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Papers by Geoffrey Bamford

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2014

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2016

Introduction & Summary Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive ... more Introduction & Summary Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are similar medical interventions. Together, they constitute what we may call Clinical Mindfulness. Formally, this emerges from Clinical Psychology. In terms of social history, it is related to contemporary Buddhism in the Euro-American culture-area. This in turn arises from the Reform Buddhism that developed from the 19 th century on, (and also owes something to the ‘therapy movement’ of the 1950s and ’60s). Clinical Mindfulness has solid scientific credentials and proven applicability. Much of it is straightforward śamatha-vipaśyanā meditation. It also has distinctive features — and it leaves out core Buddhist teachings. Is this then simply a half-realized presentation of Buddhist meditation? This paper suggests it is not, but instead represents a new development for a new context. This fresh approach can alleviate suffering in situations where standard Buddhist practice...

Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. I... more Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. It is a paradoxical presence — powerful in a way, but confused and confusing. This paper offers an illustrative case. A forthcoming contribution will analyse it further and suggest wider conclusions. The context is two-fold. First, there is an attempt to popularise a general-purpose, non-denominational version of Buddhism for secular Westerners. Then, people in and around the UK policy establishment, who wish to address the fundamental challenges facing British society, are making use of the popularisers’ work. Against this background, the paper focuses on a passage purportedly translated from the Pali. It shows the actual import of the passage and contrasts this with the way it has been represented. From a scholarly perspective, the attempt at popularisation is unsound; but it has had a significant impact.

This paper introduces a process, grounded in Buddhist practical wisdom, which trains managers to ... more This paper introduces a process, grounded in Buddhist practical wisdom, which trains managers to negotiate effectively. After comparing Western notions of phronesis/prudentia with insights from Buddhist tradition, it reports on the author’s 20+ years’ work in cross-cultural communication-skills training and examines sample training exercises.
It suggests that even experienced business-people rarely register the detail of what happens in their meetings. Simple behavioural routines, using checklists, can help here. The self-image of a problem-solver, reinforced by corporate culture, produces an urge to prove oneself right. So people get locked in to abstract, analytical thinking, and interpersonal relations are inhibited. A way to overcome this constraint is to practise applying certain heuristics, or rules-of-thumb, for addressing contentious points in a negotiation.
An impractical ideology of analytical perfection dominates most corporate cultures; most management education suffers from a hypertrophy of theory. A different, more practical approach seems overdue.
A good way to catalyse a paradigm shift is indirectly, by focusing on specific behaviours. There are some important goals which we cannot attain by an instrumental process.
Unethical business behaviour, which is also ineffective, is often rooted in mistrust of direct experience. To improve ethics and effectiveness, businesses and managers need to recognise non-instrumental goals. Important as they are, efficiency and profitability are subordinate to the need for people to stay sane, to continue learning and to grow as humans, in the course of doing business. In this perspective, Buddhist speech ethics and the culture of skill-in-means have much to offer management education.

Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. I... more Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. It is a paradoxical presence — powerful in a way, but confused and confusing. This paper offers an illustrative case. A forthcoming contribution will analyse it further and suggest wider conclusions.
The context is two-fold. First, there is an attempt to popularise a general-purpose, non-denominational version of Buddhism for secular Westerners. Then, people in and around the UK policy establishment, who wish to address the fundamental challenges facing British society, are making use of the popularisers’ work.
Against this background, the paper focuses on a passage purportedly translated from the Pali. It shows the actual import of the passage and contrasts this with the way it has been represented. From a scholarly perspective, the attempt at popularisation is unsound; but it has had a significant impact

This paper briefly reviews the early history of the term dharma/dhamma, focusing primarily on Bud... more This paper briefly reviews the early history of the term dharma/dhamma, focusing primarily on Buddhist sources. Then it considers implications for the contemporary understanding of Buddhism, e.g. in relation to Hinduism.
It first establishes some basic assumptions about antique, polysemic terms like dharma and about Indic culture. After a quick glance at Vedic usage, it then maps the semantic field of dhamma in the Pali sutta material. Next, it considers how thereafter the sāvakas sought to systematise and package the notion of dhamma. After that, it reviews Asoka’s innovations.
Moving on to Brahmanical sources, it mentions some recent research on the Dharma-sūtras & -ṥāstras, then looks rapidly at the Epic literature. On this evidence, it offers some preliminary generalisations about early Buddhist and Brahmanical thinking and practice, as revealed in ideas of dharma/dhamma.
These two cultural currents developed in a dialectical relation¬ship, each seeking progressively to confute and/or co-opt the other. The Buddhist usage is grounded in a psychological and the Brahminical in a social vision; the Buddhist usage is primarily descriptive, the Brahmanical prescriptive.
Indian Buddhism emerges in a context conditioned by Brahmanism, just as later Hinduism is conditioned by Buddhism. So, one can usefully compare the two traditions, e.g. by analysing the various usages of dharma/dhamma in them. But such analysis hardly shows them to be ‘essentially identical’. Attempts to de-emphasise what is distinctive about Buddhism seem counter-intuitive. They are also counter-productive, particularly in relation to India’s cultural diplomacy.

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2014

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2016

Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. I... more Buddhism has a presence in the public discourse of the ‘Western world’, for instance in the UK. It is a paradoxical presence — powerful in a way, but confused and confusing. This paper offers an illustrative case. A forthcoming contribution will analyse it further and suggest wider conclusions.
The context is two-fold. First, there is an attempt to popularise a general-purpose, non-denominational version of Buddhism for secular Westerners. Then, people in and around the UK policy establishment, who wish to address the fundamental challenges facing British society, are making use of the popularisers’ work.
Against this background, the paper focuses on a passage purportedly translated from the Pali. It shows the actual import of the passage and contrasts this with the way it has been represented. From a scholarly perspective, the attempt at popularisation is unsound; but it has had a significant impact