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Compiled by Jayaram V
"And what is right mindfulness? There is the case
where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself —
ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress
with reference to the world. He remains focused on feelings in &
of themselves... the mind in & of itself... mental qualities in
& of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside
greed & distress with reference to the world. This is called right
mindfulness..."
"This is the direct path for the purification of
beings, for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the
disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right
method, & for the realization of Unbinding — in other words, the
four frames of reference." — Digha Nikaya 22
Right Attentiveness (or mindfulness) leads to the attainment of purity,
overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, end of pain and grief, pursuit of right
path and realization of Nirvana.
There are Four Fundamental Areas of Attentiveness, which a
disciple should remember while contemplating. They are contemplation of the
body, of the feelings, of the mind, and of the mind objects respectively. By
doing so he becomes very attentive, and achieves liberation from worldly
greed and grief.
I. How the Contemplation of the Body should be done:
The disciple should retreat into a forest, sit cross
legged, keeping the
body erect and concentrate his attention on the incoming
breath and out going breath. He should become attentive to how he is
breathing, and while doing so, he should contemplate upon how the body comes
into existence, and how it passes away. He should contemplate on how the body
is there with no individual or being inside it. This will help him to become
clear in his mind as to the nature of his body and helps him to become
independent and detached from everything in the world.
He should then contemplate upon the bodily function such
as sitting, standing or lying down. He should become aware of how the body is
moving, bending, stretching, eating, drinking, chewing, tasting, discharging
the waste, walking, standing, falling asleep, waking up or falling asleep or
remaining silent. While doing so he should become conscious of his motives,
his gains, his duty and the reality.
The disciple should then contemplate upon the body from
the foot upward, or from the head downward, upon the skin, upon the
impurities that exist in the body and should repeat to himself what the body
contains and what it is actually.
He should also contemplate upon the elements of the body,
namely the solid element, the liquid element, the heating element and the
vibrating element, as if he is dissecting his body and finding these elements
inside.
He should also contemplate upon a corpse, as it is thrown
into the burial ground, as it is lying there swollen and decaying, eaten by
crows or hawks or vultures or by other animals, till he realizes the true
nature of the body, and that his body also cannot escape similar fate.
Alternatively he should see the body becoming a heap of bones and arrive at
the same conclusion.
By these methods he comes to understand how the body comes
into existence and how it passes away and realizing thus becomes independent
and unattached to anything in the world.
The Ten Blessings:
When a disciple contemplates upon the body repeatedly in
manner described above and becomes firmly established in it, he may expect to
receive the following ten blessings:
1. He develops mastery over Delight and Discontent
2. He conquers Fear and Anxiety.
3. He develops tolerance towards cold and heat, hunger and
thirst, wind and sun, attacks by gadflies, mosquitoes and reptiles.
4. He develops endurance towards wicked and malicious
speech and all kinds of bodily pains.
5. He enjoys at will the four trances and the happiness
produced by the mind, without any difficulty or effort.
6. He may enjoy several magical powers, such as the
"heavenly ear" with which he can hear both heavenly and earthly
sounds.
7. He develop insight into the hearts of other people and
beings.
8. He may develop awareness of his many previous births.
9. With his heavenly eye he may see beings disappearing
and reappearing. He may see the beings in their true nature and how they are
reborn according to their deeds.
10. He may through complete cessation of all passions come
to know in this very life, the deliverance of the mind and deliverance of
oneself through wisdom.
II. How the Contemplation of the Feelings is to be
done:
During the contemplation of the feelings the disciple
should become conscious of indifferent, agreeable or disagreeable feelings,
or of worldly agreeable feelings or worldly disagreeable feelings, or of
unworldly agreeable feelings, or of unworldly disagreeable feelings, or of
worldly indifferent feelings or of unworldly indifferent feelings.
While contemplating thus either upon his own feelings or
of others, or of both, he sees how the feeling arise and how they pass away.
He becomes clearly aware of the existence of feelings and develops
independence and detachment.
He realizes that there is no such thing as "I
feel", but that in the absolute sense, there are only feelings
independent of ego, of any person or experience.
III. How the Contemplation of the Mind is to be done:
The disciple should contemplate upon the mind so as to
know the various states of his mind. He should be able to know the greedy
mind as greedy, the not greedy mind as not greedy, the angry mind as angry,
the not so angry mind as not angry, the deluded mind as deluded and the
undeluded mind as undeluded.
He should know the narrow mind as narrow, the scattered
mind as scattered, the developed mind as developed, the undeveloped mind as
undeveloped, the conquerable mind as conquerable, the unconquerable mind as
unconquerable, the concentrated mind as concentrated, the unconcentrated mind
as unconcentrated, the freed mind as freed and unfreed mind as unfreed.
According to the Perfect One the mind is a collective name
for the consciousness. It is not to be confused with thoughts and thinking,
which are but the verbal operations of the mind. They are of secondary nature
while consciousness is primary. They also do not exist in sensuous
consciousness and also in the second, third and fourth Trances.
He should thus contemplate upon the mind either of his own
or of others or both. He should see how the consciousness arises, how it
passes away and while doing so should be clear in his mind as to what he is
seeing. Because of his knowledge and mindfulness he becomes independent and
detached from every thing in the world.
IV. How the Contemplation of the mind-objects is to be
done:
First the disciple should contemplate upon the five
hindrances, which are lust, anger, torpor or drowsiness, restlessness of the
mind or mental worry and the doubts he suffers from. As he contemplates he
becomes aware of these hindrances as they arise and exist in him. He becomes
aware of how they arise and how they are to be overcome. He also knows when
these hindrances do not exist in him. He also knows how once they are
overcome they do not arise in him again.
For example the hindrance of lust arises because of the
unwise thinking on the agreeable and delightful. The Perfect One explains how
the hindrance of lust can be overcome by the following six methods.
i. By fixing the mind upon an idea that causes disgust;
ii. By contemplating upon the loathsomeness of the body.
iii. By controlling one's six senses;
iv. By moderation in eating;
v. By doing friendship with wise and good men; and
vi. By right instruction.
After contemplating upon the five hindrances, the disciple
should contemplate upon the five groups of existence. He should know what
Corporeality, feelings, perception, mental formations and consciousness are,
how they arise and how they pass away.
The disciple should then contemplate upon the phenomena of
the six Subjective-Objective Sense-Bases, which are the eyes together with
their visual objects, the ears with their sounds, the nose with its smells,
the tongue with its tastes, the body with its touches and the mind with its
mind objects. He should know how dependence upon these leads to bondage. He
should also know how the bondage comes into existence, how it should be
overcome and how the bondage so overcome does not rise again in future.
The disciple should then contemplate upon the seven
Elements of Enlightenment and should know when these exist in him and when
they do not. These seven elements are Attentiveness, Investigation of the
Dhamma, Energy, Enthusiasm, Tranquility, Concentration and Equanimity. He
should know how they arise and they are fully developed in a person.
The disciple should then contemplate upon the Four Noble
Truths. He should know what suffering is, what the origin of suffering is,
what the end of the suffering is, and which leads to the end of the
suffering.
As he contemplates upon the phenomena either with in him
or within others, he sees how they arise and how they pass away. While seeing
thus, he develops knowledge and mindfulness and attains independence and
detachment.
Attainment of Right Attentiveness through these four
fundamentals is the only way to achieve purity, overcome sorrow and
lamentation, end pain and grief, enter the right path and attain Nirvana.
Buddhist suttas on mindfulness
Mindfulness here and now **
"Suppose, monks, that a large crowd of people
comes thronging together, saying, 'The beauty queen! The beauty
queen!' And suppose that the beauty queen is highly accomplished at
singing & dancing, so that an even greater crowd comes
thronging, saying, 'The beauty queen is singing! The beauty queen is
dancing!' Then a man comes along, desiring life & shrinking from
death, desiring pleasure & abhorring pain. They say to him, 'Now
look here, mister. You must take this bowl filled to the brim with
oil and carry it on your head in between the great crowd & the
beauty queen. A man with a raised sword will follow right behind
you, and wherever you spill even a drop of oil, right there will he
cut off your head.' Now what do you think, monks: Will that man, not
paying attention to the bowl of oil, let himself get distracted
outside?"
"No, lord."
"I have given you this parable to convey a
meaning. The meaning is this: The bowl filled to the brim with oil
stands for mindfulness immersed in the body. Thus you should train
yourselves: 'We will develop mindfulness immersed in the body. We
will pursue it, hand it the reins and take it as a basis, give it a
grounding, steady it, consolidate it, and undertake it well.' That
is how you should train yourselves."
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Mindfulness being attentive to breathing ***
"Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when
developed & pursued, is of great fruit, of great benefit.
Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued,
brings the four frames of reference to their culmination. The four
frames of reference, when developed & pursued, bring the seven
factors for Awakening to their culmination. The seven factors for
Awakening, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing &
release to their culmination.
"Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing
developed & pursued so as to bring the four frames of reference
to their culmination?
"There is the case where a monk, having gone to
the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building,
sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and
setting mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in;
mindful he breathes out.
"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns that he is
breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns that he is
breathing out long. [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns that he
is breathing in short; or breathing out short, he discerns that he
is breathing out short. [3] He trains himself to breathe in
sensitive to the entire body, and to breathe out sensitive to the
entire body. [4] He trains himself to breathe in calming the bodily
processes, and to breathe out calming the bodily processes.
"[5] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to
rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture. [6] He trains
himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure, and to breathe out
sensitive to pleasure. [7] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive
to mental processes, and to breathe out sensitive to mental
processes. [8] He trains himself to breathe in calming mental
processes, and to breathe out calming mental processes.
"[9] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to
the mind, and to breathe out sensitive to the mind. [10] He trains
himself to breathe in satisfying the mind, and to breathe out
satisfying the mind. [11] He trains himself to breathe in steadying
the mind, and to breathe out steadying the mind. [12] He trains
himself to breathe in releasing the mind, and to breathe out
releasing the mind.
"[13] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on
inconstancy, and to breathe out focusing on inconstancy. [14] He
trains himself to breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally,
fading], and to breathe out focusing on dispassion. [15] He trains
himself to breathe in focusing on cessation, and to breathe out
focusing on cessation. [16] He trains himself to breathe in focusing
on relinquishment, and to breathe out focusing on
relinquishment."
**1— Samyutta Nikaya XLVII.20
***— Majjhima Nikaya 118
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