Post # 51– Sathara Sathipattana- The Four Foundations  of  Mindfulness- The Way to Practice – Part 1

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. 

It would be necessary to read Post # 48, Post # 49 and Post # 50 in this blog, to get a better understanding of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, before reading this Post.  

This is a brief description of the way to practice Sathara Sathipattana- The Four Frames of Reference for mindfulness or the four focuses of mindfulness. As said before they are - contemplation of the body (kāyânupassanā); contemplation of feeling (vedanā’nupassanā); contemplation of mind (cittâ-nupassanā); and contemplation of phenomena (dhammâ-nupassanā).

Some readers may find the following descriptions to be too extraneous and may even feel whether they are necessary?. Although I have attempted to summarize them to some extent, I find that I am not qualified enough to abbreviate or modify them to suit contemporary thinking. Particularly any such attempt may even distort the meaning, although inadvertently, to our great detriment. We saw from some earlier posts that by developing right view, right concentration and right mindfulness one may have the ability to employ sihiya (awareness), sathiya (mindfulness) and sathi sampajjanya ( clear comprehension) to control new bawa ( condition for repeated re-becoming) forming sankaras (phenomena coming into being from  causes and conditions). This will thus restrict the new formations for re-becoming. Although one may thus restrict the new accumulations of bawa forming sankara,  one has to be aware that there is a large accumulation of sankaras from the past (previous births included) that are still there, coming forth now and again, conditioning our re-becoming process. In order to free ourselves from the influences from this large accumulation, we have to cut off the craving and attachments to them, created by us, due to ignorance. So getting rid of the ignorance and all the roots causing such craving, to seek full liberation, requires a special effort. This I believe is the intention of the Buddha to discourse this elaborate procedure.  So the readers are advised to bear with it and take advantage of the opportunity available to gain the best benefit that this sutta can provide. You may if necessary skip over some details if you find them too tedious. 

Joseph Goldstein in a series of guided meditations conducted by him says that this series will explore the practices of Vippasanna or insight meditation that are rooted in the Sathi Pattana Sutta-the four ways of establishing Mindfulness. 

He says for practicing mindfulness of body: –

“Settle into an awareness of the body sitting, be aware that  there is a body, and be open to whatever arises within it. As you are sitting noting the body, be receptive to all the sounds that you hear. They are background sounds, loud sounds, soft sounds. In this field of awareness be mindful of the different sounds that arise. Settling into this awareness of the body you can then explore the mindfulness of breathing in the different ways given in the sutta. Then direct your awareness to the physical elements of the body by noting the different sensations experienced as feelings of the body.

The second foundation of mindfulness is- the mindfulness of feelings –quality of pleasantness unpleasantness and neutral feelings. Note the experience on these feeling tones.

The third is mindfulness of mind. This is contemplating on mind states and emotions colouring and conditioning the knowing mind. From time to time notice whether the mind is conditioned by desire, aversion, delusion or confusion or whether the mind is free of those states. Being mindful of the presence or absence of those emotions is equally important. By this the Buddha is highlighting the wise discernment of what is skillful or wholesome and what is unskillful, to see which mind states are to be cultivated leading to happiness, and which states lead to suffering for you and others and therefore needs to be abandoned.  This has to be practiced both in formal meditation practice and throughout the day.  Whether the mind is contracted in sleepiness or whether it is distracted in restlessness or not will be noted. 
The fourth aspect is mindfulness of Dhammas. The first part of this mindfulness is awareness of thoughts and images. Other parts are the five aggregates, the six sense spheres etc. In this part you find that in your meditation you will experience a rush of thoughts and images. You should not  be disturbed by them but develop a wise attitude towards them. Thinking is a natural activity of the mind. Develop a wise attitude towards thoughts and images.  You are not practicing to prevent thinking but to rather recognize and acknowledge thinking. If you are disturbed by thoughts then there is a problem with your attitude. Buddha said that what you frequently think about becomes the inclination of the mind. You observe that there is a thought; what is its content? Then for the wisdom part, ask yourself - is this thought necessary? You see that a ‘thought’ is empty, insubstantial and not of a permanent nature. In and of itself a ‘thought’ is nothing - an energy blip in the mind. When you are not aware of thoughts they wield tremendous power in your mind. They are like little dictators of the mind, directing you to do this and do that, go here, go there etc. When you become mindful of thoughts and see their inherent nature like this you see that they have no power at all. You realize that the only power the thoughts have is the power you give them". 

I found that Dr. Analayo Thero's  description on the way to practice is simple and explicit. After getting a general understanding about the way to practice and trying them out, from these descriptions, one may want to listen to a good meditation teacher as to how he would explain the way this practice can be done..

Ven. Dr. Analayo Thero in his treatise on the Sathipattana Sutta and how it is practiced says – “They are developed by:

i. Remaining focused on the body in & of itself – ardent, alert, & mindful – putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.

ii. Remaining focused on feelings in & of themselves – ardent, alert, & mindful – putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.

iii. Remaining focused on the mind in & of itself – ardent, alert, & mindful – putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.

iv. Remaining focused on mental qualities in & of themselves – ardent, alert, & mindful – putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world”.

This brief explanation is elaborated by him as follows:

1.0 Contemplation of the Body

1.1 Mindfulness of Breathing
 “And how, Bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu abide contemplating the body as a body? Here a bhikkhu, gone to (meditation location).. ………..,and established mindfulness in front of him, ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out. Breathing in long, he understands: ‘I breathe in long’; or breathing out long, he understands: ‘I breathe out long.’ Breathing in short, he understands: ‘I breathe in short’; or breathing out short, he understands: ‘I breathe out short.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquillizing the bodily formation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquillizing the bodily formation.

Insight - “In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, or he abides contemplating the body as a body externally, or he abides contemplating the body as a body both internally and externally. Or else he abides contemplating in the body, its nature of arising, or he abides contemplating in the body its nature of vanishing, or he abides contemplating in the body its nature of both arising and vanishing. Or else mindfulness that ‘there is a body’ is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body.

1.2 The Four Postures
“Again, bhikkhus, when walking, a bhikkhu understands: ‘I am walking’; when standing, he understands: ‘I am standing’; when sitting, he understands: ‘I am sitting’; when lying down, he understands: ‘I am lying down’; or he understands accordingly however his body is disposed.
 “In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, externally, and both internally and externally … And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That too is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body.

1.3 Full Awareness  

“Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is one who acts in full awareness when going forward and returning; who acts in full awareness when looking ahead and looking away; who acts in full awareness when flexing and extending his limbs; who acts in full awareness when wearing his robes; who acts in full awareness when eating, drinking, consuming food, and tasting; who acts in full awareness when defecating and urinating; who acts in full awareness when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, and keeping silent.
 “In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, externally, and both internally and externally … and he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That too is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body.

1.4. Foulness—The Bodily Parts
“Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this same body up from the soles of the feet and down from the top of the hair, bounded by skin, as full of many kinds of impurity thus: ‘In this body there are head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, etc. etc….’ Just as though there were a bag with an opening at both ends full of many sorts of grain, such as hill rice, red rice, beans, peas, millet, and white rice, and a man with good eyes were to open it and review it thus: ‘This is hill rice, this is red rice, these are beans, these are peas, this is millet, this is white rice’; so too, a bhikkhu reviews this same body … as full of many kinds of impurity thus: ‘In this body there are head-hairs etc. etc.… ’
“In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, externally, and both internally and externally …  And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That too is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body.

Please await Post # 52 -The Four Foundations of Mindfulness- the Way to Practice - Part 2, for the continuation of the descriptions on the practice.