What is Mindfulness Meditation? (video)

(meditationrelaxclub) New Age mantra relaxation music for the early stages of meditation

Defining Mindfulness

Ven. Thanissaro edited and expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

What does it mean to be mindful of the breath? It is something very simple: keeping the breath in mind.  How do we keep remembering (which is the literal meaning of sati) the breath each time we breathe in, each time we breathe out, and -- during intensive practice -- all the time in between?

 

The British scholar who coined the translation of the Pali word sati as “mindfulness” was probably influenced by the Anglican prayer to be ever mindful of the needs of others -- in other words, to always keep others' needs in mind. Even though the word “mindful” was probably drawn from a Christian context, the Buddha himself defined sati as the ability to remember (be vigilant, conscientious, conscious, and have presence of mind), illustrating its function in meditation practice with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthanas). 

“And what is the faculty of sati? A meditator, a disciple of the noble (arya, the enlightened) ones, is mindful, highly attentive, remembering, able to call to mind even things that were done and said long ago. [And here begins the Four Foundations of Mindfulness formula:] One remains focused on the body in and of itself -- ardent, alert, and vigilant -- setting aside greed and grief with regard to the world. One remains focused on feelings (sensations not emotions, which come under formations or sankaras) in and of themselves... the mind in and of itself... mental objects (or qualities) of themselves -- ardent, alert, and vigilant -- setting aside greed and grief with regard to the world” (SN 48.10).
 

The full discussion of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (DN 22) starts with instructions on the simplest exercise of 14 mentioned to be ever mindful of the breath.

Directions such as “bring bare attention to the breath,” or “accept the breath,” or whatever else modern teachers tell us that mindfulness is supposed to do, are actually functions for other qualities in the mind. They're not automatically a part of sati but should nevertheless be brought along wherever they are appropriate.

 

One quality that is always appropriate in establishing mindfulness is being watchful or alert, attentive or vigilant. The Pali word for alertness (sampajañña) is another term that is often misunderstood. It does not mean being choicelessly aware of the present or comprehending the present. Examples in the Pali canon show that "clear comprehension" (sampajañña) means being aware of what we are doing in the movements of the body as well as the movements in the mind.

 

After all, if we are going to gain insight into how we cause suffering (disappointment, distress, dissatisfaction, ill, woe), our primary focus always has to be on what we are actually doing. This is why mindfulness and alertness should always be paired as we meditate.

 

Thai meditation hut, or kuti, turned into a devotional shrine (Richard-Perry/flickr)

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In the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra (Satipatthana Sutta, literally the "Discourse on the Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness") they are combined with a third quality, ardency. Ardency means being intent on what we are doing, doing our best to do it skillfully. This does NOT mean straining and overexerting -- which is out of balance and retards and often derails practice -- just that we are persistent, dedicated to continuously developing skillful habits and as well as abandoning unskillful ones.

Bear in mind that, in the Noble Eightfold Path to freedom, right mindfulness grows out of right effort, which itself has four features. Right effort is exerting ourselves skillfully (with balanced effort). Mindfulness helps that effort along by reminding us to stick with it without lapsing, without letting it drop. We would not be able to sustain overexertion and would instead lapse, but balanced effort can be maintained until it is brought to fruition, to culmination, to perfection.

 

All three of these qualities get their focus from what the Buddha called "wise attention" (yoniso manasikara). Wise attention is appropriate attention, not bare attention, which is mindfulness free of evaluation, thinking, and judging. The Buddha discovered that the way we attend to things is determined by what we see as important, such as the questions we bring to the practice, the problems we want the practice to solve. No act of attention is ever completely bare.

If there were no problems in life we could open ourselves up to choiceless awareness of whatever came along. But the fact is there is a big problem in the middle of everything we do -- the suffering that results from acting in ignorance. This is why the Buddha does not tell us to view each moment with a beginner's eyes. We have got to keep the issue of suffering and its cessation ever in mind.

 

Otherwise inappropriate attention will get in the way, focusing on questions like, “Who am I?” “Do I have a self?” -- questions that deal in terms of being and identity. Such questions, according to the Buddha, lead us straight into a meandering thicket of views soon stuck on thorns.

The questions that lead to freedom, on the other hand, focus on comprehending suffering, letting go of the cause of suffering, realizing that there is indeed freedom from suffering, and developing the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.

Our desire for answers to these four ennobling questions is what makes us alert to our actions -- our thoughts, words, and deeds -- and ardent to perform them skillfully (beneficial or at least harmless to ourselves and others).

Mindfulness is what keeps the perspective of wise attention in mind. Modern research in psychology shows that attention comes in discrete (separate, distinguishable, composite) moments. We can be attentive to something for only a very short period of time and then we have to remind ourselves, moment after moment, to return to it if we want to keep being attentive. In other words, continuous attention -- the type that can observe things over time -- has to be stitched together from short intervals. This is what mindfulness is for. It keeps the object of our attention and the purpose of our attention in mind.

 

Popular books on meditation, however, offer a lot of other definitions of mindfulness, a lot of other duties it is supposed to fulfill -- so many that the poor word gets stretched completely out of shape, becomes a catchall term, and loses meaning. In some cases, it even gets defined as enlightenment or awakening, as in the phrase, “A moment of mindfulness is a moment of awakening” -- something the Buddha never said nor would say, because mindfulness is conditioned whereas nirvana is not.

 

These are not merely minor matters for nitpicking scholars to argue over. If we do not see the differences among the qualities we are bringing to our meditation, they glom together, making it hard for liberating insight to arise. If we decide that one of the factors on the path to enlightenment is awakening itself, it is like reaching the middle of a road and then falling asleep right there. We will never get to the end of the road, and in the meantime we are bound to get run over by old age, sickness, and death (which are also manifestations of suffering). So we need to get our directions straight, and that requires, among other things, knowing what mindfulness is and is not.

 

Some even refer to mindfulness as “affectionate attention” or “compassionate attention,” but affection and compassion are not the same as mindfulness. They are separate things. If we bring them to our meditation, let us be clear about the fact that they are acting in addition to mindfulness, because skill in meditation requires seeing when qualities like compassion are helpful and when they are not. As the Buddha says, there are times when affection is a cause of suffering, so we must watch out.

 

Sometimes mindfulness is even defined as appreciating the moment for all the little pleasures it can offer, the taste of a raisin in the sun, the feel of a warm cup of tea in our hands, and so on. In the Buddha's vocabulary, this kind of appreciation is called contentment. Contentment is useful when we are experiencing physical hardship, but it is not always useful in the area of the mind. In fact, the Buddha once said that the secret to his own enlightenment was that he did not allow himself to rest contented with whatever attainment he had so far reached. He kept reaching for something higher when there was something higher yet to attain until there was no higher to reach. So contentment has a time and place: coming too soon, it may way derail our efforts. Mindfulness, not mismatched with contentment, can help keep that fact in mind.

 

Other teachers define mindfulness as “non-reactivity” or “radical acceptance.” If we look for these words in the Buddha's vocabulary, the closest we find are equanimity and patience. Equanimity means learning to set aside our preferences so that we can watch what is actually there. Patience is the ability to refrain from getting worked up over the things we dislike, to stick with difficult situations even when they do not resolve as quickly as we would like them to. But in establishing mindfulness we stay with, tolerate, and stand by unpleasant things not only to accept them but to watch and understand them. Once we have clearly seen that a particular state, like aversion or lust, is harmful to the mind/heart, we do not stay patient or equanimous about it. We have to make whatever effort is needed to rid  ourselves of it and to nourish skillful qualities in its place by bringing in other factors of the Noble Eightfold Path like right resolve and right effort. More

Ask Maya: Corrupting the Dharma? (video)

Maya, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Irma Quintero, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

The Mysterious Disappearance (Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.com)

The twin exhibitions in San Francisco (SFAAM) and Pasadena (NS) are deep explorations.

 
Recently, an anonymous reader brought our attention to the destruction of the Dharma in America by capitalist and selfish motives:

The reader draws our attention to something really bothersome. The traditional Dharma -- the authentic Buddhist teachings as laid out by Siddhartha Gautama after his great enlightenment and taught for 45 years -- is being corrupted in America. It is under attack. Why? The specters of money, fame, and power threaten to undermine and overwhelm our spiritual teachings. 

Case in point: there is a website of a supposed "mindfulness" meditation teacher, one Michael Taft, who claims that people saying they learn meditation from Buddhist teachers is unfair. Should we be serene and listen to his point, or let ourselves get furious? (Serenity trumps fury). Are people like this degrading and destroying the Dharma? (Could be. But he says right up front that hat he is "secular and science-based," which is an obvious way to make more sales. What he is calling mindfulness, as so many in the world of science now do, is not Buddhism. It may be Buddhist, but it is stripped of its Buddhism and is just something out there to be used for other ends; it doesn't sound like Taft is promising enlightenment or an end to suffering or even a trip to heaven. It's just the same old stress management approach, and maybe that's fine). What does "mindfulness" mean nowadays?

Mindfulness has existed for millions of years, and anyone who says so is right about that. But, reader, you have a point. What it means in Buddhism is very specific, not just as a general reminder to practice "bare awareness" but as a set of techniques to bring about liberating-insight. Whereas anyone might say, "Pay attention" and we might even pay attention without being reminded, no one but a buddha teaches the insight practices (particularly the causal links of Dependent Origination) but a buddha and the subsequent disciples of such a world teacher. You're right.

This guy is published on the Huffington Post and Scientific American, and he lectures at conferences. Why would anyone listen to him?

They have to listen to someone, reader. The Buddha taught his true disciples well in the Kalama Sutta, not adhering to view but investigating on their quest for truth. And for the intensive practitioners (monastic and lay alike), he advised them be lamps and islands unto themselves taking no other teacher but the Dharma as their guide and themselves (Mahaparinibbana Sutta).

Too often and too quickly we give up our own wisdom for the presumed knowledge of another. We need both. We need discernment when listening, and we need unbiased reflection when considering our own level of right view. Be serene; even if Taft should kill the Dharma singlehandedly -- and it doesn't sound like that is what he is doing -- you could still keep sight of the lamp and the island.

An oversimplification of the message. What the Buddha really asks before teaching the Dharma is, Do these basic things agree with your own experience and observation, your own sense and heart? Are greed, hatred, and delusion harmful or harmless?

 

I am Amatue. Don't stare.

Every teacher, assuming he is even a legitimate teacher and not just a self-seeking individual out to make the rare and precious Dharma a money-making instrument or vehicle to fame. (Elsewhere the Buddha says that a fool seeks fame for things s/he does not possess, whereas a worthy person seeks no notoriety or acclaim for things possessed like enlightenment, insight, or wisdom). So let the foolish be, if they will not be curbed by a kind admonition, as the harm they do is not our responsibility but theirs. And our own faults are ours to see, or to have someone kindly point them out to us. Thank you, reader, for not criticizing us for all of our failings. We sure have them for anyone to point out. Reader, do something to benefit yourself and others. It is easy to criticize and to point fingers at Taft and bad teachers as there are plenty of them, but the True Wheel is hard to find. So this is what we would like to see: Research it and tell us, What is "mindfulness" really as the Buddha taught it?

If you could find that out -- and tell us and all of the other readers -- is would be a mighty help to us, to Taft, and to others who might fall sway to the nonsense many people speak in the name of the Buddha, Dharma, and enlightened community.

When I think of all the centuries of teachers who patiently and selflessly worked to maintain the purity of the Buddha's teaching, against all odds, to have an [donkey] like this...

True, true, it would be a tragedy. But come, friend, do it for the real Buddha, do it for the Dharma. Investigate and report back to us. We will have our editors cross check it and publish it here. Where is the real Dharma to be found, where is there a legitimate teacher? We can tell you, but it would be much more productive if you search and report back. That is what Siddhartha did.

Hipster haven: an alt to an alt to shout about

No, no, don't laugh. Come forward. What do the poets teach us? Keats says, "When the bad are full of passionate intensity, what do the good do? Complain? Point fingers? But not do a good thing to make the situation better? We're all for complaining, our favorite pastime/wasteoftime. Be we also try to unearth the real Dharma and restore it to the world while bringing attention to corrections and deviations.
 

This desert lawn sucks! - Yeah, where do they get the water? - What, dumb[donkey], I mean Beavis? I didn't mean it sucks water. I mean it sucks... - Oh yeah, huh huh huh huh huh...

  

The way to cool is brands?

QUESTION 2: How was Coachella? Brokechella was much better than returning for Weekend Deux. But Coachella? Bradley explains it best. He was offered a job, two weekends at the big music fest and a VIP all access pass. Late into Saturday night he turned around and suddenly noticed: No one was smiling. They had paid $800 (not including parking, which is $100 more, food, or drinks and stuff), and they were blase. They were having phone-mances, rocking their cellular devices like dates under the remains of the prophetic bloody moon. One would think that having spent all that money and facebooked it and tweeted and instagrammed the h*ck out of it there would be more than this. But you have to ask yourself, whether you're sporting a VIP pass or just a regular radio-chipped (RFID) capital-expenditure-monitoring and policing device,

Is that ALL there is?

Cristina echoes Peggy Lee in asking, Is that all there [f-ing] is? with a twist.

• India's Spiritual Legacy (general tours) will be offered daily at 1:00 to complement the special exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation, on view from Feb. 21-Sunday, May 25, 2014. This tour features objects in the Asian Art Museum South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Buddhist Himalayas collections. (Museum blog)
• Korean art at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum
• Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Oct. 24, 2014-Jan. 18, 2015)
• Is domestic violence kind of SEXY? (cartoon)

California kids MEDITATE in school (audio)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Katrina Schwartz; Jello Biafra

Children who are nervous about the new school year can relax by practicing “mindfulness” during anxious moments, researchers say. Experts at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., recommend mindfulness, which is a technique borrowed from [Buddhist] meditation... More

  

Meditation is even better than I thought!

The Buddha's original teaching of mindfulness (sati and satipatthana) meditation is being used to help businesses, psychology researchers, therapy patients, prisoners, and now very young school children. The option is wonderful, but force would not be.

Punk rock legend Jello Biafra while leading the Dead Kennedys warned about then Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, who by coincidence is again the governor of California. His New Age ideas seem finally to have come true.

Gov. Brown and Linda Ronstadt (latimes.com)

"I am Governor Jerry Brown/ My aura smiles and never frowns/ Soon I will be president/ Carter power will soon go away/ I will be fuhrer one day/ I will command all of you/ Your kids will meditate in school/ California Uber Alles.../ Zen fascists will control you/ One hundred percent natural/ You will jog for the master race/ And always wear the happy face/ Close your eyes, can't happen here/ Big Bro on white horse is near..."

Lynda Jean Carter, the U.S. Wonder Woman

The Dead Kennedys, who are from the Bay Area, were very open to Eastern philosophy and religion in their day. But they were not into having a "nanny state" under Gov. Brown.

At that time Brown seemed to be attempting to legislate happiness, health, and well-intentioned progressive New Age views as he dated Latina-American pop singer Linda Ronstadt. (Interestingly, for those who did not know that Linda Ronstadt was Hispanic, it may come as a surprise that her 1970s contemporary "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter was, too. Bet You Didn't Know They Were Hispanic).

 

Using mindfulness to teach coping skills

Katrina Schwartz, California Report (Take Two, scpr.org, Feb. 11, 2014)

Richmond, CA children practicing mindfulness in school (Katrina Schwartz/KQED)

 

Finally, I'm a good role model

[The Buddha is not being credited directly but] A group of Nystrom Elementary third graders practice a "mindful minute" with a Mindful Life Project instructor. Every Nystrom class gets 20 minutes of mindfulness training per week.

 

Across California, some schools are experimenting with mindfulness training -- or meditation -- as a way to help students.

Om. Om. Om. Meditating is way cool.

Plenty of school kids deal with a world of emotional problems, but some kids have a whole host of issues greater than usual -- drug abuse in the home, incarcerated parents, or even homelessness.

Reporter Katrina Schwartz visited the Bay Area city of Richmond to find out how the new approach is working. LISTEN: PLAY AUDIO

I can be calm and ADHD-free.

• Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters asks musicians to BOYCOTT ISRAEL! It's all part of the Electronic Intifada. Sorry CIA, Mossad, and criminal state.
  
• U.S. schools vote to BOYCOTT Israeli schools
• Why I voted for an academic boycott of Israel
• NY Senate passes bill penalizing group for Israel boycott: American Studies Association argues decision was in solidarity with Palestinian students deprived of academic freedom

Drought: Ranchers already making tough decisions
Immigration reform groups to start playing hardball with GOP
Those in the Obamacare "affordability gap" risk futures in debt
With extension, California ponders prison population reduction
Environmentalists wary of Obama's drought-viewing trip to Fresno
What Metropolitan Water District learned from previous droughts
Reviewsday: Neneh Cherry, Romeo Santos, Ana Tijoux, and more
Dog discrimination uncovered at the Westminster dog show
Olympic luger Kate Hansen of La Cañada on the Sochi experience
Folk art icon and Salvation Mountain creator Leonard Knight dies
In "Hidden Girl," writer Shyima Hall recounts her life in slavery
Students from Japan wow LA churches with gospel music

Buddhist Meditation and Psychology

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Douglas Burns, Buddhism and Depth Psychology (BPS.lk)

In Buddhism, "mind" and "heart" use the same term, citta, and the "mind door" is in the area of the physical heart rather than the skull (Thimphu, Bhutan/SoulTravelers3.com)

  

(psychologyandtheother.com)

...If the cause of suffering (dukkha, "disappointment") is primarily psychological, then it must follow that the cure, also, is psychological. Therefore, we find in Buddhism a series of "mental exercises" or meditations designed to uncover and heal our psychic aberrations.

 

Mistakenly, Buddhist (insight-) meditation is frequently confused with yogic meditation, which includes physical contortions, autohypnosis, quests for occult powers, and an attempted union with GOD [Brahman]. None of these are concerns or practices of the Noble Eightfold Path. 

 

There are in [original*] Buddhism no drugs or stimulants, no secret teachings, and no mystical formulae. Buddhist (insight) meditation deals exclusively with the everyday phenomena of human consciousness. In the words of Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, a renowned Western Buddhist scholar-monk:

In its spirit of self-reliance, Satipatthana [the setting up of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness] does not require any elaborate technique or external devices. The daily life is its working material. It has nothing to do with any exotic cults or rites nor does it confer "initiations" or "esoteric knowledge" in any way other than by self-enlightenment. Using just the conditions of life it finds, Satipatthana does not require complete seclusion or monastic life, though in some who undertake the practice, the desire and need for these may grow (The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, Nyanaponika Thera, London: Rider & Co. 1962, p. 82).

Unless the reader suspects that some peculiarity of the "Western mind" precludes Westerners from the successful practice of meditation, note also the words of Rear Admiral E.H. Shattock, a British naval officer, who once spent three weeks of diligent meditation practice in a Theravada monastery near Rangoon, Burma:

Meditation, therefore, is a really practical occupation: it is in no sense necessarily a religious one, though it is usually thought of as such. It is itself basically academic, practical, and profitable. It is, I think, necessary to emphasize this point, because so many only associate meditation with holy or saintly people, and regard it as an advanced form of the pious life... This is not the tale of a conversion, but of an attempt to test the reaction of a well-tried Eastern system on a typical Western mind (An Experiment in Mindfulness, E.H. Shattock, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1960, pp. 17-19).

The Buddha in the Golden Triangle (Ursula in Aus/Ursula_bkk/flickr.com)

  

Reading about meditation is like reading about swimming; only by getting into the water does the aspiring swimmer begin to progress. So it is with meditation and Buddhism in general. The Dharma must be lived, not merely thought. Study and contemplation are valuable tools, but life itself is the training ground.

 

Using words

The following passages are attempts to put into words what must be experienced within oneself. Or in the words of the Dhammapada: "Buddhas only point the way. Each one must work out one's own salvation with diligence."

Meditation is a personal experience, a subjective experience, and consequently each of us must tread our own path towards the summit of enlightenment. By words we can instruct and encourage, but words are only symbols for reality. More

*"Original" Buddhism?

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

(meditationgold.com)

After the original dispensation (sasana) was set up by the historical Buddha, the Dharma he set rolling began to be conflated with the indigenous Brahmanism of his day. It eventually swallowed Buddhism, calling the Buddha an incarnation (avatar) of the god Vishnu, and making the Buddha's contrary message part of orthodox Hinduism. Adi Shankara is responsible for throwing Buddhism out of India with the idea of promoting the "eternal teachings" (Sanatan Dharma) free of foreign influence. The Buddha was a foreigner from the northwest frontier. Although the Buddha rejected the authority of the sacred Brahminical Vedas, modern Vedantic-Hindus and Mahayana-Buddhists ignore the differences and blend the two traditions. While this departs from the original message of the Buddha, teaching the same thing with new names gives Buddhism a longer history, elevates Sanskrit above Pali, Prakrit, and Magadhi, and loses sight of what the Buddha felt was indispensable for actual enlightenment (bodhi) and final-liberation (moksha), which he called "nirvana" to distinguish this Path's goal from the goal of the ancient Brahmins. For them "the end of rebirth and suffering" is "rebirth in Brahma's eternal heaven." The Buddha rejected this, pointing out that it was not permanent but changing just like all planes of rebirth. The key difference between Brahmanism (Hinduism) and Buddhism regards the soul or self (atta, atman). Until one penetrates anatta, the impersonal or not-self nature of all things, one will not enter the first stage of Buddhist enlightenment called stream entry. Therefore, there will be no actual liberation but only continued wandering on in samsara, the Wheel of Life and Death, through heavens, hells, and other realms.

• VIDEO: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smokes crack and kills

"Letting Go" with Thich Nhat Hanh (video)

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Source of Light Monastery; plumvillage.org (donate)

Thay ("teacher")

To preserve some of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh's previous lectures, some of his older lectures are being uploaded by Source of Light Monastery as they become available.

Here Thay, as he is affectionately known, discusses what he calls the most important practice in Buddhist meditation -- the practice of letting go or "throwing away."

Wrong ideas, misperceptions, and false notions (moha, delusion, ignorance) are at the root of our suffering: They are the ground of all afflictions whatsoever. Cravings and aversions never stand without the support of ignorance.

 

In order for us to touch happiness in the here and now, we need to throw away the strong ideas and subtle notions that prevent us from learning and growing. 

Mahayana Buddhism's Diamond Sutra suggests four notions that should be thrown away: self, human being, living being, and life span. The main portion of this talk is dedicated to elaborating on these notions as well as our attachment to views, pairs of extremes, as well as "rules and rituals" we expect can lead to enlightenment. 

• Free Buddhist eBooks: sourceoflightmonastery.com

Thich Nhat Hanh on Oprah's OWN

The Mindfulness in Meditation

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly, partial wiki edit

Mindfulness is crucial, we all agree, but what is mindfulness? Just being "mindful"?

  

The Buddha was wide awake (oRi0n/flickr

Mindfulness (Pali sati, Sanskrit smṛti, "memory, recollection, awareness") is a spiritual and psychological faculty (indriya). According to the Buddha's teaching it is of vital importance along the path to enlightenment. 

 

It is, in fact, one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Right" mindfulness (sammā-sati) is the seventh factor or fold of the Noble Eightfold Path. 

Mindful meditation may also be traced back to the earlier Upanishads, which are part of sacred Brahminical scriptures prevalent in India at the time of the Buddha.*

 

Enlightenment (bodhi) is a state which has overcome greed (craving), hatred (aversion), and delusion (ignorance). These impediments, even if only temporarily (allowing a glimpse of nirvana, which entails stream entry) have been abandoned and are absent from the mind/heart.

Mindfulness is an attentive awareness of the true nature of things (the reality of the present moment even when beset by the illusions of being permanent, personal, or able to satisfy our desires). Mindfulness is an immediate an antidote to delusion. It is considered, in this sense, a spiritual power (bala).

 

Meditation with mudra (mysecretpsychiclife.com)

This spiritual/mental faculty becomes a "power" when it is coupled with clear comprehension (sampajanna) of whatever is taking place.

 

The Buddha taught the establishment of four "foundations" of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna). These ar part of the insight meditation practices the Buddha taught in addition to the establishment of serenity.

Those pursuing enlightenment maintain as much as possible a calm awareness of (1) body, (2) sensations, (3) mind, and (4) phenomena (dharmas). 

 

The practice of mindfulness supports analysis (the breaking down or partitioning of things into their constituent parts) resulting in the arising of wisdom (paññā, prajñā). Self is anatta (not-self), an impersonal composite. Self is ever-changing, and that change can be discerned directly. A key innovation of the Buddha's teaching was that meditative absorption must be combined with liberating insight (vipassana) or insight practices to produce final wisdom.

The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra) is an early text dealing with the proper establishment of mindfulness the Buddha was referring to.

 

Mindfulness practice, as inherited from Buddhism, is now very successfully being employed in psychology and some self-help programs to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, and in the prevention of relapse in depression and addiction. [See also mindfulness (psychology).] More

• Mindfulness has a separate meaning of "recollection," with which its ordinary practice should not be confused. 

Recollection

Mindful Christy Turlington (sportforus.com)

Recollection or active-contemplation (anussati) is more about memory, remembering, turning, ratiocination, cogitating, scrutinizing, evaluating, thinking over, pensively considering or "rotating" a theme in mind, which is the actual meaning of the English word "meditation." 

 

The Buddhist word commonly translated as "meditation" is bhavana, which has the much broader meaning of cultivation, self development, or literally "bringing into being."

 

For example, one may recollect the qualities of the Buddha, features of the body, death and its inevitability (for those who do not, food one is about to eat, feelings (sensations), mind (conscious states), or mind-objects.

 

These are all fully defined practices, so no one need think that simply "thinking" about these is in any way practicing Buddhist mindfulness meditation.

 

Even if the Upanishads mention smrti, that would hardly constitute a pre-existing "mindfulness practice," which the Buddha blazed a trail to as part of the way to liberation. Everything, every ingredient, must have existed. The Buddha did not invent new things. Rather, he developed the perfections (paramitas) which enabled him to gain liberation with the capacity to teach his rediscovery.

 

Long before the Buddha, there had been other buddhas (supremely enlightened or enlightened-without-teaching). But no one was teaching, nor capable of successfully establishing the Dharma regarding the path to enlightenment, prior to the Buddha. When were the previous buddhas? They are prehistoric, and the Buddha mentioned many of them. Ages ago, epochs ago, aeons ago (and the various kinds of aeons or kalpas ago), there had been others to make this liberating discovery.

 

Meditators in other traditions were not becoming enlightened, as the Buddha later pointed out, for lack of realization or a viable teaching (dharma) to gain liberation. That is now available in the Dharma, the Buddha's teaching concerning enlightenment, which is technically called the Bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma, a term translated as the "37 Requisites of Enlightenment."

• *Miller, Fletcher, and Kabat-Zinn, 1995, "Three-year follow-up and clinical implications of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention in the treatment of anxiety disorders."  General Hospital Psychiatry 17 (3): 192–200.

S.N. Goenka passes away at 90

Roshi Albrizze, Wisdom Quarterly; Michael and Juliet (insightcenter.org)

The great S.N. Goenka (dhamma.org)

Famous vipassana (Buddhist insight meditation) teacher S.N. Goenka -- who formed a worldwide network of free 10-day meditation retreats -- passed away today at his residence in Mumbai (Bombay), India. He was 90 years old.

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, October 1, 2013. Goenka-ji, as he was known, was a leading lay teacher of vipassana meditation in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. He trained more than 800 assistant teachers, and each year more than 100,000 people attend Goenka led vipassana courses, according to Wikipedia.

Insight Meditation

(Wiki) The technique S.N. Goenka taught represents a tradition which is traced back to the historical Buddha. Goenka emphasized that "The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dharma -- the way to liberation -- which is universal." He presented his teachings as universal truths open to people of any and all faiths. Goenka called vipassana meditation an experiential scientific practice, through which one observes the constantly changing nature of mind and body at the deepest levels, a profound understanding that leads to a truly happy and peaceful life.

 

Mrs. and Mr. S.N. Goenka (right)

Although Indian by descent, Goenka was born and raised in Burma, where he met his teacher. He was an industrialist until he had the good fortune to come into contact with U Ba Khin, from whom he learned the vipassana (or dry insight) technique. After receiving training from his teacher for 14 years, Goenka settled in India and began teaching vipassana in 1969.

 

In a country still sharply divided by differences of caste and religion, the courses offered by Goenka have attracted thousands of people from every part of society. In addition, many people from countries around the world have come to join courses in vipassana meditation.

He was recently conferred the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honor in India, for social work on the occasion of India's 63rd Republic Day.

The Insight Center, whose founders have sat more than a dozen 10-day courses between them, mourn the loss of this great lay Buddhist teacher. A special session will honor Goenka's work and passing at 10:00 am, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2013.

The Nun and the Libertine - Better than Sex

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly, based on Ven. Thanissaro translation Subha Jivakambavanika, Psalms of the Sisters (Therigatha 14.1)

What's a beautiful, enlightened, celibate nun to do? (sodahead.com)

 

The delightful grove by day

As the Buddhist nun (theri) Subha was wandering through Jivaka's delightful mango grove, some libertine (a goldsmith's son) blocked her path. She said to him:

 

"What wrong have I done you that you stand in my way? It is not proper, friend, that a man should touch a woman who has gone forth [entered upon the spiritual life of renunciation]. I respect the Master's message, the training pointed out by the Well-gone One. I am pure and without blemish:
 

"Why do you stand in my way? You -- your mind/heart agitated, and I -- unagitated; you -- impassioned, I -- unimpassioned, unblemished, with a mind everywhere released: Why do you stand in my way?" 

 

Wait says the Libertine (Bighead4144/flickr)

[He answered:] "You are young and good looking, so what need have you of going forth? Throw off your saffron robe. Come, let's delight in the flowering forest! A sweetness they exude from all around, the blossoming trees with their pollen. The beginning of spring is a pleasant season.

 

"Come, let's delight in the flowering forest! The trees with their blossoming tips moan in the breeze: What delight will you have if you plunge into the forest alone? Frequented by herds of wild beasts, disturbed by elephants rutting and aroused, you want to go unaccompanied into the great, lonely, frightening forest?

 

The forest grows scary in the dark with its unseen creatures and wild beasts

 
"Like a doll made of gold, you will go about like a goddess (devi) in the gardens of heaven. With fine and delicate Kasi fabrics, you will shine, O beauty without equal! I would be under your power if we were to dwell in the woods. For there is no creature dearer to me than you, O nymph with languid regard. If you'll do as I ask, happy, come live in my house! Dwelling in the calm of a palace, have women wait on you, wear delicate Kasi fabrics, adorn yourself with garlands and creams. I will make you many and varied ornaments of gold, jewels, and pearls."
 

This wig looks great on you.

"Climb onto a costly bed, scented with carved sandalwood, with a beautiful, well-washed coverlet, spread with a new woolen quilt. Like a blue lotus rising from the water, where there dwell spirits, you will go to old age with your limbs unseen, if you stay as you are in the renounced life."

 

[She said:] "What do you assume of any essence, here in this cemetery grower, filled with corpses, this body destined to break up? What do you see when you look at me, you who are out of your mind?"

 

[He said:] "Your eyes are like those of a fawn, like those of a nymph in the mountains. Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight grows all the more. Like the tips of blue lotuses are they in your golden face -- spotless: Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight grows all the more. Even if you should go far away, I will think only of your sparkling, long-lashed gaze, for there is nothing dearer to me than your eyes, O nymph with languid regard."

 

Golden white Buddha (sukhothai-tourism)

[She said:] "You want to stray from the road! You want the Moon as a plaything! You want to jump over Mount Sineru -- you who have designs on one born of the Buddha [Enlightened One]. For there is nothing anywhere at all in the world with its devasthat would be an object of passion for me. I do not even know what that passion would be, for it has been undone, root and all, by the Path. Like embers from a fire pit -- scattered, like a bowl of poison -- evaporated, I do not so much as see what that passion would be, for it has been undone, root and all, by the Path. Try to seduce one who has not reflected on this, or whom the Master has not instructed. But try it with this one who knows, and you do yourself harm! For whether insulted or worshiped, in pleasure or pain, my mindfulness stands firm. Knowing the unattractiveness of compounded things, my heart adheres nowhere at all. I am a follower of the Well-gone One, riding the vehicle of the Noble Eightfold Way: My arrow removed, canker-free, I delight, having gone to an empty dwelling. For I have seen well-painted puppets, hitched up with sticks and strings, made to dance in various ways. When the sticks and strings are removed, thrown away, scattered, shredded, smashed to pieces, not to be found, in what will the mind there make its home? This body of mine, which is just like that, when devoid of phenomena, does not function. When, devoid of phenomena, it does not function, in what will the mind there make its home?

 

"Like a mural seen painted on a wall, smeared with yellow pigment, there your vision has been distorted, meaningless your human perception! Like an evaporated mirage, like a tree of gold in a dream, like a magic show in the midst of a crowd -- you run blind after what is unreal. Resembling a ball of sealing wax, set in a hollow, with a bubble in the middle and bathed with tears, eye secretions are born there too: The parts of the eye are rolled all together in various ways." 

 

Oh, no, Lisa! What have you done? That's gross. I'm sorry I was hitting on you!

 
Plucking out her lovely eye, with mind unattached she felt no regret. "Here, take this eye. It is yours." Straightaway [dispassionately] she gave it to him. His passion shriveled right then and there, and he begged for her forgiveness. "Be safe, follower of the renounced life. This sort of thing will not happen again! Harming a person like you is like embracing a blazing fire. It is as if I have seized a poisonous snake. So may you be safe! Forgive me."
 
And freed from there, the nun went to the unexcelled Buddha's presence. And when she saw the mark of his excellent merit, her eye became as it was before.