Right mindfulness, the heart of Buddhist meditation

By Lionel Wijesiri

The Il Poya Day falls on November 27. Many significant events took place on this day. The announcement of the future Buddhahood of Maitriya Bodhisatva, the first Buddhist missionary activity by 60 Arahaths, the entry of Jatila Brothers to the Buddhist Order and the passing away of Sariputta Thera took place on Il Full Moon Poya Day.

There are many mindfulness meditation techniques that can be effective for stress relief and relaxation

Above all, it is the last poya of the Wassana rainy season.

In the eve of the Poya day, let us contemplate on an important aspect of our lives by asking ourselves three serious questions. Do I have a demanding job, endless responsibilities, and just can’t seem to relax? Do I have lots of household work which keeps me stressed day and night? Wouldn’t it be nice if I could “let go” of the worries and concerns that come along with life’s struggles?

A contemplative psychotherapist might tell us that one way to solve the issues is to be more accepting and open to what life may bring by being more mindful. Mindfulness is the intentional process of paying attention and being aware of our moment-to-moment experiences in a non-judgemental way.

It’s about simply acknowledging what may be happening or how we may be feeling at the time, without becoming critical or emotionally absorbed in the experience. It allows us to become more aware and focused in everything we are doing without unhealthy attachment and concern. We no longer have to go through life on autopilot where we’re bored by mundane tasks and frustrated by minor inconveniences.

Mindfulness is the key to the present moment. Without it we simply stay lost in the wanderings of our minds. This is the quality and power of the mind that is aware of what’s happening-without judgement and without interference. It is like a mirror that simply reflects whatever comes before it. It serves us in the humblest ways, keeping us connected to brushing our teeth or having a cup of tea. It keeps us connected to the people around us, so that we’re not simply rushing by them in the busyness of our lives.

Path

The Buddha spoke of right mindfulness as being the path to enlightenment: “This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearing of pain and grief, for the attainment of the way, for the realisation of Nirvana.”

The discourse on the foundations of mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta, is the 10th discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya of the discourses of the Enlightened One.

The great importance of the discourse on right mindfulness has never been lost to the Buddhists of the Theravada tradition. In Sri Lanka, even when the knowledge and practice of the Dhamma was at its lowest ebb through centuries of foreign domination, the Sinhala Buddhists never forgot the Satipatthana Sutta. Memorising the Sutta has been an unfailing practice among Buddhists, and even today in Sri Lanka, there are large numbers who can recite the Sutta from memory.

The subjects dealt with in the Satipatthana Sutta are materiality, feeling, mind and mind objects, being the universe of right Buddhist contemplation for deliverance. A very prominent place in the discourse is occupied by the discussion on mindfulness of breathing (Anapana-sati).

Mindfulness of breathing takes the highest place among the various subjects of Buddhist meditation. It has been recommended and praised by the Enlightened One thus: “The concentration through mindfulness of breathing, when developed and practised much, are both peaceful and sublime, it is an unadulterated blissful abiding, and it banishes at once and stills evil unprofitable thoughts as soon as they arise.”

Frames

The Buddha said there are four frames of reference in mindfulness:

* Mindfulness of body (Kayasati)
* Mindfulness of feelings or sensations (Vedanasati)
* Mindfulness of mind or mental processes (Cittasati)
* Mindfulness of mental objects or qualities (Dhammasati).

Within the four frames, mindfulness comprises three fundamental activities. It reminds us of what we are supposed to be doing. If we are sitting in meditation, it brings us back to the focus of meditation. If we are washing dishes, it reminds us to pay full attention to washing the dishes.

In mindfulness, we see things as they really are. Our thoughts have a way of pasting over reality, and concepts and ideas distort what we experience. It sees the true nature of phenomena. In particular, through mindfulness, we directly see the three characteristics or marks of existence - it is imperfect, temporary and egoless.

Awareness

From the Buddhist perspective, our ordinary waking state of consciousness is seen as being severely limited and limiting, resembling in many respects an extended dream rather than wakefulness.

Meditation helps us wake up from this sleep of automaticity and unconsciousness, thereby making it possible for us to live our lives with access to the full spectrum of our conscious and unconscious possibilities.

Mindfulness has been called the heart of Buddhist meditation. Fundamentally, mindfulness is a simple concept. Its power lies in its practice and its applications. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives, but also fail to realise the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth and transformation.

When work is demanding, it requires our full attention, one task at a time - not multi-tasking

A diminished awareness of the present moment inevitably creates other problems for us as well through our unconscious and automatic actions and behaviours, often driven by deep-seated fears and insecurities.

The problems tend to build over time if they are not attended to and can eventually leave us feeling stuck and out of touch. Over time, we may lose confidence in our ability to redirect our energies in ways that would lead to greater satisfaction and happiness, perhaps even to greater health.

Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful route for getting ourselves unstuck, back into touch with our own wisdom and vitality. It is a way to take charge of the direction and quality of our own lives, including our relationships within the family, our relationship to work and to the larger world and planet, and most fundamentally, our relationship with ourselves as individual persons.

Practice

We can start the practice of mindfulness meditation with the simple observation and feeling of each breath. Breathing in, we know we’re breathing in; breathing out, we know we’re breathing out. It’s very simple, although not easy. After just a few breaths, we hop on trains of association, getting lost in plans, memories, judgements and fantasies. The habit of the wandering mind is very strong, even though our reveries are often not pleasant and sometimes not even true. So we need to train our minds, coming back again and again to the breath, simply beginning again.

Slowly, though, our minds steady and we begin to experience some space of inner calm and peace.

The environment of inner stillness makes possible a deeper investigation of our thoughts and emotions. What is a thought-that strange, ephemeral phenomenon that can so dominate our lives? When we look directly at a thought, we see that it is little more than nothing. Yet when it is unnoticed, it wields tremendous power. Notice the difference between being lost in a thought and being mindful that we’re thinking. Becoming aware of the thought is like waking up from a dream or coming out of a movie theatre after being absorbed in the story.