Mindfulness in the West

Response to this article Mindfulness is something worse than just a smug middle-class trend which links from this one How 2014 became the Year of Mindfulness:

My strong opinion is that Buddhism is not a religion, it is a path to spirituality. However, I acknowledge that the Dalai Lama and other Buddhists call it a religion. But at no time did Buddha say 'Follow me'. There is a strong tendency in the West to confuse religion with spirituality.

I was in Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh (the Vietnamese monk who taught Jon Kabat-Zinn mindfulness), and during one  of his teachings he said that he had been asked if you could use mindfulness, of all things, in the army. His response was (my words, not his) - you cannot mindfully kill someone. Mindfulness is about peace in the world, not destruction. It is a way of life not a workplace strategy.

That is why, if you practise mindfulness (or try to) in your daily life rather than just when you are meditating, it changes everything, but very slowly. No quick fixes. The West ain't gonna like that! On another note, I find it very interesting that the West happily sucks what it wants from the East and then runs with it and makes money from it. The East doesn't sue, it's not in their mindset. They just accept that this is happening. I am thinking Buddhist philosophy specifically though.

An update! The director of Birdman or (The unexpected virtue of  ignorance) thanked Thich Nhat Hanh in the credits. How good is that? This act of acknowledgement makes up for all the other lacks. Thich Nhat Hanh thanked him in return.