Objectives
As an important trend in the research on and practice of mindfulness, second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs) expanded components and emphasized ethics and wisdom. The current article proposes another important feature of SG-MBIs, the cultivation of ideal mentalities, such as the nondifferential four immeasurables (i.e., equal prosocial attitudes toward different people) and mentalities of emptiness or oneness.
Method
The current article theoretically discusses and analyzes the challenges and contributions of SG-MBIs in cultivating ideal mentalities.
Results
The new feature of SG-MBIs, cultivation of ideal mentalities, leads to five interconnected challenges for research and practice: (1) providing empirical and theoretical support for new elements; (2) matching the purposes of interventions with the needs of trainees; (3) achieving ideal mentalities during interventions; (4) assessing ideal mentalities in proper ways; and (5) clarifying the ethics and values for trainees.
Conclusions
These challenges posed by the new feature need to be discussed and addressed in the future. Nevertheless, SG-MBIs effectively embody the objectives of ideal psychology and illustrate methodological principles in research on ideal mentalities, which will benefit research on other ideal mentalities rooted in different traditions.