“Whoever, mendicants,
should practice these four foundations of mindfulness for just one week may
expect one of two results: either complete deliverance in this life or, if
there is a residue of clinging, the state of a non-returner.”
On one occasion, the Buddha was staying in the Kuru kingdom
near a marketplace called Khammasadhamma. The Kuru kingdom was the center of
Vedic culture and the dominant political and cultural center of the area. The
local culture was committed to brahmanic rituals and rites of purification and
the society maintained a strict social hierarchy. The marketplace would have
been filled with artisans working on their craft, traders doing business, and
local religious and political leaders lobbying for power and control. It was a
culture not much different than our own.
At that time and in that place, the Buddha spoke to his
disciples about the practice of mindfulness, teaching what is known as the
Mahāsatipatṭhāna Sutta, the Great Sutra on the Foundations of Mindfulness.
This work of his revealed the core practice of mindfulness, which is central to
the Buddha’s teachings and a core principle of living life according to the
Dharma.
The practice
of mindfulness is for those practitioners who are committed to living mindfully
in order to realize inner freedom. It is a practice to overcome busyness and
distraction, teaching us to let go of preoccupations and focus the mind in the
present. This practice of being mindful and aware frees us from suffering, fear
and anxiety, giving us the capacity to be present and engaged, to look deeply
and discover the insight needed to transform our life and the world around us. Accessible and relevant to the modern world,
this teaching reveals four qualities of the mind necessary for embarking on a
lifetime of practice. This practical yet profound practice teaches us how to
maintain mindfulness of the body, how to experience sense perceptions and the
influences of the inner and outer world, how to recognize thoughts and various
mental states, and how to carry mindfulness through the varieties of our lived
experience.
In the
Digha
Nikaya,
the Long Discourses of the Buddha,
the Buddha taught the practice of the foundations of mindfulness.
There
is, mendicants, this one way to the purification of beings, for the overcoming
of sorrow and distress, for the disappearance of pain and sadness, for the
gaining of the right path, for the realization of Nirvana- that is to say the
four foundations of mindfulness.
During the Buddha’s time, the local culture would have been
obsessed with purifying the body, improving its condition and making it more pleasing for the
sake of everyday concerns. They would have yearned for a way to purify their
minds of negative thoughts and mental states, reaching out to their local Brahmin
for a method of cleansing the mind and spirit. In this regard, ancient India is
not much different than our own modern day world. People are always looking for
an easy fix to their problems. People spend countless resources on ways to
cleanse the body and make it healthier. They seek out methods that all promise
to lead to happiness and a life of meaning and purpose. Celebrities of the
moment all have the solution of the day available to you.
Knowing the local culture and the concerns of his audience, the
Buddha taught the foundations of mindfulness as the single authentic way to
purify our own body, speech and mind. He taught the practice of mindfulness as
the only way to overcome sorrow and distress, pain and sadness. This single
practice sets us out on the right path, on the path of inner freedom.
Here, mendicants, a mendicant abides contemplating body as
body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and
fretting for the world. She abides contemplating feelings as feelings; she
abides contemplating mind as mind; she abides contemplating phenomena as
phenomena, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and
fretting for the world.
Four Qualities for
Engaging in the Practice
The Buddha taught that when we are contemplating these
foundations of mindfulness, we should be ardent, clearly aware, mindful and put
aside any hankering and fretting for the world. These four qualities are
essential if our practice is to be fruitful.
Ardent (Pali. Ātāpī) means to burn. It is to
be passionate and enthusiastic about the task at hand. One who is not ardent
lacks energy. Thus, the Buddha taught that to engage in the practice of
mindfulness we need to be passionate about our work. Who among us is passionate about the work they do?
Amateurs are passionate,
to be an amateur is ‘to love’. Amateurs are curious and have lots of questions,
and the answers to those questions lead to more questions resulting in a
constant state of wonder. Approaching the practice with a beginners mind, we
are fueled by wonder and fascination. Amateurs are passionate enough
to do the work it takes to orientate themselves to the worlds in which they
inquire. Their passion allows them to build the framework necessary to
explore deeper. Their passion carries them beyond the superficial layers, it
fosters depth and the depth feeds the passion. Passion coupled with
orientation, a framework for exploration and the ability to see deeper are the
prerequisites for becoming an expert. Being ardent, we start as amateurs in the
practice and end up as masters.
Clearly aware (Skt. samprajanya) is a vigilant awareness
that is fully alert to the present moment. The Buddha describes this vigilant
awareness in the
Satipatthanasamyutta:
And
how, mendicants, does a mendicant exercise clear comprehension? Here,
mendicants, for a mendicant feelings are understood as they arise, understood
as the remain present, understood as they pass away. Thoughts are understood as
they arise; perceptions are understood as they arise…It is in this way,
mendicants, that a mendicant exercises clear comprehension.
Being clearly aware means being present in a non-reactive
and non-judgemental way. It is like a watchmen in the tower, looking out over
his domain, knowing who is coming and going. It is sharp, attentive and focused.
The next quality of the mind that must be developed is
mindfulness itself. Mindful in this sense means to be mindful of the object of
our intention. Attention follows intention, so we need to be clear about what
we are being mindful of. Once we have set a clear intention, mindfulness
maintains our attention on that focus. When the mind wanders and becomes
distracted, mindfulness brings us back. Mindfulness can be described as a rope
that ties a monkey to a stake. As the monkey of the mind moves and jumps
around, the rope always brings the monkey back.
The last quality of the mind required for this practice is
to put aside hankering and fretting for this world. Set aside your attachment
and aversion, your craving and fixation. Remain in a state free from judgment
and speculation. Let go of reactions to whatever is coming up in your
experience, simply maintain the continuity of mindfulness and vigilant awareness with curiosity and enthusiasm.
Cultivating these four mental qualities of being ardent,
clearly aware, mindful and setting aside our reactions to our experience, we
can move through each of the four foundations of mindfulness, contemplating the
body as body, feelings as feelings, mind as mind, and phenomena as phenomena; simply
being aware of our experience in a non-reactive and non-judgemental way.
These four qualities of mind are the way in which we engage in the practice of mindfulness. Next time, we will look into the practice as it pertains to
contemplating one’s own body, feelings, mind and experience.
