Is Ethics Necessary for Mindfulness?: Examination of the Moderation Effect of Ethics on the Relation between Mindfulness and Nonattachment/Perspective-Taking

Abstract

In recent years, there have been discussions on the importance of training mindfulness with ethics. In this study, we conducted a web survey of 193 adults in order to examine the moderation effect of ethics on the relationship between mindfulness and nonattachment/perspective-taking. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that when the sense of ethics was high, mindfulness was higher, as was nonattachment. On the other hand, when the sense of ethics was low, mindfulness was still higher, but nonattachment was lower. Moreover, the results showed that when the sense of ethics was low, mindfulness was higher, but perspective-taking was lower. These results suggest that mindfulness can be beneficial when it is fostered with ethics and may not have beneficial effects in the absence of ethics.