Right Mindfulness in Education: Integrating Buddhist Teachings With Secular Mindfulness to Promote Racial Equity

• In Event: The Teaching of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism: Mindful Meditation Through the Lens of Culture and Curriculum

Abstract

Despite decades of reform efforts, disparities in schooling persist based on race, threatening the economic and social wellbeing of the nation. Why are there still significant opportunity gaps despite decades of reform efforts to curb inequities? For one, these efforts overlook the internal habits of mind or “inner nature of inequity” (Cobb, 2017). Secular mindfulness and its Buddhist origins could help address harmful habits of mind, such as racial bias, and transform systems by providing tools to examine internal beliefs around race. Realizing the potential of these practices to combat racial inequities requires building a stronger bridge between Eastern Buddhism and Westernized mindfulness. This article will examine opportunities for mindfulness interventions to address inequities through deeper integration with Buddhism.

Author

• Lindsay Romano, New York University