[shekharshan]

The problem stems from the fact that the initial translations of the Pali Canon to western languages comes from German monks who understood Pali well but could not find appropriate words in western languages to capture the semantics. Mindfulness technique was used for at least 2000-3000 years before Buddha. So words used in the Pali canon have an etymology associated with them that cannot be easily captured in western languages.

"Mindfulness" is a best-effort translation of the word "Sati". What the word "Sati" really captures is "REMEMBERING to pay attention to what is happening in the mind at all times". A trained mind develops this automatic memory to constantly check and introspect the current state of the mind. Based on whether the current state is wholesome (leading to happiness) the "Sati" helps refocus the mind on wholesome thoughts (this is right effort of noble 8 fold path). Over time two things happen: you get intimately familiar with the workings of the mind and you know how to "manage" your thoughts without using "will" or "force" to repress the thoughts into the subconscious. This is an exercise in finesse rather than force. The gist of it is that "ignorance of reality" (that there is an "I") is the root cause of suffering in living beings. But to grasp that at the "intuitive" level (and not just intellectual) requires years of training and you start to see the fruits along the way.

[silveroriole]

Do you think there is an advantage in using meditation to achieve a state where you can manage your thoughts, vs other techniques like CBT? It seems to me that most people don’t need the abstract/spiritual concepts like there not being an I, whatever that means. Your comment implies that understanding the abstract concepts is the real point of meditation, and I still don’t see what the benefit of that is - unless it’s just a very mystical way to say that we don’t have fixed, unchangeable personalities and we should worry less about our ego.

[kire2345]

I would suggest that both meditation and CBT have a similar objective, which is to see reality more clearly for what it is. CBT goes far enough to transform distorted thoughts into more realistic ones. This goes far enough to help you live a happy life in the "normal" sense. Meditation can be used to go all the way to the realization of the Ego/body limited self as an illusory concept. This normally results in a rush of a very clear sense of reality. Which lets all worries, problems, hopes, insecurities etc. collapse into what they really are. A constant play and variation of matter/form/energy/consciousness/god whatever you want to call it. That are just other forms of our "true" self matter/form/energy/consciousness/god, experiencing this variation and play. This gives a lot of room for joy or bliss if you will. From my own experience it takes some practice to keep remembering this reality more and more often.