Abstract: Recently, the psychological construct mindfulness has received a great deal of attention. The majority of research has focused on clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions. This line of research has led to promising data suggesting mindfulness-based interventions are effective for treatment of psychological and physical symptoms. However, an equally important direction for future research is to investigate questions concerning mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions. This theoretical paper puts forward its own opinion attempting to address the question “How do mindfulness-based interventions actually work”, in an effort to explore which is the decisive mechanism of mindfulness. Mindfulness, which has its roots in Eastern contemplative traditions and is now integrated into psychological theory and practice, is defined as the awareness that arises out of intentionally attending in an open and discerning way to whatever is arising in the present moment. Mindfulness-based interventions are complex and multifaceted, incorporating elements of various mindfulness-related techniques, such as breath awareness, body scans, and walking meditation, as well as physical exercise and stretching and training in cognitive reappraisal. However, considering only the most directly mindfulness-related techniques, two different kinds of working mechanisms can be identified, described as attention and attitude. The attention in mindfulness practice refers to maintaining selective attention on the “primary object of observation and be aware of it from moment to moment”. The attitude refers to attentive, nonreactive awareness of whatever is occurring in the present moment, “treating all thoughts as equal in value and neither pursuing them nor rejecting them”. The question now is which of the two mechanisms the conclusive one is. Mindfulness is associated with a special state of consciousness that can be evoked when attention is purposefully brought to the present moment while fostering an open orientation to experience. It involves a high level of ability in attentional control, including sustained attention to maintain awareness of current experience, attention switching to bring attention back to the present moment when it wanders, inhibition of elaborative processing to avoid dwelling or ruminating on thoughts or feelings that are outside of the present moment and non-directed attention to enhance awareness of present experience, unfiltered by assumptions or expectations. To cultivate these abilities of attentional control, almost all the mindfulness practices start from attention training. On the other hand, mindfulness training is about coming to see where natural, automatic reactions stop and the simulation, elaboration, and avoidance processes begin. It aims to cultivate a “being” (opposite to “doing”) mode of mind through meditation practices that teach people how to pay open-hearted attention to objects in the exterior and interior world as they unfold, moment by moment, through which practitioners switch their center of consciousness from prior experience and threatening imagination to present reality. In this way, the meditation practitioner begins to see clearly the difference between automatic reactivity, and the overlearned simulation processes that imbue objects and situations with extra implications. In this process, the transformation of the center of attention is the most important. This hypothesis is directly and indirectly provided by a great deal of empirical study.

Key words: mindfulness, mechanism, attention, attitude

摘要： 注意与态度是正念的两个关键的工作机制，但关于这两个机制究竟哪个是核心机制却没有统一的定论。本文就针对这一争议存在的现状和原因进行了梳理和分析，认为正念的核心机制在于注意力的训练，并尝试从佛教与心理学两个角度在理论推导与实证支持两个层面上给予了阐释。

关键词: 正念 机制 注意 态度