Satipatthana Sutta

So yesterday, we started with anchoring in the body, and today we're going to continue with knowing the impulse, really becoming curious about the impulses and, uh, exploration of vedana, feeling tone, which I'll explain more.

Part of the second satipatthana, second foundation of, um, mindfulness in the Satipatthana Sutta is knowing, being curious, interested in, in the feeling tone, pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, and you'll see how that is, um, so crucial.

This knowing the feeling tone is crucial in knowing our digital life and our impulses as we interact with technology.

So without further ado, um, let's begin.

And because of that awareness, we may like to do something in order to release the tension in our body.

And in the Sutra on mindful breathing, Satipatthana Sutra, the Buddha provides us with the practice in order to release the tension in our body.

The third exercise of mindful breathing and the fourth exercise of mindful breathing are for that.

Breathing in, I'm aware of my whole body with all the tension in it.

So we develop, establish the qualities of concentration through the practice of mindfulness of breathing.

This is outlined in the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness in the Satipatthana Sutta.

The first exercise, if you will, is to be mindful of the breath and the body, basically the steps that we've been practicing.

The next exercises are to maintain the breath of the body and all of our postures and maintain alertness.

And in the...

These are, uh, described in what's called the Satipatthana Sutta.

Satī means mindfulness.

Paṭṭhāna, the foundations of mindfulness.

The Satipatthana Sutta.

And in there it says, "These four foundations are the path to freedom in the mind and the heart." And so the first is the body, paying attention to the body and the breath.

This bodily...

There is always dukkha.

And yet, uh, the teaching in the Satipatthana Sutta is, is it's not just dukkha you're talking about.

You're talking about the sense of restlessness, and that's one of the hindrances, one of the five hindrances.

And in the Satipatthana Sutta it says, you know, know the hindrances, know when they're absent, and know what gives rise to them and g- and know what gives, um, what, what supports their abandoning, their going away.

So these two are as important as-

Mm-hmm

I mean, it turns out the Buddha was a really relational teacher.

There's a sutta called the Satipatthana Sutta, which if you've been on a retreat, you've probably followed those instructions, where the Buddha's inviting us to be mindful of our body and then the different feelings and thoughts and emotions.

And in the sutta, 13 times he repeats, he's inviting us to be mindful internally, externally, and then being mindful internally and externally.

So there's this three ways of being mindful, these three directions.

And once we've established some comfort there, it's easier to see what's called the second foundation of mindfulness in these texts.

So again, this is the Satipatthana Sutta.

It's the instructions about how not to forget what you're doing, essentially.

Sati is to remember mindfulness.

And all of ourselves wants to, it wants to heal.

It wants to liberate every aspect of ourselves.

This isn't in the Satipatthana Sutta in terms of approach.

That's more in the Metta Sutta, some other suttas.

So hello everyone, and happy to be here, as I said earlier.

So I was away for a month teaching a month-long silent meditation retreat, and now the whole month was dedicated to this Satipatthana Sutta, the discourse on the four foundations of mindfulness.

And, um, it was a wonderful time, wonderful, uh, practice, uh, wonderful, uh, I think experience for everyone there and for myself.

And, and now I'm happy to be back here for a week.