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Satipaṭṭhāna SuttaStudy with Meditation

Workshop

● Comparison with Satipaṭṭhāna Mūla● Internal coherence of material● Comparison with other suttas

● Grand Conclusion

Summary & Conclusion

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1) Many additional exercises in Pāli kāyānupassanā and dhammānupassanā

2) 1st part of Pāli refrain (contemplating internally, externally & both) is in the definition of Mūla

3) No vipassanā in refrain of Mūla

4) Vipassanā only in dhammānupassanā of Mūla

Comparison with Satipaṭṭhāna Mūla

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Internal coherence of material

1) How to contemplate arising and vanishing of body parts and corpses?

2) Redundancy of refrain & causal investigation in dhammānupassanā

3) No hard and fast line drawn between concept and “ultimate reality”

4) For vipassanā contemplation, saṅkhāras are not restricted to form, citta and cetasika, but include anything that has the nature of arising and vanishing

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Comparison with other suttas

1) Sati has a broad range of applications based on its root meaning: “awareness of a past object”

2) Sati thus covers: (a) remembering, (b) recollecting, (c) reminding, (d) looking back at an immediate past object

3) Sati is not paññā, but is a necessary condition for it, the groundwork for paññā

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Comparison with other suttas

4) Sati brings the composed mind to be aware of an object that has just arisen so that paññā can discern its nature & conditionality

5) Pajānāti (=verb of paññā) ranges from just bare acknowledgement of an object to intellectual understanding of and profound insight into the true nature of sensory experience

6) According to Poṭṭhapāda Sutta (DN 9), preception (saññā) arises first, followed by knowledge (ñāṇa)

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Comparison with other suttas

7) Clear knowing is to be applied to all 4 satipaṭṭhānas, not just bodily activities

8) In the Gradual Training templates, postures & clear knowing precede meditation proper &should not be included in kāyānupassanā

9) “Having subdued longing and dejection” is equivalent to sense restraint in the Gradual Training templates

What is the Gradual Training Template?

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1. Virtuous in the moral precepts

2. Guarding the doors of the sense faculties

3. Moderation in eating

4. Devotion to wakefulness

5. Mindfulness and clear knowing

6. Resorting to seclusion

7. Abandoning the 5 hindrances

8. Developing the jhānas

The Gradual Training Template

Based on GaṇakaMoggallāna Sutta (MN 107)

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Comparison with other suttas

10) According to Kāyagatāsati Sutta (MN 119), the 14 exercises in kāyānupassanā lead to samādhi

11) According to Janavasabha Sutta (DN 18) and Cūlavedalla Sutta (MN 44) the 4 satipaṭṭhānas lead to samādhi

12) Although “samatha” & “vipassanā” are not explicitly mentioned in MN 10, their features are there according to other suttas

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Comparison with other suttas

13) According to Vibhaṅga Sutta (SN 47.40),

(a) the establishment of mindfulness = the definition

(b) the development of the establishment of mindfulness = contemplating the nature of arising, of vanishing & of both

(c) the way leading to the development of the establishment of mindfulness = Noble Eightfold Path

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1) Practice of 4 satipaṭṭhānas supported by Factors 1-6 of N8P leads to Right Samādhi

2) Based on the samādhi attained, sati and saññā take the lead in contemplating the nature of arising, of vanishing & of both

3) This leads to experiential knowledge and vision of saṅkhāras as they had occurred

4) When such experiential insight reaches maturity, it develops into weariness and detachment, culminating in Liberation

Grand Conclusion