Contemplation is Total Engagement of Mindfulness

When we contemplate an object in vipassanā meditation we really need to give one hundred percent of all our mental resources to the work of contemplating the object in the present moment. The mind needs to be completely immersed with curiosity and interest into the object in the present moment and be totally engaged in investigating its nature.

The normal habit of the mind is to give a little attention here and a little there. Often we think that we are completely with the object in the present moment because it seems that we are able to follow the flow of the objects from moment to moment. But if we really look honestly we will realise that we are not really giving one hundred percent to the object occurring in the present moment.

While it is true that we are able to follow the flow of the objects from moment to moment but at any one moment our mind is only partially with the object in that present moment. The other part is either inclined with expectation towards the coming moments, or with lingering thoughts towards the moments that have just passed, or it is held back by ideas about the present object (ideas that tend to send the mind off on a tangent), or it is simply inclined to rest on the object without taking a good look at it.

In short our attention is inclined towards either dispersion or stagnation. Seldom is our attention inclined towards clear investigative attention whereby our interest and curiosity are fully engaged in exploring the nature of the object of the present moment. Such kind of dispersed or stagnant attention is ineffective in uncovering the true nature of the object occurring right in the present. It does not lead to the development of strong concentrated mindfulness, the satipaṭṭhāna mindfulness that is effective in the work of arousing clear and profound insights into the nature of the object of contemplation.

Therefore in the Satipaṭṭhāna Commentary they described the satipaṭṭhāna mindfulness as having the characteristic of non-superficiality and as occurring by plunging into into the object, sinking into, and spreading all over it. This denotes total engagement with the object right in the present moment. Only in this way can the nature of the object be investigated clearly, effectively, and profoundly.

"One should not retrace the past,
Nor should one yearn after the future.
That which is past is no longer,
And the future is not yet come.
That phenomenon presently arisen,
There and then he discerns with clear insights^*.
The wise should make grow that
Immovable, unshakeable [insight.]"

~ Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Majjhima-Nikāya, Sutta 131

* "Discerns with clear insights" = vipassati. Vipassati is the verb for vipassanā. Vipassanā means insight into the nature of impermanent, suffering, and non-self. Vipassati is the action of arousing that insight or the practise of vipassanā meditation. By vipassati, the Buddha is pointing out the practise of vipassanā meditation.