SEATTLE, Washington—Mindfulness, a practice derived from Buddhism that is sweeping across North America, is becoming increasingly mainstream in much of the Western world, receiving widespread attention in the media and among people from all walks of life. Yet, while its efficacy is widely recognized, not all those working in this field are comfortable with some expressions of mindfulness in the growing movement to secularize the practice.

“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” This is the definition Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) founder Jon Kabat-Zinn provides for “mindfulness.” Kabat-Zinn has been working on MBSR since the late 1970s. The practice draws together yoga and Buddhist meditation, and has been found to be effective for helping people deal with everything from chronic pain to depression to avoiding addictive behavior.

Kabat-Zinn has been adamant about the secular nature of his teaching. Jenny Wilks, an insight meditation teacher and clinical psychologist, quotes him from a 1979 retreat in Barre, Massachusetts, asking himself: “. . . how to take the heart of something as meaningful, as sacred if you will, as Buddhadharma and bring it into the world in a way that doesn’t dilute, profane, or distort it, but at the same time is not locked into a culturally and tradition-bound framework that would make it absolutely impenetrable to the vast majority of people, who are nevertheless suffering and might find it extraordinarily useful and liberative.” (Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)

As MBSR has grown in popularity, an increasing number of critics have come forth, worried about the direction mindfulness is taking. These critics are often committed Buddhists and/or meditation teachers themselves. They most often point to the perceived lack of an ethical framework in many forms of mindfulness taught today.

Among these are Zen teachers David Loy and Ronald Purser, who wrote the widely-read 2013 article, “Beyond McMindfulness,” in which they note:

While a stripped-down, secularized technique—what some critics are now calling “McMindfulness”—may make it more palatable to the corporate world, decontextualizing mindfulness from its original liberative and transformative purpose, as well as its foundation in social ethics, amounts to a Faustian bargain. Rather than applying mindfulness as a means to awaken individuals and organizations from the unwholesome roots of greed, ill will, and delusion, it is usually being refashioned into a banal, therapeutic, self-help technique that can actually reinforce those roots. (Huffington Post)

Another critic emerging this week is Matthieu Ricard, a French monk in the Dalai Lama’s tradition who was once deemed the “happiest man in the world.”

“There are a lot of people speaking about mindfulness,” Ricard told author and philosopher Roman Krznaric for TIME magazine. “But the risk is that it’s taken too literally—to just ‘be mindful.’ Well, you could have a very mindful sniper and a mindful psychopath. It’s true! A sniper needs to be so focused, never distracted, very calm, always bringing back his attention to the present moment. And non-judgmental—just kill people and no judgment. That could happen!”