consciousness, or spirituality are beyond the scope of science. I asked him which subject in schools would address topics such as mental health. He said, “Maybe educational psychology or Buddhist Studies, but not science education for sure.”

What the above educator said is about scientism, not science. If science is about understanding natural phenomena through rational methods of inquiry, it can also be used to study people’s inner experiences. However, scientism on the other hand is a worldview that extends the insight of natural sciences to all other aspects people’s way of thinking and living (Walach and Keich 2005). Historically, there is a boundary between social science and natural science. Social science is regarded as soft science whereas natural science is regarded as hard science. The degree of hardness is determined by the level of objectivity and quantification. Moreover, there is a separation between human beings and other animals or matter. Social science is about human beings, but natural science is about other livings things, matter, or energy. The paper on animism by Heesoon Bai’s (2015), a Korean philosopher, criticizes that such a dualistic way of thinking in science education has caused the disconnection between human beings and the rest of the ecosystem and the deterioration of our planet.

In the past, social scientists attempted to borrow empiricism from natural science to make social sciences more rigorous. Behaviorism as a derivative of empiricism restricts the scope of inquiry to the outer experiences and objects that can be observed, measured, or produced. As a result, emotions and inner experiences have been studied in a mechanical and decontextualized way. However, numerous scholars such as Immanuel Kant criticized such approach ignored the free will and agency of human beings (Taylor 2014). Scientism and behaviorism have significant impacts on our education system. For too long, modern education has been focusing much on collecting data, efficiency, and productivity. Educators have devoted too much energy to developing cognitive skills. However, the happiness and wellbeing of students often take the backseat in the agenda of a school curriculum (Tobin 2017). The inner learning experiences of students and their mental health have become less important than being competitive in the job market. As a result, our youth has become lonely, depressed, and violent.

According to a survey conducted by UNICEF and the Department of Mental Health (DMH) in Thailand, increasing numbers of students face stress, anxiety, and depression. The findings indicate that in Thailand about 28% of adolescents experience high levels of stress, 32% are at risk of depression and 22% are at risk of committing suicide (UNICEF 2021). This mental health crisis among young people is not just caused by the pandemic but also the negligence of students’ happiness and agency. Heesoon Bai (2019) criticized the mechanism of modern education, which has been turning our youth into learning machines and depriving them from their vital core. Students rarely learn how to be reflective, to cultivate self-compassion and happiness from within.

Cultivating wellbeing should not be contained within the discipline of psychology, but rather the goal of learning science and other subjects. Science education is a borderland between social science and natural science. The role of science educators is to train student teachers to teach science. That means science educators not only deal with traditional science disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics, but they also deal with students. I believe my knowledge in psychology is useful for me to understand student teachers’ needs. I think my identity as a science educator is not limited to the technicality of teaching. It is also important for science educators to teach how to cultivate self-care skills, empathy, compassion, and mindfulness, which are essential skills of being a good teacher. In the field of science education, educators have the affordance to expand the agenda of science. Teachers of science need to think about how they can be part of the solution to the current mental health crisis among our youth.

In the second year of my doctoral study, Chatree Faikhamta, my thesis advisor, invited Kenneth Tobin to be my co-advisor. Tobin and his colleagues are the pioneers in integrating mindfulness practice with science education. The scholarship of Joseph Kincheloe and Tobin (2009) on the critique about positivist research methodologies allowed me to understand that I was not the only scholar that had been battling to expand the agenda of science education. Tobin (2015) advocates to prioritize practices that enhance students’ wellbeing in science curriculum. Tobin and his colleagues, including Malgorzata Powietrzynska (2015) and Konstantinos Alexakos et al. (2016), introduced various kinds of reflective tools such as breathing meditation and mindfulness heuristics in science classrooms to cultivate a polysemic and supportive learning space for authentic inquiry. Their research work became the foundation of my dissertation.

Exploring Theravada Buddhism

Over the past 10 years, the context of my research has always been in Thailand, a Theravada Buddhist country. Since 2012, I began to explore insight meditation in Mahasi Sayadaw Buddhist tradition. Mahasi Sayadaw belongs to Theravada Buddhism originated from Myanmar. It focuses on cultivating mindfulness and concentration through mental noting phenomena based on the four foundations of mindfulness, body, feeling, mind, and mental factors, throughout the day. Insight meditation aims to end suffering through understanding the four noble truths which are seeing suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to enlightenment. I had been learning closely with a senior monk, Venerable Suksan for about a year and a half. During the silent retreat, I experienced many moments of happiness that was beyond sensual pleasures. I learned that happiness could also come from being unstuck from thoughts, anger, or greed. Knowing that happiness can be easily accessible in the present moment was an empowering and life-changing experience for me. I documented part of my experience within this tradition in my autographical study (Wong 2020).

I continued to explain another school of Theravada Buddhism, the Thai forest tradition. Since, 2018, I have been following the teachings of Venerable Pramote Pamojjo. Mindfulness practice in the Thai forest style is about letting the body and mind be as natural as possible and let mindfulness arise on its own throughout the day. Unlike Mahasi Sayadaw style, Thai forest tradition does not use mental noting. Venerable Pamojjo wrote that “mindfulness will occur as a result of clearly recognizing mental states as they arise, not from holding concentration in one spot, or mental noting, or forcing it into being” (p.116). Such approach has helped me change the habit of suppressing my emotions through cultivating appropriate mindfulness and appropriate concentration. I learned to allow mindfulness to arise automatically in my daily life without too much intention.

Understanding happiness

I made friends with many lay practitioners within Venerable Pamojjo’s monastery. As I am fluent in both English and Mandarin, I was involved in the Western as well as Chinese communities. Like the Plum Village, Buddhism brings people from different backgrounds to learn together. The monastery is also filled with wild animals, like roosters, dogs, cats, and snakes. Venerable Pamojjo always says these animals feel safe to live in the temple because they know the monks would not hurt them.

At the beginning, I did not understand Venerable Pamojjo’s teachings. Therefore, I approached his teaching assistants for help. I was fortunate to meet Koffman, a long-time student and the English translator of Venerable Pamojjo and began to learn from him. During one of Koffman’s online mindfulness course, he says that mindfulness practice is for cultivating an unwavering mind toward the ups and downs in life. He notes that mindfulness practice is not about holding onto happiness, but about understanding that none of the physical or mental state can be sustained or controlled. He explains that most people seek happiness through unreliable sources, such as wealth, career, relationships, entertainment, and traveling. However, these sources of happiness are quite unreliable because this world is always changing, never persist, and cannot be controlled. However, mindfulness is a higher level of happiness that is not dependent on whether our life is going well all the time. It allows us to be less caught up in what is happening in the foreground and become more aware of what is truly sponsoring our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Koffman’s teachings highlighted the salience of equanimity toward emotions and how mindfulness can help people adapt to the uncertainty in their lives. The concept of equanimity is quite contrary to our modern lifestyle. Individualism and materialism have led us form a habit to maximize happiness or avoid pain, or inconvenience, through controlling the distribution of natural resources. We have been using science and technology to get our needs met through exploiting other species and forests. Yet, we rarely learn how to find happiness from within. The grand challenges that are threatening humanity now, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and severe natural disasters, are caused by people’s ignorance about their inner dimensions and their connections with nature. Hence, making science learning into a kind of cold cognitive activity cannot help to improve this world because much of the world’s suffering has been caused by human beings’ selfishness, violence, and greed.

To change our habit of consumption, we need to notice our addiction to sensual pleasures through mindfulness and look deeply into the cause and effect of such addiction. Buddhist practices like renouncing the material world occasionally, joining mindfulness retreats, and spending some quiet time in nature afford us the opportunity to experience an alternative way of living. Then we will have the chance to notice a simpler, and more reliable source of happiness, that is fully living in the present moment.

Cultivating mental stability

Koffman introduced me to another Thai monk, Venerable Krit Nimmalo. Venerable Nimmalo is one of the most renown vipassana teachers in Thailand, who is also promoting mindfulness in many schools. During the cogen with Venerable Nimmalo and Koffman on May 11th, 2020, I asked Venerable Nimmalo how we can observe the mind. He said we can observe in this moment the mind pays attention to something and the next moment it is paying attention to something else. He explained that consciousness is the part of the mind that knows the other four elements of existence. Without mindfulness, consciousness is immersed in the thought stream most of the time and bonded with the observed physical or mental object that arises. However, the mind can rise above the thought stream when there is a stable observing quality. He describes the characteristics of the stable observing quality in consciousness as follows:

Nimmalo: There are two types of Samadhi (i.e., mental stability or concentration) … So, with the first type of Samadhi, the mind moves out to object (i.e., paying complete attention to a physical or a mental phenomenon)… In the second type of Samadhi, the mind does not move out to the objects (i.e., being aware without fixing attention on something). The mind is stable with the mind. The mind resides at the mind, not out to the object. (Transcript of video recording, June 11, 2020)

The above vignette highlights the salience of concentration in helping the mind to get unstuck from thoughts and emotions. This stable observing quality of the mind is crucial in have a meta-awareness of the cognitive and emotional schemas that are operating in the background of our daily experience. Hence, Venerable Nimmalo says this quality is conducive to wisdom cultivation or the understanding of the impermanent, uncontrollable, and unsatisfactory nature of our body and mind.

Venerable Nimmalo says most often when people got angry, they focused on who and what made them angry. They are completely lost in their anger and forget to observe their own mind. However, mindfulness allows us to see that there is anger in the mind, and it is different from the part of the mind that knows the anger. We become less identified with the defilement, afflictive mental states, including anger, greed, and delusion.

Suffering | happiness dialectic

Lucy has always been on my mind. I have introduced different practices to her through the past 10 years, but she showed very little interest in them. I felt like I was failing her. I consulted another vipassana teacher, Palawongse, on May 20th, 2020. Palawongse is a long-time student of Venerable Pamojjo and Koffman’s teacher. During the cogen, she asked me what got me on the path of mindfulness practice. I told her briefly about Lucy’s story. I said I wanted to help Lucy and others be free from mental illnesses. In the following vignette, Palawongse describes her understanding of suffering:

Palawongse: Good as a state is not permanent. Bad as a state is not permanent. We practice until we can see that all good and bad are equal… We practice seeing that, but not to get the good, and throw away the bad. No. All good and bad are equal. (Transcript of audio recording, May 20, 2020)

From the cogen with Palawongse, I learned that to cultivate the kind of insight that leads to lasting transformations, it is crucial to observe all wholesome states happiness, peace, mindfulness, etc, and unwholesome states like greed, aversion, restlessness, as examples, with an impartial mind. Depression is a kind of aversion toward self and others. Like all mental states, depression is impermanent, which means it comes and goes under certain conditions. Hence, depression is not a fixed identity. It is simply a phenomenon that can happen to anyone. Rather than trying to get rid of depression, we can learn from it through mindfulness and concentration.

Palawongse said that in order to cultivate a nonjudgmental attitude toward suffering, we can notice the changes in our body and mind frequently until we become familiar with the characteristics of different phenomena and recognize them whenever they arise. Gradually, we learn to accept the changes in our body and mind with peace. Palawongse said every experience and every crisis, are valuable opportunities for us to learn about ourselves. With mindfulness, we can see that everyone suffers, and no one is perfect. She emphasized that mindfulness allows us to forgive ourselves and others so that we can live in the world in harmony. Perhaps I would have more success in helping Lucy if I learned to embrace suffering with equanimity. I might offer her my nonjudgmental presence and compassion instead of my opinion.

The borderland of science and spirituality

I consider myself as a scholar-practitioner. These two identities are not contradictory if we are willing to remain open-minded. From my experience, mindfulness practice provides a meaningful context for scientific inquiry. On the other hand, I adopt a rational attitude to understand my spiritual experiences through conducting research. Spirituality is not necessarily devoid of rationality. For example, mindfulness practice is about understanding our inner experiences through frequent observation of the changes in our body and mind. It is an iterative and rational way of understanding natural phenomena, but its focus is on inner experiences rather than external phenomena.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many teachers and students around the world suffered from a lot of anxiety and stress because of the lockdowns. I organized a few sessions of mindfulness training for my friends, who were mostly science educators and K-12 schoolteachers, to look for ways to help ourselves and our students to cope with changes. I met a few Western scholars who felt uncomfortable with some Buddhist concepts. For instance, when a participant heard me talk about Theravada Buddhist concept of body-mind separation, he felt this idea sounded like Cartesian’s dualism and positivism. Hence, he decided to reject Theravada Buddhism completely because this concept contradicted with his post-positivist epistemological belief. Certain Buddhist concepts might sound foreign in the beginning, especially some meanings might get lost in translation. For example, the separation of body and mind means differentiating between physicality and mentality, rather than out of body experience. Moreover, a lot of Buddhist teachings cannot be understood through thoughts or beliefs. Mindfulness needs to be directly experienced through dedication in the practice. The blockage that these participants faced could be their fear toward religious dogmatism.

Spirituality is different from religious dogmatism, in which the former focuses on imposing certain beliefs on others through indoctrination, whereas the latter focuses on fostering understanding of self, and our interconnection with nature. To strengthen its authority, religious dogmatism often associates with strict membership, hegemony, and faith based on authority. On the other hand, spirituality is an ongoing personal inquiry that everyone begins once they are born. Buddhist mindfulness is a kind of spirituality because it is about promoting self-awareness and personal transformation, rather than holding on to a belief. It is the search for the meaning and purpose of life, the essence of lived experiences, and our connection across time and space in the vast universe.

Therefore, to understand mindfulness in Buddhist context, we need to spend time with the monastics, suspend our judgements, and try mindfulness practice for a certain period. Buddhism is not a religion, a philosophy, or a skill, but a lifestyle that aims to transform selfishness, violence, and greed in the mind. Mindfulness is one of the Noble Eightfold Paths. In Buddhism, mindfulness alone is not enough for freeing the mind from suffering. Mindfulness needs the support from the other seven noble paths, namely appropriate concentration, appropriate understanding, appropriate thought, appropriate speech, appropriate action, appropriate livelihood, and appropriate effort. Hence, extracting mindfulness and choose to enhance that only may not lead to lasting personal transformation. This is not the full potential of mindfulness. Instead, we need to understand how mindfulness is enacted in the context of Buddhism.

Crossing borders

This study aims to dissolve boundaries between psychology and science education, between social science and natural science, between spirituality and science education, and between self and others through the lens of mindfulness in the context of Buddhism. Through describing my experiences in among these borderlands, this study explores the possible contribution of Buddhist mindfulness to science education. It also examines the impact of several modern ideologies that are preventing a deeper integration of mindfulness practice with science education. Modern ideologies like behaviorism and scientism create some obstacles for educators to address mental health and sustainability issues in a more meaningful and transformative way.

The current environmental problems and suffering in the world have been caused by people’s ignorance about the interdependent nature of existence and a selfish way of consumption. Such ignorance gave rise to individualism and materialism. Quite often, we get lost in thoughts or busy searching for sensual pleasures and forget about our body and mind. We do not notice the happiness that is already present within us. When separation, aging, sickness, and death happen, we feel overwhelmed by these major life challenges. Mindfulness helps us develop psychological resilience to face adversities and find peace in difficult times.

Mindfulness is a universal characteristic of the human mind. Everyone has the potential to become mindful in their daily lives, regardless of their backgrounds. Although mindfulness practice originated from Buddhist traditions, mindfulness is not only available to Buddhists. For example, are you aware that you are breathing? Have you noticed that your mind got distracted from time to time? The above questions are mindfulness heuristics that aim to heighten your awareness of any changes in your body and mind. We do not have to believe in Buddha to answer these questions. All of us can learn about ourselves if we are willing to pay attention. Mindfulness is a life skill that can be taught to young people and every global citizen.

Over the past 16 years of work experience as a teacher, I rarely saw any subject that focuses on developing life skills for facing major life challenges. Our modern education system increasingly focuses on forward-panning, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. The mental illness crisis during the current Covid-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for all educators to recognize the urgency in promoting mental health among young people. Students’ mental health is no longer just the responsibility of psychologists. The pandemic has changed the way teachers deliver their lessons and how students learn. Teachers need to be aware of the risk factors influencing students’ wellbeing, including lack of quality electronic devices, excessive assignments, exhaustion from too much screen time, social isolation, or financial crisis in families. This pandemic is also a golden opportunity for educators to reflect on their practices. Educators need to think about how they can make learning more reflective, enjoyable, and relevant to the needs of students.

All teachers, including teachers of science, have the responsibility to respond to the salient needs of students and be willing to go beyond academic issues. It is the job of education administrators ought to prioritize students’ happiness and wellbeing in the process of learning. Besides reducing the learning time and workload, educators can help students develop psychological resilience through inviting them to practice mindfulness together. The Plum Village practices such as deep relaxation, nature walk, breathing exercise, and sharing in a circle are great ways to engage young learners (Hanh 2011).

The ability to take other views, to be aware of how emotions meditate cognition, and to lower one’s ego are important qualities for being a scientifically and psychologically literate citizen in a democratic society. These abilities require a good foundation of mindfulness. Therefore, we encourage science educators not to limit their role to only one discipline or identity. To solve complex real-world problems, educators need the courage to cross borders, to be ready to teach any life skill that is essential for students’ wellbeing, and to steer our society toward a more mindful, compassionate, and sustainable direction.

Biographies

Yan Yan Wong

has a doctoral degree in science education from Kasetsart University. Her research focuses on promoting mindfulness education and wellbeing in schools. For the past thirteen years, she has been leading mindfulness research projects in international schools in Bangkok and providing training to other teachers, students, and parents.

Chatree Faikhamta

is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, Kasetsart University, Thailand. His research areas focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) education, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), self-study research and action research. He directed the nationally funded Developing PCK-based professional development program for prospective science teachers and their school supervisors.