My first introduction to practice came during my time in the Peace Corps when an English monk in Bangkok suggested I stop asking so many questions and try meditating instead. After giving some basic instruction for watching the breath, he asked me to read The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Ven. Nyaniponika Thera, which contains the text and explanation of the Satipatthana Sutta. This sutta is one of the most important in the whole of the Buddha’s teachings, and it helped me to go from “asking mind” to doing the practice and seeing for myself.

The sutta begins with a powerful and straightforward declaration of purpose, of where the practice is leading, and then goes on to describe a wealth of mindfulness practices which lead to that goal. These few pages of text contain most of the major aspects of the Buddha’s teachings. The Satipatthana Sutta is like a lotus flower that opens to reveal the precious jewel of dhamma. And it ends with the strongest affirmation of confidence that freedom can be realized, that the goal can be reached.

Below is the introduction and some excerpts from the discourse. These excerpts are from Thus Have I Heard, translated by Maurice Walshe and published by Wisdom Press. I have included one of the translator’s extensive footnotes both because it indicates the richness of the Pali, and suggests possible difficulties and controversies which can arise in translation.

It’s helpful to remember that the suttas were spoken discourses and therefore have a different rhythm and style than they would if they had originally been in written form. They were meant to liberate the mind, not to entertain it, and so to touch their deep meaning they require careful reading and thoughtful attention. For me it is a miracle to have such direct access to the Buddha.

1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. Once the Lord was staying among the Kurus. There is a market-town of theirs called Kammasadhamma. And there the Lord addressed the monks: “Monks!” “Lord”, they replied, and the Lord said: “There is, monks, this one way* to the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and distress, for the disappearance of pain and sadness, for the gaining of the right path, for the realization of Nibbana:—that is to say the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

“What are the four? Here, monks, a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world; he abides contemplating feelings as feelings . . . ; he abides contemplating mind as mind . . . ; he abides contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world.”

 

(CONTEMPLATION OF THE BODY)

(1. Mindfulness of Breathing)

2. “And how, monks, does a monk abide contemplating the body as body? Here a monk, having gone into the forest, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty place, sits down cross-legged, holding his body erect, having established mindfulness before him. Mindfully he breathes in, mindfully he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath, he knows that he breathes in a long breath, and breathing out a long breath, he knows that he breathes out a long breath. Breathing in a short breath, he knows that he breathes in a short breath, and breathing out a short breath, he knows that he breathes out a short breath. He trains himself, thinking: ‘I will breathe in, conscious of the whole body.’ He trains himself, thinking: ‘I will breathe out, calming the whole bodily process.’ Just as a skilled turner, or his assistant, in making a long turn, knows that he is making a long turn, or in making a short turn, knows that his making a short turn, so too a monk, in breathing in a long breath, knows that he breathes in a long breath . . . and so trains himself, thinking: ‘I will breathe out, calming the whole bodily process.’”
(INSIGHT)
“So he abides contemplating body as body internally, contemplating body as body externally, contemplating body as body both internally and externally. He abides contemplating arising phenomena in the body, he abides contemplating vanishing phenomena in the body, he abides contemplating both arising and vanishing phenomena in the body. Or else, mindfulness that ‘there is body’ is present to him just to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. And that, monks, is how a monk abides contemplating body as body. . . .”

 

(CONCLUSION)
22. “Whoever, monks, should practice these four foundations of mindfulness for just seven years . . . for just six years . . . five years . . . four years . . . three years . . . two years . . . one year may expect one of two results . . . ; whoever should practice these four foundations of mindfulness for just one week may expect one of two results: either Arahantship in this life or, if there should be some substrate left, the state of a Non-Returner.

“It was said: ‘There is, monks, this one way to the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and distress, for the disappearance of pain and sadness, for the gaining of the right path, for the realization of Nibbana:—that is to say the four foundations of mindfulness’, and it is for this reason that it was said.”

Thus the Lord spoke, and the monks rejoiced and were delighted at his words.

Satipatthana Sutta

Digha-Nikaya

 

* Ekayano Maggo. Sometimes translated “the only way” or “the one and only way” with, on occasion, a slightly triumphalist connotation. DA in fact offers a number of possibilities, thus showing that the old commentators were not entirely sure of the exact meaning. Ekayana can be literally rendered “one-going,” which is ambiguous. Nanamoli has “a path that goes one way only.”

∞

From the Summer 1989 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 6, No. 1)

Text © each of the authors

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