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Mindfulness and Satipaṭṭhāna

Four establishments

MN 10 organizes practice around contemplation of:

  1. body;
  2. feelings;
  3. mind;
  4. dhammas or relevant qualities/principles.

The recurring discipline includes ardency, clear comprehension, mindfulness, and putting aside covetousness and distress regarding the world.

Examples

Body

  • breathing;
  • postures;
  • activities with clear comprehension;
  • anatomical parts;
  • elements;
  • contemplation of a corpse.

Feelings

Know pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling, including worldly and unworldly forms.

Mind

Know mind with or without lust, aversion, delusion, contraction, distraction, development, collectedness, and release.

Dhammas

The discourse includes:

  • five hindrances;
  • five clinging-aggregates;
  • six sense bases and fetters;
  • seven awakening factors;
  • four noble truths.

Function of mindfulness

Mindfulness is not passive observation alone. It remembers the appropriate frame, recognizes relevant qualities, and works together with right view and right effort.

Practice note

A safe beginning:

  1. establish a comfortable posture;
  2. know breathing without forcing it;
  3. recognize distraction;
  4. return without hostility;
  5. notice whether a hindrance is present and what feeds it.

For intensive practice, use a qualified teacher.

Interpretive cautions

  • Satipaṭṭhāna is not restricted to a single modern noting technique.
  • Observing anger does not mean acting it out or approving it.
  • Mindfulness detached from ethics is not the full right-mindfulness factor.
  • Do not use corpse or body-part contemplation aggressively when it produces destabilization or self-hatred.

Primary readings