ME 01 Buddhist Doctrines of the Pāli Nikāyas: Analysis and Interpretation

Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta

Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta is the most important Sutta. Try to practice all the different section from time to time as they are all useful, but in the beginning start with something simple such as begin mindful while walking, or the mindfulness of in and out breathing. This Sutta is that you should be mindful of whatever is occurring in the body and mind, whether it be good or bad, and thus you will become aware that all conditioned phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self.

In the Sampajañña Pabba: while going forward or while going back does so with clear understanding; while looking straight ahead or while looking elsewhere he does so with clear understanding; while bending or stretching his limbs he does so with clear understanding; while carrying the alms bowl and while wearing the robes he does so with clear understanding; while eating, drinking, chewing and savouring he does so with clear understanding; while urinating or defecating he does so with clear understanding; while walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking, speaking, he does so with clear understanding.

In the Dukkhasacca Pabba (the Noble Truth of Dukkha): Birth is Dukkha, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mentalpain and an-guish are also dukkha. The birth, the being born, the origination, the conception, the springing into existence, the manifestation of the aggregates, and the acquisition of the sense-bases of beings in this, that is called birth. It is the ageing, the getting frail, the loss of teeth, the graying of hair, the wrinkling of skin; the failing of the vital force, the wearing out of the sense faculties of beings in this or that class of beings- this is called ageing.

           Indriya, literally is the Pāli term for physical strength, and for the five senses more specifically. Indriya refers to one of the following groups of Faculties: The five spiritual faculties, five or six sensory faculties and 22 phenomenological faculties. The five spiritual faculties are:

1.      Saddhā          

2.      Viriya                       

3.      Sati                

4.      Samādhi       

5.      Pañña                        

          Together, this set of five faculties is one of the seven sets of qualities lauded by the Buddha as conducive to Enlightenment.

         When we look at it for a minute and close our eyes, we can see it in our mind. If you compare other mental visualization and this one there is a big difference. It may take sometimes take one week, two weeks or sometimes years. It cannot be done easily but we have to concentrate constantly on this. Suppose:

Vitakka         ]

Vicāra           ]           functions (intellectual)      

Pīti                  ]                                                          

Sukha             ]           results            (emotional)             

Ekaggatā      ]                                                          

         This happiness (sukha) is related to sankhāra aggregate; this piti is related to vedanā aggregate. The second stage of spiritual development of Buddhism: morality, concentration and wisdom.

            Enlightenment is known as the deathless state. For Buddhism, both eternalism and nihilism are wrong views (micchadiṭṭhi). They are wrong ways of seeing life and death and they lead to wrong ways of thinking and behaving. Eternalism is a wrong view because it posits an eternal.

                                                                                                                                    18.9.11