Mindfulness: practical applications of the satipatthana sutta

[Gem]

Originally Posted by sky123

Mindfulness of In-&-Out Breathing
"Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit?

"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.[1] Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.

"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' [3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'[2] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' [4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.'[3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

Indeed, training the sensitivity of perception is the primary aim of anapanasati so that the mind becomes sensitive to the entire body. I have discussed this in some detail, but to recap: there are steps taken to refine the anapanasati practice which use subtler and subtler breath objects that require more and more sensitive perception to feel, and by taking these steps, indeed one becomes 'sensitive to the entire body'.

"[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.' [6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.' [7] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication.'[4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.' [8] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.'

We touched on this topic of how anapanasati is interconnected with the body and sensations, and mind and mental contents, but since we have not come to the sensations and mind parts of the satipatthana sutta, there has been no indepth discussion on that yet.

It will be necessary to address the body/sensations and mind/mental contents as it pertains to the 'respiration' phase, but the full discussion on sensation and mind will be covered when the practice is at those stages. The discussion on 'rapture' will be months from now when it starts to open up and flow in the body (Rapture translated from the word 'piti' is not discussed until end sections of the satipatthana as a factor of enlightenment).

"[9] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.' [10] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in satisfying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out satisfying the mind.' [11] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind.' [12] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'[5]

I will open the discussion on 'sensitivity to mind' and 'steadying the mind' as it pertains to respiration in my next post because people practicing will by now have experienced the wandering, distraction and unsteady reactive aspects of the mind. It's not easy to string that together in a coherent way, so I'm currently thinking it through and reading teachings about it so I can be thorough and orderly in what I have to say.

"[13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.' [14] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on dispassion.' [15] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on cessation.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on cessation.' [16] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on relinquishment.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on relinquishment.'

This issue on dispassion and non-attachment has been touched on in this thread as it pertains to respiration, and covered in a very general sense by 'mere awareness' and 'mere understanding'. It is too early to go into a lot of detail at this respiration stage, but during the body/sensation stage it will become the primary aim of full body awareness. 'Inconstancy' will also take on nuanced meaning during the body awareness stage.

"This is how mindfulness of in-&-out breathing is developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit.

Lots of misconceptions can be solved by reading the Suttas...

What this thread is doing is going through the satipatthana at the same rate as practice is refined, developed and established. I provided a link to the sutta, so everyone has the entire text (which includes an excellent introduction and explanatory notes at the end). If the text itself was sufficient, that would be all, but as I explained in post #3, the text itself in insufficient because knowledge also includes intellectual understanding and direct experience. This is why the thread includes the sutta, intellectual articulations about sutta, and the practice. People are perfectly free to read explanations of the sutta, which is what I do so I can elaborate coherenty here.

If you don't practice the discussion will seem senseless, incoherent and appear misconceived, but in this sangha something real happening: people have considered refuge and sila and taken it seriously, accepted the three aspect of knowledge, set up meditation spots, commenced, noted the effectiveness, and we have cultivated a seedling of sangha which we together care for and take refuge in. The space which winter light has explained to us all has started to open up, and the conditions that are most conducive to purification have started to accumulate.

The deepest truth of our hearts is pure with good-will, and even though we are aware of imperfections, we proceed with the process of purification so that we might be peaceful, happy and liberated. Because this is our own true wish, it is also the wish we have for all others: that I am happy, that others are happy, that all beings are happy.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by winter light

The trust I have is in the Buddha and that is just natural and comes without effort. The teachings however I struggle with there is just too much information. So I do not do much research or study of the teachings except for reading what I find spontaneously like on this thread. Even that is a lot.

Same here, I didn't trust straight away, and accepting refuge took several months for me, but as I proceeded with the meditation I started to see what it means in my life, and now I just accept Buddha was talking about something real, he was not demanding any blind faith, and he was saying you have find what is true in yourself to have insight into nature. Then I realised, refuge is not an obligation. It's trust.

Actually I'm noticing a strong effect. This is the first time I found out about focusing on the air around the nostrils. Prior to this I was focusing on the breath filling my body and the heart center. This is actually much easier than going straight to the heart to get out of the head.

That's so good hear about the effectiveness.

Yes, the heart opens up as consequence of the purification - as the obstructions to it are dissolved, pure love starts to flow through. Observation with 'mere awareness' allows the purification to proceed. 'Mere understanding' that all phenomena are anicca (change/impermanent/momentary) assists 'mere awareness'. As in; this too shall pass.

The new way is more like a balance point between them. It is a little unsettling how easy it is to get lost in it. So going slowly on purpose. No reason to hurry. Plus, in starting something new, I want to allow it to unfold gradually so as not to get caught up in any initial drama.

Well said. You cannot hurry because you are just observing nature do what she does. Ego wants fast results, becomes impatient, demanding, craving special experiences and so forth, so your approach is best - more deliberate, careful and patient - these are cornerstones of 'balance', and 'balance of mind' is most important.

Thanks for your support. The Sangha is why I am here. Once I realized that it was time to get more serious I read about the three jewels, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So I'm just trying to do what must be done to fulfill those areas.

Great. This is great care to establishing strong foundations, and your part in sangha will benefit us all.

Sorry I was not really clear before about what I meant by space. Yes physical space is an important aspect. But I was more speaking about space as a metaphor in the broad sense. Like creating this thread is a space. The quality of mindfulness while creating, maintaining, or interacting with the space will be reflected in the space. And those qualities of the space are as meaningful as the words one uses to fill it.

Really well said. You made it clear. Exactly. That's it. The right space itself.

Thanks for posting your sitting picture, Gem.

Originally Posted by sky123

Lots of misconceptions can be solved by reading the Suttas...

Agreed.

And real teachers:

I think in the Buddhist tradition there are ones like Pema Chodron (Tibetan), Longchenpa (Tibetan), Rinzai/Huineng/Bodhidharma (Ch'an), Suzuki Roshi (Zen), Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen), Ajahn Chah (Theravadan), Ajahn Mun (Theravadan), Ajahn Sumedho (Theravadan) etc etc.

Access to Insight is a factual Buddhist reference site for the most part: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/

JL

[sky]

Originally Posted by janielee

Agreed.

And real teachers:

I think in the Buddhist tradition there are ones like Pema Chodron (Tibetan), Longchenpa (Tibetan), Rinzai/Huineng/Bodhidharma (Ch'an), Suzuki Roshi (Zen), Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen), Ajahn Chah (Theravadan), Ajahn Mun (Theravadan), Ajahn Sumedho (Theravadan) etc etc.

Access to Insight is a factual Buddhist reference site for the most part: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/

JL

Accsess to insight, very aptly named
Thankfully we have plenty of info: available to ponder over online and Buddhists Sanghas to attend and support you if needed.

Do you ever watch any Lectures on ' Mind and Life Institute ' ?




https://www.mindandlife.org/mind-and-life-dialogues/


This link lists some of the Topics they cover.



Yes agreed, real Teachers are extremely important, why choose Bronze when Gold is available.

I haven't seen this site, thanks sky :)

Yes agreed, real Teachers are extremely important, why choose Bronze when Gold is available.

Agreed. I think it's personally important (very important).

Namaste,

JL

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Gem

Great. This thread is a nudge for me, too.


Fantastic. Want to post a photo of it? I'd love to see people's meditation set ups, and I think it would create a better sense of community to see each other's cushions (but of course your privacy is respected and it's entirely up to you).


Yep, sitting up brings more alertness and intensity to the meditation... But doing extra practice when lying in bed is a great idea!


I changed the order of your post so I could talk about this bit at length - so here goes...

When practicing on the feeling of air in/around the nose, that is quite a subtle sensation, which is why we use that to improve the sensitivity of mind's perception.

Harder, easier to feel sensations will come up on other parts of the body, and naturally one will notice these more pronounced feelings, but the aim of anapanasati is to train the mind to feel subtler, subtler and subtler by remaining with the subtle air/nose feeling. Going to other pronounced, easy-to-feel sensations elsewhere on the body doesn't help to refine sensitivity of the mind. For that main reason I suggest not moving attention away from the air/nose feeling to other stronger feelings elsewhere.

It is much more focused to work on only one feeling - as it allows you to be more determined on one particular task (like the woodturner focuses on the one spot where chisel touches the wood). Otherwise, the attention starts jumping from one hard sensation to another, being distracted to whatever is most pronounced in the body, and this will not serve to make the mind subtler nor induce the subtle body to begin waking up.

After several weeks of anapanasati the air feelings in the nose are which are quite hard to feel at the moment will become completely clear and distinct even when the breathing is very slight. You will know at that time that you can feel very easily what used to be hard to feel, and realise that the mind has become much sharper.

At such time when the now subtle breath/nose sensation becomes clear and distinct to you even when the breath movement is very shallow and light, other subtle feelings will begin to arise in the body, such as light tingling, waviness, vibration, electricity, fluidity, liveliness or some other sort of subtle, light or dynamic feeling as per your own unique experience. This indicates the mind has become subtle enough to start feeling the subtler body and dissolving the dense solidity of commonly felt physicality...

Sometimes a sensation arises elsewhere else, and for some reason we might start to give it special significance believing it is more important than the breathing sensation. This is a form of attachment when the pronounced or significant sensation needs 'special attention' because it is important to 'me'. With the breath, you feel it coming in, no attachment; you feel it go out, no clinging. 'Mere awareness'. This 'insignificance' of the feeling and non-attachment to it in any way brings equanimity of mind, which allows the mind to become deeper and even more subtle.

Of course, if there is tension in the jaw or other part of the body, quite naturally you would relax it as you notice it - and according to the text: "With the bodily activities calmed, I shall breathe in," thus he trains himself. "With the bodily activities calmed, I shall breathe out," thus he trains himself."

Remaining with breath for a few weeks is preparation for the full body awareness to come, and I can only suggest for the reasons above being single minded on the air/nose feeling until that is well established before moving on to any other aspect of body.

Later, after anapanasati is reasonably well established and we progress into the 'sensations' section of the satipatthana, we could go into depth on detachment, and attachment and identification, but there is much to say about the initial breath stage before that.

For now I can say, even though this is the 'respiration' stage of the satipatthana sutta, it is also the 'sensation' of air moving about the nose. The 4 mindful objects are interconnected: you feel the breath, which is sensation; you pay ("mere") attention, which is the mind; and thoughts run away with you, which is mental contents. The 4 mindful objects are inseparable, but we still take careful, deliberate steps.

This work of ceasing to act and observing breath with "mere awareness" has already commenced the purification process right across body/mind. Having commenced thus, one should start being gentler with themselves generally, and also avoid harsh brashness in social life (including social media). Apart from the self care of this, it will also start to accumulate life-conditions which best enable the purification process.

I hope I didn't say too much or seem teachy and overbearing. I talk a lot because I try to explain things in a way that seems logical and makes sense. I want to say it so it 'adds up' and people can be guided by their own intellectual understanding, and not be docile, obedient followers of dogma and authority. This is proper discernment in accordance with the 3 foundations of knowledge I mentioned in post #3, and I want the 3 aspects of knowledge to be coherent. Ok. I'll stop now.

I hope you reap the benefits of your meditation efforts, that we together create harmonious conditions, and may we all be peaceful and happy.

Thankyou. I’ve read this through and it’s really good awareness to enter into the meditation with. It’s not too overbearing, or too long by the way. It’s very clear guidelines, which I like.

How do you post a picture? I’m using an iPhone.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by JustBe

Thankyou. I’ve read this through and it’s really good awareness to enter into the meditation with. It’s not too overbearing, or too long by the way. It’s very clear guidelines, which I like.

How do you post a picture? I’m using an iPhone.

I used the attach thingy up there ^ (looks like a paperclip).

[Gem]

Hi guys.

I thought it is time to start talking on a more experiential level. I realise it has taken a long time to come to this point, but Rome wasn't built in a day because they spent a lot of time building foundations so strong that their work still stands thousands of years on. Indeed the work of meditation is intricate and delicate, so a lot of attention was given to the foundations on this thread.

I think now the purpose of anapanasati is clear, the method is understood, the general theoretical understanding is fairly well established and we know that we are preparing for full body mindfulness.

Having full knowledge of what they do, why they do it and where it is heading, practitioners are full enabled, willing by their own informed consent, and completely self-determined in going forward. This means there is no following here - and each one is walking forward by their very own light.

If someone is new to this thread, welcome. The thread is more orderly than most threads and all the previous posts led step by step up to here, so you will have to start at post #1 and familiarise yourself with the foundations, the preliminary theory, the anapanasati (breath awareness) method and commence your practice. Of course I'm happy to talk about any part of this thread as I'm sure the other participants here are, and we'll all be very happy to have you here.

So, lets talk about the initial experiences.

I think it is best if I talk about how it went for me so far, and I'm pretty sure it will be similar to your experience. I don't want to get lost in an array of things, so I will only talk about 'wandering mind' for now...

I set a timer for 1 hour, and at first I didn't stay on my cushion for the time as I was more or less easing into it, but I fully intend to stay on the cushion for the hour from here on.

I first sat. It has been a while since I sat cross legged, but I was fine with it. I had to move my cushions around a bit, but I was all set within about 10 minutes of so. It's very simple to practice, so after finding a relaxed posture and settling in, I started feeling the air come and go through my nose. In theory, that's all it is, right? But in reality, much more is going on.

I think it's probably true that people usually wonder about the wandering mind. We intend to observe the air sensation, but the mind isn't compliant and does not do what we intend it to. Instead, it wanders away having forgotten we are supposed to observe breath.

I think at this point it is important to understand that the intent is not to keep the attention on the breath object. The intention is to feel the subtle feeling caused by the breath in/around the nose, and the purpose is to 'train' the sensitivity of the mind. Because the intent is not, 'remain with breath,' it does not matter if the mind wanders away, how often it wanders away or how long it wanders away for.

The objective being feeling the subtle air feeling, when I notice mind has wandered off, I'm like, 'mind wandered, I'll feel subtle feeling again now'. When I return to the subtle feeling, my mind perceives it as clearly as before, so it makes no difference that it ever wandered away. I simply notice, mind wandered, such is true, and resume meditation just as before.

Problems only arise if you become distressed by mind's incessant wandering. You might be like, 'Damn, mind wandered off again!' or, "I can't even focus for a minute!" or "I'm hopeless at meditation" or "I can even feel anything there, it's pointless" or "nothing's happening, isn't something supposed to happen?" or whatever it is - and it starts to disturb you. You start reacting because mind will not do what you want it to do, you are not experiencing what you want to, or you become disconcerted at how short your attention span is, or whatever the case might be. The problem is, when you react like this and become somewhat agitated, the mind becomes dull, can't feel the air clearly, and it does not get any sharper. This is completely counterproductive to the purpose of training a sensitive, sharp, acutely perceptive mind.

Hence, the mind wanders off even though you intend to observe that air/nose feeling, but that wandering does not impede mind's sensitivity, so wandering does not impede the purpose of anapanasati. Any reaction to wandering mind disturbs the peace of mind, making it erratic and dull, which completely defeats the purpose. In this way, wandering mind is fine and it does not matter in the least. It's simply true: mind tends to wander, and when you notice it has, without any notions about that fact, simply resume meditation as before.

Or course, as you practice more, the mind will wander less often and for shorter intervals, so all you do is continue calmly and persistently, and naturally practice brings improvement.

That's as much as I can say. I will come back and say more about this, but I don't want to rant. I want to speak deliberately in an orderly way, and this is a pretty tough subject to hold together.

Anyway, I hope your practice is settling in well, and every happiness to you all.

[Gem]

Hello

I hope your practices are going well and some benefits are starting to show.

Understanding that this is a purification process, what we term 'benefit' is not necessarily something nice. For example, if you have a is cyst, you get it cut out. There is injury and pain, but it is beneficial. Similarly, the purification is a deep cut into the mind to remove 'impurities' from their roots. The process is unpleasant, but the outcomes are beneficial.

A couple of days ago, I talked about wandering mind and how it's no problem, so today I go into a little depth on that. Indeed the problem in meditation is mental agitation - not wandering mind as such, but a very wild mind - reactivity, frustration, impatience, anger and so on. If you have been sitting up, you will have experienced similar negativity and felt its 'suffering'. Because this arises in you, you know that it is you that generates it, and you really do not have to do that. It is a good thing to become aware of that in yourself because this practice is recognising something which is true, insight, and transforming in the light of your conscious awareness.

If you sit up and meditate you will know by now that discomfort is part of the meditation experience, some pain in your back or some other discomfort of the body. When you started sitting, you stopped doing anything and started watching, and because the mind and body aren't used to that (the mind body is used to doing doing doing) they start to arc up. Pain comes in the body, mind reacts adversely, 'I don't like it', you get restless in body and unsteady in the mind.

Most people quit their sitting at that point. "I can't meditate any longer". Then it becomes ridiculous because this is just sitting and watching breath for an hour or so - why is that difficult!? The mind starts running wild, the body starts tensing up, and like a feedback loop it keeps amplifying itself, and before 40 minutes has passed, "merely" sitting there has become practically unbearable.

When Buddha says ardent with awareness, that implies something difficult, and the harder you work the more you benefit. This means it takes 'right effort' (the passage on right effort is toward the end of the sutta) which basically means you strive to eradicate unwholesome states and cultivate wholesome states. In meditation itself, you recognise the negative mind states such as those I mentioned are 'unwholesome', and you don't have to generate that unwholesomeness. Instead generate the wholesome state by simply knowing 'this is an unpleasant feeling in the body', remaining calm, peaceful and unperturbed, and continue observing breath.

This will help to bring quiet to the mind and make it firmer and steadier. It may wander through the garden like a peacock, no problem, but if starts leaping wildly in reactivity... that needs quietening down.

Make your time 1 hour - 45 minutes at least - and meet the wild-man within you. See how erratic he/she is, always reacting adversely, always craving something, complaining, noisy, destructive to peace of mind, miserable... If you sit up for 45 minutes, the lunatic will get pretty wild for the 15 minutes following, and you will know with some clarity the misery you generate in yourself. But "without sorrow and lamentation" - you just know - it's true that this is what I do. And without entertaining any notions about it whatsoever, simply continue feeling the air sensation in/around the nose until your meditation timer goes off - you will be soooo glad when it does, lol.

This is as much as I can say. Please comment back to say how the above reflects the real-lived-experience of your practice. I hope what I say rings true in your real-lived-experience, and every word is somehow beneficial to us all.