Satipatthana Sutta · Lablypedia

Contents of the Pali version

In the Satipatthana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 10, the Buddha identifies four "foundations of mindfulness" or "frames of reference," on which he contemplates or focusses after leaving behind the worldly life: kāyā (body), vedanā (sensations/feelings aroused by perception), cittā (mind/consciousness), and dhammas (elements of the Buddhist teachings). The sutta then gives an overview of Buddhist practices, under these four headings:

Kāyā (body):
- mindfulness of breathing, calming the bodily formations (see also the Anapanasati Sutta);
- clear comprehension of all postures and actions;
- reflections on the repulsiveness of the body-parts;
- reflections on the elements which are in the body: earth, water, fire, and air;
- charnel ground contemplations;
- in these ways, remaining focussed on the body itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to the body; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of the body.
Vedanā (sensations/feelings aroused by perception):
- understanding feelings as pleasant, unpleasant, or neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant (neutral) feelings;
- in this way, remaining focussed on feelings in themselves; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to feelings; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of feelings.
Cittā (mind/consciousness), awareness of the presence and absence of the unwholesome states of the three poisons (lust, hate, delusion); and the presence or absence of the wholesome states related to dhyana:
- Three poisons:
  - lust (sarāgaṃ) or without lust (vītarāgaṃ)
  - hate (sadosaṃ) or without hate (vītadosaṃ)
  - delusion (samohaṃ) or without delusion (vītamohaṃ)
- Dhyana-related factors:
  - contracted (saṅkhittaṃ) or scattered (vikkhittaṃ)
  - lofty (mahaggataṃ) or not lofty (amahaggataṃ)
  - surpassable (sa-uttaraṃ) or unsurpassed (anuttaraṃ)
  - quieted (samāhitaṃ) or not quieted (asamāhitaṃ)
  - released (vimuttaṃ) or not released (avimuttaṃ)
- In this way, remaining focussed on the mind itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to mind; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of mind
Dhammā (elements of the Buddhist teachings):
- the five hindrances: awareness of the presence or absence, arising and abandoning, and no future arising, of sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and uncertainty;
- the five skandhas, the aggregates of clinging: the discernment of the existence, the origination, and the disappearance, of form, feeling, perception, formations (mental dispositions), and consciousness;
- the six sense-bases, and the fetters that arise in dependence on them: discerning the internal sense-media (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, intellect), the external sense-media (forms, sounds, odours, tangibles), the arising of fetters in dependence on the six-sense bases, the abandonment of the arisen fetters, and the future non-arising of these fetters;
- the Seven factors of awakening: awareness of the presence or absence, the arising, and the culmination, of sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (investigation of dhammas), viriya (energy, effort, persistence, determination), pīti (rapture), passaddhi (tranquility, relaxation (of body and mind)), samadhi (clear awareness, concentration), upekkha (equanimity);
- the Four Noble Truths.

Comparison of the content in other sources

The Sarvāstivāda Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra differs in some ways from the Theravada version, including postures as the first contemplation instead of breathing for example. According to Bhante Sujato, it seems to emphasize samatha or calm abiding, while the Theravadin version emphasizes Vipassana or insight. The text also often refers to 'bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs' instead of just male bhikkhus.

A section on Smṛtyupasthāna is found in various Tibetan and Chinese recensions of large Prajñāpāramitā sutras, such as the 25,000 line version translated by Edward Conze. This skeletal version of the Smṛtyupasthāna is incorporated into the larger sutra and thus appears as part of the Buddha's discourse to Subhuti. It only outlines specific practices for the contemplation of the body, the other three satipatthanas are simply enumerated.

Various scholars have attempted to use the numerous early sources to trace an "ur-text" i.e. the original satipaṭṭhāna formula or the earliest sutta. Bronkhorst (1985) argues that, in the earliest form of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, mindfulness of feelings and mindfulness of mind were transmitted in a relatively stable form across the sources, whereas mindfulness of the body contained only the observation of the impure constituents of the body, and mindfulness of dhammas originally referred only to the observation of the seven awakening factors. Sujato's reconstruction similarly only retains the contemplation of the impure under mindfulness of the body, while including only the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors under mindfulness of dhammas. According to Bhikkhu Anālayo, mindfulness of breathing was probably absent from the original scheme, noting that one can easily contemplate the body's decay taking an external object, that is, someone else's body, but not be externally mindfull of the breath, that is, someone else's breath.

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Interpretation and practice

Stage of practice leading to jhana

According to Rupert Gethin, "[t]he sutta is often read today as describing a pure form of insight (vipassanā) meditation that bypasses calm (samatha) meditation and the four absorptions (jhāna)." Yet, in the older Buddhist tradition, mindfulness aided in abandoning the five hindrances, which then leads into the first jhana. According to Gethin, the early Buddhist texts have "a broadly consistent vision" regarding meditation practice. Various practices lead to the development of the factors of awakening, which are not only the means to, but also the constituents of awakening.

Gethin, followed by Polak and Arbel, notes that there is a "definite affinity" between the bojjhaṅgā, the seven factors of awakening, and the four jhanas, which actualize the Buddhist practices aiming at calming the mind. According to Gethin, satipatthana and anapanasati are related to a formula that summarizes the Buddhist path to awakening as "abandoning the hindrances, establishing [...] mindfulness, and developing the seven factors of awakening." This results in a "heightened awareness," "overcoming distracting and disturbing emotions," which are not particular elements of the path to awakening, but rather common disturbing and distracting emotions.

According to Sujato, samatha and vipassana are complementary elements of the Buddhist path. Satipatthana explicates mindfulness, the seventh limb of the eightfold path, and is to be understood as an integral part of this path.

Polak, elaborating on Vetter, notes that the onset of the first dhyana is described as a quite natural process, due to the preceding efforts to restrain the senses and the nurturing of wholesome states. According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas, describing how the samskharas are tranquilized:

the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā);
contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (vedanānupassanā);
the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
the development from the five hindrances to the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).

Various practices

There are a variety of ways that one could use the methods described in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta including:

Focus on a single method. The method most written about in the English language is that of mindfulness of breath.
Practice the various methods individually in succession.
Maintain breath mindfulness as a primary object while using other methods to address non-breath stimuli.
Practice multiple methods either in tandem or in a context-driven manner.

According to Bhikkhu Analāyo and Bhikkhu Soma, writing from a traditional point of view, the Papañcasudani recommends a different satipaṭṭhāna depending on whether a person:

tends more toward affective craving or intellectual speculation; and,
is more measured in their responses or quick reacting.

Based on these two dimensions the commentary's recommended personality-based satipaṭṭhāna is reflected in the grid shown at right.

Soma (2003, p. xxiv) adds that all practitioners (regardless of their character and temperament) should also practice mindfulness of Postures (moving, standing, sitting, lying down) and Clear Understanding, about which he writes: "The whole practice of mindfulness depends on the correct grasp of the exercises included in the two parts referred to here."

English commentaries

Anālayo (2004), Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization, Windhorse Publications, ISBN 978-1899579549
Anālayo (2013), Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna, Windhorse Publications, ISBN 978-1909314030
Anālayo (2018), Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide, Windhorse Publications, ISBN 978-1911407102
Goenka, S.N. (2015), Satipatthana Sutta Discourses, Pariyatti Publishing, ISBN 978-1938754906
Goldstein, Joseph (2016), Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, Sounds True, ISBN 978-1622036059
Gunaratana, Bhante (2014), The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 978-1614290384
Nhất Hạnh, Thích (2002), Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, Parallax Press, ISBN 978-1888375626
Nyanaponika (2014), The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, Weiser Books, ISBN 978-1578635580
Sīlānanda, Sayadaw U (2003), The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 978-0861713288
Soma Maha Thera, Kotahene (1998), The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary, Buddhist Publication Society, ISBN 978-9552402562

Contents