Is it unethical to teach mindfulness for money? There are several consulting firms out there that teach mindfulness to corporations as a livelihood. Is it bad karma since they are essentially taking this from the Buddhist teachings, adding their own neuroscience research on top of it and selling it as a product for better productivity and emotional health. On the other hand, many mindfulness centres in the west offer retreats in exchange for "suggested" donations. Does this kind of transaction corrupt the dharma or is it propagating the dharma to a wider audience?
Is it unethical to teach mindfulness for money?


I guess that what's taught as "mindfulness" probably isn't Buddhist Dharma -- for example:


  Sharf further notes that this [i.e. Buddhist mindfulness] has little to do with "bare attention," the popular contemporary interpretation of sati [i.e. the mindfulness which is taught by and to corporations], "since it entails, among other things, the proper discrimination of the moral valence of phenomena as they arise."

I think there are reasons why it's traditionally wrong to teach dharma for money -- for example:


Monks shouldn't
Lay people might be typically less able to teach Buddhism than monks or nuns are, and should respect (not try to replace) one of the functions of the Sangha which is teaching

Buddhism isn't very specific about what "right livelihood" is for lay people; but IMO it includes giving good value for money, not making fraudulent claims about the product or service.


IMO because they're not teaching Dharma (#1 above) so the normal reasoning (#2) isn't applicable.

It might be (but isn't necessarily) unethical for #3, e.g. if they make fraudulent (untrue) claims about the benefits of what they're teaching, or if they don't deliver (competently teach) what they promised.

On the other hand, many mindfulness centres in the west offer retreats in exchange for "suggested" donations.

The little experience I have of that is of a group of people renting a room in which to meet -- where a small amount of money per person was volunteered,  a collection to pay to rent the meeting room.