Post # 48– Sathara Sathipattana- The Four Foundations of Mindfulness or the Four Frames of Reference for Mindfulness

Are you visiting this Blog for the first time? It would be good if you could visit the 1^st Post to know about this Blog and then read the others in sequence.  

I will now continue to elaborate on the respective sets in the seven sets that constitute the 37 factors that  support  awakening.  Accordingly this post will relate to the Four Frames of Reference for Mindfulness.

By deciding  to Post this topic in this Blog, I feel that I should also strive to climax our Buddhist practices by looking at how this important teaching by the Buddha can be included in our regular routine. The extracts from connected discourses presented here are aimed at creating the right motivation to engage in this practice. May you therefore get the right inspiration?

This topic was also referred to or discussed in Posts # 3, Post # 18, Post # 22, Post # 23, Post # 25, Post # 28, Post # 29 and Post # 30 as part of the effective Buddhist practices in daily life. When we discussed the practice of developing the Noble Eightfold Path in Posts # 18, we found that the factor right mindfulness is developed by engaging in the Sathra Sathipattana Meditation.

Buddha has said in the Aṅguttara Nikāya - “Monks, I know not of any other single thing of such power to cause the arising of good thoughts if not yet arisen, or to cause the waning of evil thoughts if already arisen, as heedfulness. In him who is heedful, good thoughts not yet arisen do arise, and evil thoughts, if arisen, do wane. The man who delights in mindfulness and regards heedlessness with dread is not liable to fall away. He is in the vicinity of Nibbāna.”

Ven. Piyadassi Thero, in the book titled ‘The Seven Factors of Enlightenment' describes Sati, or mindfulness, as the instrument most efficacious in self-mastery and whosoever practices it has found the path to deliverance. It is fourfold. They are mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body (kāyā-nu-passanā); of feelings (vedanā-nu-passanā);  of mind (cittā-nu-passanā); and of mental objects or mind contents (dhammā-nu-passanā). The man lacking in this all-important quality of mindfulness cannot achieve anything worthwhile. The Buddha’s final admonition to his disciples on his death bed was this: “Transient are all component things. Work out your deliverance with heedfulness!”

Man cannot be heedful unless he is fully aware of his actions, whether they are mental, verbal or physical, at every moment of his waking life. Only when a man is fully awake to and mindful of his activities can he distinguish good from bad and right from wrong. It is in the light of mindfulness he will see the beauty or the ugliness of his deeds. The word appamāda throughout the Tipiṭaka is used to denote sati, mindfulness.  Pamāda is defined as absence of mindfulness.

Ven.Dhammajiva Thero in his talks at the meditation retreats says that -“if we recount how many thoughts our mind experiences with or without any intention, we will realize that more than 90% of thoughts are stray, unintended and unrelated to any substantial mind related process. These are unintentional or uninvited thoughts, yet they give us pain of mind and other emotional upheavals. The untrained mind suffers a great deal due to these. Therefore cultivating a balanced mind is essential so that we can face these and to know these formations as and when they appear".

We discussed the mind process in Post # 3, We saw that the external stimuli by way of sights, sounds, smells etc. when they reach our sense doors, the mind  perceives them as external stimuli. With that, contact (passa) arises in the particular sense door. With the contact, a feeling or emotion arises in the mind. Our past experiences (sankara) then comes forth to condition this emotion. This emotion is thus experienced as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Our natural tendency is to give vent to this emotion by an action through thought, word or deed. This action gets impressed in our mind as a new life experience. When this emotion is conditioned by  unwholesome roots ( akusala mulas), the action to fulfill this emotion gives rise to an unwholesome sankara (a formation that arose due to those causes and conditions). Such unwholesome sankaras go to fashion the Bawa (the determining cause that gives rise to re-becoming), which is inclined more towards defilements. Such a bawa results in a rebirth in the four unhappy realms. Understanding the mind process this way we are driven to prevent the rebirth in an unhappy realm by preventing the formation of unwholesome sankaras. We saw in an earlier post, that it is possible to intervene to control our reactions, which go to form our life experiences.  The skills developed by this meditation practice, will be used first to exercise Yoniso Manasikara (acting mindfully and wisely with clear comprehension according to Dhamma) to intervene as necessary in the present moment. Thus the mind is then able to control the bhawa forming sankaras. As our objective is to limit the samsaric process, we have to control the bhawa forming sankaras altogether eventually. This is Samma Sathi in practice.

Systematic reflection (yoniso manasikāra) comes naturally through right mindfulness, and it urges one to discriminate, to reason and investigate. Shallow thinking, unsystematic reflection (ayoniso manasikāra), makes men muddle-headed, and then they fail to investigate the nature of things. Such people cannot see cause and effect, seed and fruit, the rise and fall of compounded things.

Ven. Thalalle’ Chandrakeerthi Thero referring to the Sathi Pattanna Sutta says that, this form of meditation is only found in Buddha’s teaching and therefore is a domain found by the Buddhu Piya    (Buddha the spiritual father). He emphasizes the  great importance of following this teaching, by quoting a popular saying which goes as-   Piyagen gocharavu buhumiyehi  hasiremen-  dwelling in the domain found for you  by the father,  you will be  safe from the enemy kilesa mara. That is you will be safe from the detrimental influences arising from defilements.

Ven. Bhikku Bodhi in his talk on Sathipattana Sutta as given in the majjima nikaya - middle length discourses of the Buddha- says that there is also a counterpart to this Sutta, in the Diga Nikaya- the long discourses- called the Maha Sathipattana Sutta.  The difference is that the latter has an extended description on the Four Noble Truths.  Bhikku Bodhi’s explanation includes an opening statement by the Buddha in the Sutta, which can be understood, he says as –“this is the ‘one way’ path to the desired destination. That is for the purification of beings, to overcoming sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain, grief and dejection and for the attainment of super mundane path – the true way for the realization of Nibbana”.

He also explains that- “this is the faculty of mindfulness, the capacity for attending to the content of our experience as it becomes manifest in the immediate present”. What the Buddha shows in the Sutta is the tremendous, but generally hidden, power inherent in this simple mental function, a power that can unfold all the mind's potentials culminating in final deliverance from suffering?

Ven. Wariyapola Vissudhi Thero, in a Dhamma talk, introduces the Sathara Sathipattana, as the meditation that directs the mind and reflects on the five aggregates of clinging, that represent a living being, in an insightful analysis enabling to see their impermanence, unsatisfactory nature and non-self   nature, for the realization of Nibbana. 

Joseph Goldstein co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society- Boston USA- says that in the Sathi Pattana Sutta- the quality of mind that is referred to has tremendous transforming power in our lives. Buddha opens the discourse by the words –“This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way for the realization of Nibbana or awakening - namely the four foundations of mindfulness”. He says that “Given the magnitude and importance of this declaration, that this is the direct path for liberation, you can understand the value that Buddha placed on this meditation”.

Ven. Henepola Gunaratana Thero, in his book on ‘Mindfulness in Plain English’, says that –“Theravada Buddhism presents us with an effective system for exploring the deeper levels of the mind, down to the very root of consciousness itself. Vipassana is a form of mental training that will teach you to experience the world in an entirely new way. You will learn for the first time what is truly happening to you, around you and within you. It is a process of self discovery, a participatory investigation in which you observe your own experiences while participating in them, and as they occur. The practice must be approached with this attitude

I hope this attempt of mine, at collecting and presenting the above material has given you sufficient food for thought and motivation to further study the subject of Sathara Sathi Pattana as taught in Buddha Dhamma.

As I need to limit the content of each post to make them small enough for quick reading by the  busy householder, I will end these introductory  entries on Sathara Sattipattana  at this point. Please await the next Posts #s 49 and 50, for an analysis of the Sathara Sattipattana.

The Posts that follow will contain explanations by these learned scholars on how this meditation is practiced.