An Exposition on "Right Mindfulness"

Ven. P.A. Payutto (translated from Thai by Wisdom Quarterly and Dhamma-Vijaya)

In the Noble Eightfold Path the practice leading to the complete cessation of unsatisfactoriness (dukkha, suffering) is "right mindfulness" (samma-sati).

It is counted as the second factor of the Concentration Section, the "Higher Mental Training." The usual definition of right mindfulness given in the sutras (discourses) is as follows:

"Monastics, what is right mindfulness? The following is called right mindfulness, namely, that a practitioner in this Doctrine and Discipline:

"1. One contemplates the body in the body with effort, clearly comprehending and mindfully, eradicating covetousness and distress with regard to the world;[1]

"2. One contemplates feeling in feelings with effort, clearly comprehending and mindfully, eradicating covetousness and distress with regard to the world;

"3. One contemplates the mind in the mind with effort, clearly comprehending and mindfully, eradicating covetousness and distress with regard to the world;

"4. One contemplates phenomena [2] in phenomena with effort, clearly comprehending and mindfully, eradicating covetousness and distress with regard to the world" (D.II.313).

• This gradual training is outlined in the discourse on the setting up of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and explained in detail by teachers in a living oral tradition.
  

"'Mindfulness' might also be defined as 'knowing where your elbow is at all times.' " (Fr.toonpool.com; loosely translated from German by Wisdom Quarterly).

Another definition, which appears in the Abhidharma ("Higher Teachings") texts, runs as follows:

"What is right mindfulness? Mindfulness (sati) means to bear in mind or bring to mind. It is the state of recollecting, the state of remembering [keeping in mind], the state of non-fading, the state of non-forgetting. It means the mindfulness that is a Spiritual Faculty, the mindfulness that is a Spiritual Power, right mindfulness, the mindfulness that is an Factor of Enlightenment, that which is a Path Factor, and that which is related to the Path. This is what is called right mindfulness" (Vbh.105, 286).

• These are all references to the great importance of mindfulness in the "37 Requisites of Enlightenment" (bodhi-pakkaya-dhamma), where it occurs 14 times.

Right mindfulness, as defined in the discourses, is a synonym for the principles of Dharma known as the Four Foundations (sati-patthana). The four elements of this group have the abbreviated names of:

1. mindfulness (or "contemplation") of the body (kaya-anupassana);
2. mindfulness of feelings (vedana-anupassana);
3. mindfulness of mind (citta-anupassana);
4. mindfulness of mind-objects (dhammas or phenomena).

Before investigating the meaning of right mindfulness in terms of the Four Foundations, it is appropriate to point out a few things on the subject of sati to serve as a basic foundation for study. More

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
[1] "Ananda, whatever is of a nature to dissolve (paloka), this is called 'the world' in the Discipline of the Nobles. What is of a nature to dissolve? The eye, Ananda...visible objects...visual consciousness... visual contact... the ear... sounds...mind contact, and whatever arises conditioned by mind contact, whether felt as pleasant or painful or neutral -- that is of a nature to 'dissolve'."
[2] Namely, all mental and physical phenomena (listed and explained in the discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (MN 10)

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