Even though it has it’s origins in Buddhism, the idea of mindfulness can be thought of as completely secular. There is no need for religion at all to benefit from the practices of mindfulness. Increasingly in the west, the core practices psychological practices are being teased out of the religious context. Thay are being taught through Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and now Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT).

If you needed any more proof of the possibility of using mindfulness in a completely non-religious way, look no further than this article. Meditation here, is seen as a workout for the brain. A part of a regimen for mental fitness.

This shows the non-religious nature in two ways. 1. From the secular angle – if it was religious the government would have a difficult time implementing it in the military. I’m sure there would be lot’s of objections. and 2. From the religious angle – Buddhism itself can be very anti-military. In the eightfold path, one of the specific jobs prohibited is the manufacture of weapons. If this was being pushed by some religious agenda, my feeling is it wouldn’t be pushed towards the military for that very reason.

It is still very early in the military experimentation with this. It will be interesting to see their results.

Marines studying mindfulness-based training – Yahoo! News.