Satipaṭṭhāna means the practice for the firm establishment of mindfulness. In the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna one can contemplate the body, feeling, consciousness, or dhammas as object. The work of contemplation is driven by ardent intense energetic effort to arouse mindfulness and direct it precisely and continuously onto the object of contemplation. Through continuous and precise application of mindfulness on the object concentration develops which in turn leads to clear comprehension of the nature of the object contemplated. But as we mentioned at the end of the previous post this is still not the complete description of the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna yet. It is enough, though, for one to begin the practice and even to bring it all the way to completion. But there is more to be said about the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna.
The practice of Satipaṭṭhāna or right mindfulness is an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path, the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. In fact, actually when one practices Satipaṭṭhāna one is also practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. The ardent energetic effort that drives the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna is right effort. The mindfulness that is aroused through right effort and that is directed precisely and continuously onto the object of contemplation is right mindfulness. The directing and aiming of right mindfulness onto the object is right thought. The concentration that is developed as a result is right concentration. The clear comprehension that sees the true nature of object contemplated is right view. These five path-factors are present and active during the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna. As for the other three path-factors, right speech, right action, and right livelihood, they are taken care of through undertaking the precepts prior to the practice of meditation.
Since Satipaṭṭhāna is integral to the Noble Eightfold Path, and since the Noble Eightfold Path has as its objective the realization of Nibbāna, the cessation of suffering, it follows that the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna must also contribute towards this goal. The Buddha said that one who develops and cultivates the four satipaṭṭhānas slants, slopes and inclines towards Nibbāna (Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Sutta 51ff ), and that when the four satipaṭṭhānas are developed and cultivated they lead to going beyond from the near shore to the far shore (Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Sutta 34). In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta itself the Buddha had in fact said that Satipaṭṭhāna is the only way for the realization of Nibbāna. And the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna helps to achieve this goal of the realization of Nibbāna by directing the mind towards the development of vipassanā wisdom or insight knowledge. Actually this directing towards vipassanā is already implied by the mention of clear comprehension in the basic instruction of Satipaṭṭhāna (ardent, clearly comprehending, and mindful). But this will be further emphasized by the Buddha in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta in a passage (see below) that will recur many times in the sutta.
In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta 10), after laying out the basic method for the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna at the beginning of the Sutta (dwells contemplating the body in the body, etc.) the Buddha went on to describe in detail how this basic method can be applied in twenty one ways:
- Contemplation of the body by means of fourteen ways (mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness of the postures of the body, mindfulness with clear comprehension, reflection on the repulsiveness of the parts of the body, reflection on the material elements, and nine cemetery contemplations),
- Contemplation of feelings in one way (contemplating of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling in general and also in their worldly and spiritual aspects),
- Contemplation of consciousness in one way (contemplating various kinds of consciousness that arise: that which arise with lust, hate, or delusion and that which is freed from them, that which is constricted by sloth and torpor and that which is not constricted thus, that which is scattered by restlessness and that which is not scattered thus, that which has attained to the greatness of the jhānas and that which has not yet attained thus, the surpassable consciousness belonging to the sense-sphere and the fine-material-sphere and the unsurpassable consciousness belonging to the immaterial-sphere, that which is concentrated and that which is not, and that which is either momentarily or temporarily freed from mental-defilements and that which is not so freed), and
- Contemplation of dhammas by means of five ways (the five hindrances, the five aggregates subject to clinging, the six internal and six external sense-bases, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the four Noble Truths).
“Thus he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body externally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally and externally. He dwells contemplating the nature of arising in the body, or he dwells contemplating the nature of passing away in the body, or he dwells contemplating the nature of arising and passing away in the body. Or his mindfulness is established as ‘there is the body’, and that mindfulness is established to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. And he dwells independent, not clinging to anything in the world.”
~ Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta 10
This passage just quoted is said with reference to the fourteen ways under contemplation of body. For contemplation of feeling, consciousness, and dhammas, we must substitute “body” with “feeling”, “consciousness”, and “dhamma” accordingly. Here in this passage the Buddha emphasized more clearly the directing of the mind through Satipaṭṭhāna to the development of vipassanā wisdom.
First the Buddha said to dwell contemplating the internal objects. Internal objects means objects that are within us. When we meditate we must obviously begin with objects that are within us for it is these internal objects that can be directly perceived by us. For example if you take the breath as your object of contemplation then contemplating the body internally means you contemplate your own breath-body, the collection of physical materialities tied up with your own in and out breath. But after you are able to grasp and experience clearly the nature of your own breath-body then you may also contemplate the external body, e.g. the breath-body of others’. In Janavasabha Sutta (Dīgha-Nikāya, Sutta 18) it is said:
“Here, Sirs, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body internally, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming covetousness and grief with regards to the world. As he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally [his mind] becomes rightly concentrated and perfectly clear. [His mind] having become rightly concentrated therein, and perfectly clear, he produces knowledge and vision externally with regards to another’s body.”The Commentary to Janavasabha Sutta explains thus:
“he produces knowledge and vision externally with regards to another’s body: [this means] he dispatches knowledge with regard to his own body to confront the body of another.”The Sub-Commentary explains further:
“The mind being rightly concentrated through the contemplation of the body in the body internally, he produces knowledge and vision therein according to the saying ‘being concentrated he knows and sees things as they really are’ (Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Khandhasaṃyutta, Sutta 5). Subsequent to this he produces knowledge and vision with regards to the body of another too.”From these explanations we can understand external contemplation as the application of the knowledge one has gained through contemplating the nature of internal objects onto the external objects.
In the Mahāsi system of Satipaṭṭhāna Vipassanā meditation where the samatha-jhānas are not developed, this is done through inferential knowledge. Having have a clear grasp and experience of the nature of one’s own body one then apply this knowledge inferentially, and usually spontaneously, to others’ body too “Just as my body is of such a nature so too the body of others’.”
But in other systems of Satipaṭṭhāna meditation where they do develop the samatha-jhānas, and if the yogi has developed the divine-eye as well, this external contemplation may be carried out with the help of the divine-eye. Divine-eye is the psychic ability that enables one who has it to see things which is far away and out of the range of normal sight. It is developed via the mastery of the jhānas.
And sometimes one may go back and forth between contemplating internally and externally. This is called contemplating both internally and externally. Mindfulness is maintained whether in contemplating internally or externally.
Next the Buddha talks about contemplating the nature of arising (samudayadhamma) and the nature of passing away (vayadhamma) of the object. Actually in our translation here we have rendered samudayadhamma and vayadhamma based on the suggestion by the late Ven. Mahāsi Sayādaw. According to the Commentary, however, samudayadhamma means origination-factors or the factors that support the arising of the object, i.e. its conditions; while vayadhamma means dissolution-factors, the factors or conditions with the breaking up of which the object comes to dissolution. But Ven. Mahāsi Sayādaw added that the contemplation of arising and passing away of the object is also meant here. This is supported by the fact that while samudayadhamma and vayadhamma can mean factors by which something arises and dissolves, respectively, they can also mean the nature of arising and passing away, respectively.
But these two interpretations are actually related and there is no contradiction between them. For when one sees the factors of arising of the object one will also come to see the arising of the object itself. And by seeing the factors of dissolution one will also come to see the passing away of the object. But in the stages of the progress of insight one must first grasps the conditions involved clearly first (paccayapariggaha-ñāṇa) then only one sees the arising and passing away of the object (beginning with sammasana-ñāṇa).
Contemplation of the arising and passing away of the object is very important to the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna because it is through contemplating the object’s nature of arising and passing away that one can come to see its nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, and thus develop vipassanā wisdom. What we call vipassanā wisdom is the wisdom that sees as it really is the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self of the mental and physical objects that are contemplated in the practice. But how is vipassanā wisdom developed simply by contemplating the arising and passing away of the object? This is explained in the commentaries:
“It is impermanent in the sense of disappearance after having been; suffering in the sense of being oppressed by arising and passing-away; non-self in the sense of not being susceptible to control.”When one contemplates the object’s nature of arising and passing away one comes to realize the fact of impermanence in the sense that one sees the object disappear (pass-away) immediately after having come to be (arise). It is the moment to moment disappearance of the mental and physical objects or the formations (saṅkhārā) that is meant here. Moment after moment after moment these formations are continuously arising and passing away, displaying their nature of impermanence.
One also comes to realize the fact of suffering when one sees how the formations are being continuously oppressed by arising and passing away moment after moment after moment. This process of arising and passing away of the formations goes on continuously and do not stop even for a single moment. They do not stop even when one wants it to. There is no rest from arising and passing away, no peace. It is suffering. But this is not an ordinary kind of suffering like physical pain or mental sorrow (dukkhadukkha or apparent suffering). It is called suffering due to formations (saṅkhāradukkha). It is a more comprehensive kind of suffering. For in this sense even happy feeling is suffering. It is suffering firstly because it is impermanent; it changes (vipariṇāmadukkha or suffering due to change). It is also suffering when one contemplate its continuous oppression by the process of arising and passing away (saṅkhāradukkha). Imagine if you were locked up in a room where your favourite music is played loudly and continuously night and day, and imagine you being in that room for a year. You eat, sleep, and do everything in there, but regardless of what you do the music is continuously playing. Since it is your favourite music you may like it at first. But after a week or so, and most likely even before that, you will start to become bored or even fed up with the music. You will want it to stop, but it does not. And you cannot stop it. That is a kind of suffering. Suffering due to formations is something like that. It is the kind of suffering that is experienced through the contemplation of the oppressive nature of the incessant process of moment to moment arising and passing away of the formations.
And this process of arising and passing away cannot be controlled. When the appropriate causes and conditions are present the formations will arise and no one can stop them from arising. And once they arise they will pass away, for all things that have the nature to arise have also the nature to pass away. No one can prevent them from passing away. One does not want unpleasant objects to arise nor does one want pleasant object to pass away. One wants only pleasant object to arise and the unpleasant object to quickly pass away and not arise again. But these formations, pleasant or unpleasant, do not arise according to one’s whims and fancies, according to one’s wishes. They obey only the law of nature; they arise and pass away according to the natural law of causality. They are not within one’s control. Therefore the formations are non-self, for were they the self one should rightly be able to subject them to one’s control.
Another explanation of non-self given in the commentaries is:
"It is non-self in the sense of being coreless"This means that the formations are devoid any permanent unchanging inner-core called a self. These formations are arising and passing away moment after moment after moment. In the midst of these ever arising and ever dissolving formations nothing can be seen that is permanent, lasting, and unchanging. There is no permanent essence that can be discerned that forms the inner-core of our experience of the world, an inner-core that is untouched by impermanence. All phenomena that are contemplated are seen to be arising and passing away according to the law of causality. Therefore these formations are non-self.
So by contemplating only one thing, the arising and passing away of formations, one can come to realize three things, their nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, and thus developed vipassanā wisdom. And it is only through the development of vipassanā wisdom that sees into the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self of the formations that one can developed the strength and wisdom to let go of these formations, these mental and physical phenomena, or these five aggregates subject to clinging which constitute the truth of suffering. Only vipassanā wisdom can counter ignorance (avijjā) which conceals the true nature of the formations. Ignorance hides the true nature of the formations causing one to take the formations which are really impermanent, suffering, and non-self to be permanent, pleasurable, and as one’s self, and thus also causing one to develop attachment, the truth of the cause of suffering, towards them. Vipassanā wisdom, however, sees these formations correctly as they really are according to their true nature of impermanent, suffering, and non-self and thus ignorance is dispelled.
When vipassanā wisdom develops and become more and more matured one develops stronger and stronger detachment towards the formations, leading to a sense of revulsion towards them, which in turn lead to dispassion. And finally, at the culmination of the practice, when the vipassanā wisdom reaches the peak of maturity, the path consciousness (maggacitta) arises that takes Nibbāna, the truth of the cessation of suffering, as object. At that time the truth of suffering is fully understood, the truth of the cause of suffering is abandoned, the truth of the cessation of suffering is realized, and the truth of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering is fully developed. The mind becomes liberated. It is in this way that the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna meditation fulfils the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path, that is by directing the mind towards the development of vipassanā wisdom. So when the Buddha says to watch the nature of arising and passing away he is actually talking about the development of vipassanā wisdom or insight knowledge.
“Bhikkhus, materiality is impermanent. What is impermanent is suffering; what is suffering is non-self; what is non-self should be seen with right wisdom as it really is thus ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’
“Feeling is impermanent… Perception is impermanent… Mental-formations are impermanent… Consciousness is impermanent. What is impermanent is suffering; what is suffering is non-self; what is non-self should be seen with right wisdom as it really is thus ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’
“Seeing thus, bhikkhus, the instructed noble disciple has revulsion towards materiality, has revulsion towards feeling, has revulsion towards perception, has revulsion towards mental-formations, has revulsion towards consciousness. Having revulsion, he becomes dispassionate; Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there is the knowledge ‘It is liberated.’ He knows ‘Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived, what is to be done has been done, there is nothing more beyond this.”
~ Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Khandhasaṃyutta, Sutta 15)
“Or his mindfulness is established as ‘there is the body’, and that mindfulness is established to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness.”The passage just quoted is again referring to the contemplation of body. For contemplation of feeling, consciousness, and dhammas, substitute the word "body" accordingly. Here again the Buddha is talking about the development of vipassanā wisdom. Mindfulness is established as ‘there is the body.’ In the case of mindfulness of the breath the yogi establishes his mindfulness only on the breath-body and as he do so he comes to realize that there is only the breath-body, the collection of physical materialities connected with the in and out breath. Beside this there is no other thing - no being, no person, no woman, no man, no self, nothing that belong to a self, no I, no mine, no one, and nothing belonging to anyone.
And this mindfulness, said the Buddha, is established to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. This statement establishes the purpose of practicing Satipaṭṭhāna. Knowledge here refers to vipassanā wisdom. The commentary explains:
“[this means that this mindfulness is established] to the extent necessary for further and further, higher and higher, measure of knowledge as well as mindfulness. For the purpose of the growth of mindfulness and the knowledge of clear-comprehension is the meaning.”So the purpose of practicing Satipaṭṭhāna is for the growth of sati-sampajañña or mindfulness and clear-comprehension (i.e. vipassanā wisdom). The commentary’s explanation means that when one practices Satipaṭṭhāna, one establishes mindfulness for the sake of deepening one’s mindfulness further and further in order to be able to progress from one stage of vipassanā wisdom to another higher stage, in order that one may continuously deepen one’s understanding into impermanence, suffering and non-self. Only when vipassanā wisdom becomes deep and profound can one really let go any craving and desire for the mental and physical phenomena or formations (i.e. the objects of contemplation) and so be able to let go of suffering. This is the primary purpose of developing Satipaṭṭhāna.
The purpose of practicing Satipaṭṭhāna as intended by the Buddha is not to relieve stress of the workaday life, to improve performance and efficiency, to improve relationship with others, to live with more wisdom (i.e. worldly wisdom), to cure diseases, improve health, etc. To be sure it is possible for the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna to bring about all these benefits if it is developed properly, but they are nevertheless only secondary benefits or the side-effects of practicing Satipaṭṭhāna. Satipaṭṭhāna has a higher purpose than that. Satipaṭṭhāna when properly practiced should move only in one direction, towards only one goal: the complete cessation of suffering.
Finally the Buddha said:
“ And he dwells independent, not clinging to anything in the world.”Independent here means independent from craving and wrong views. When vipassanā wisdom is well developed craving and wrong views are abandoned. The yogi who has developed vipassanā wisdom does not lean on craving and wrong view like an ordinary person who does not meditate. Normally when a person do not meditate he harbors wrong view under the influence of ignorance which takes the formations as something permanent, pleasurable, and as a self. As a result he develops craving for and attachment towards these formations. But when the yogi develops vipassanā wisdom, he is freed from wrong view. He sees and understands correctly the nature of these formations as impermanent, suffering, and non-self. So he does not give rise to any craving for them. Instead he dwells independent from craving and wrong view. And for that reason he does not cling to anything in the world. He is free from clinging to anything in the world because he understands as they really are the true nature of these formations which constitute the world and so have no cause for being attached to them.
From the above discussion we can see clearly that the Buddha intended the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna primarily for the purpose of developing vipassanā wisdom that leads to the fulfillment of the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path, the cessation of suffering. The entire practice of Satipaṭṭhāna meditation is orientated towards the development of vipassanā wisdom in order to achieve this goal. But it must be mentioned here that this practice does not ignore the development or the importance of concentration. For, as we have mentioned in the last post, vipassanā wisdom arise out of concentration. Without concentration there can be no vipassanā wisdom. In fact, by means of some of the ways for the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna mentioned in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, for example using the breath as object of contemplation, there can be development of concentration even up to the level of jhāna in the beginning. But the overall direction of the development of the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna is geared towards the development of vipassanā wisdom. Concentration is only developed as a means towards this end, and, as have been often mentioned by many teachers, it is not necessary to develop concentration up to the level of jhāna or absorption (appaṇā-samādhi) in order to develop vipassanā wisdom. The moment-to-moment concentration (khaṇika-samādhi) developed through the direct vipassanā approach to Satipaṭṭhāna is sufficient enough for this purpose. For this concentration too possesses the jhāna factors that have developed enough strength to suppress the five hindrances that prevents the arising of wisdom.
So this is the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna which stands at the heart of Buddhist meditation, which is also the only way for the realization of Nibbāna, the ultimate goal of the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. Concerning this the Buddha had said:
"Bhikkhus, those who have neglected the four Satipaṭṭhāna have neglected the noble path that leads to the complete destruction of suffering. Those who have undertaken the four Satipaṭṭhāna have undertaken the noble path that leads to the complete destruction of suffering."
~ Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Sutta 33
"Brahmin, it is because the four Satipaṭṭhāna are not developed and cultivated that the true Dhamma do not last long after the Tathāgata has attained final Nibbāna. And it is because the four Satipaṭṭhāna are developed and cultivated that the true Dhamma last long after the Tathāgata has attained final Nibbāna."
~ Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Sutta 25
"Bhikkhus, those for whom you have compassion, who deem you worth listening to, friends or colleagues, relatives or kinsmen, you should spur them on, settle and establish them in the development of of the four Satipaṭṭhāna."
~ Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Sutta 48
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