Is Mindfulness good or bad?

It depends what you use it for.

What does it mean to be mindful? To be mindful you need to be 'right minded' for the task or goal or situation you are facing. By 'right' we mean seeing clearly, with focus. There is no moral or ethical connotation. You may mindfully rob a bank, or be cruel to animals. A 'right minded' approach may increase your chances of success however noble or ignoble the task.

Most people take an interest in mindfulness, not because they want to rob a bank or be unkind to animals but because they have heard that it improves wellbeing, happiness and peace of mind, reducing levels of stress and establishing control over the untrained mind. In such cases mindfulness is being used not for unhelpful unwholesome motivations but for positive, healing, compassionate outcomes.

Any 'right minded' activity requires discipline and resilience. Working with the restless, often negatively imaginative mind is not easy. It requires patient practice. It requires that we take responsibility for our own lives. If we do not control our own minds, something or somebody else will. This is where the discipline and the resilience come in.

Where does the compassion come in? This is the beauty of meditation practice. It is the fertile soil in which seeds of compassion are discovered and cultivated. It brings peace, joy, light and equanimity. Heavy burdens of anger, bitterness, jealousy greed, self-loathing may be acknowledged but they are transformed as they begin to fade and melt away.

What is it about meditation practice that has delivered such an outcome consistently and over many centuries? All answers are guesses. It remains a delightful mystery.