The Four Foundations Of Mindfulness From The Buddhist Perspective

Hello,

And welcome to this short lesson covering the four foundations of mindfulness,

At least from what I have learned and my view of them.

As with anything,

One can find a diverse divergence of opinions on the topic,

Especially when said topic is more than several hundred years old and entwined with rather a large quantity of medieval terminology.

So don't take what I say as absolute,

Merely adding to the already impressive canon that has been written and taught on mindfulness.

Many years ago,

About 2600,

The Buddha asked his senior monks,

People like Sariputja,

Mogallana,

His son Rahula,

And others to pass down his teaching in mindfulness by training them in what are referred to as the four foundations of mindfulness.

Now,

These four foundations are the objects,

Ideas,

Aspects,

And qualities which,

Through meditation,

Contemplation,

And general applied consideration,

Lead one to the adept practice and eventual mastery of mindfulness.

An interesting thing is all throughout the spiritual journey of a meditator,

These four foundations are constantly recommended and a part of the practice.

So wherever you find yourself to be,

Whether you are just now considering getting started on a meditative practice,

Or you have been meditating and have had a spiritual practice for years,

These ideas and concepts are a wonderful reminder.

The four foundations of mindfulness are mindfulness of body,

Mindfulness of feelings,

Mindfulness of mind,

And mindfulness of dharma,

Which is actually mindfulness of phenomena in this case.

Interestingly enough,

The Buddha says that everyone,

Even those who have attained liberation and are considered arhats,

Which is a highly attained person within the Buddhist spectrum,

Should be settled and established in the four foundations of mindfulness.

So again,

Clearly these are important no matter the stage you find yourself at.

Let's look at each of the foundations individually,

And then look at how they function together,

And help you progress in your awareness and skillfulness of meditation.

Starting with the foundation of mindfulness of body,

We train towards the recognition that the body is not exactly what we think it is.

We may consider the body to be a single unified thing that we know to be our body or our self.

But in fact,

It is not a single unified thing,

But a collection of interconnected parts.

Our eyes,

Our nails,

Our toes,

Our gut,

Our spleen,

Our bones,

These are all individual aspects that make up what we think to be our body.

Being mindful of this,

And remembering that the body is not a single thing,

But an amalgamation of many parts,

Helps us to remember the body as body.

Not as the thing we are,

Not your body or your self,

Just body as body.

As a physical form,

Just like all other physical forms.

Like everyone and everything,

The body is one way,

And then it is another.

The body is young,

And then it is old.

The body is small,

And then it is bigger.

It is weak,

And it is strong,

And if we are lucky enough,

It is weak again.

The body comes into being for a time,

Remains,

And then passes away.

We cannot always expect our body to make us happy.

To rely on the body for a source of happiness is to always fall short.

The body gets fat.

The body gets old.

It gets injured.

It experiences sickness,

Illness,

Death,

Decay,

Pain,

And all sorts of terrible things out of your control.

Mindfulness of the body helps us to recognize that the body is not our self,

And so is selfless.

When we recognize through mindfulness of the body that it is impermanent,

That clinging to it causes suffering,

And that it is selfless,

We can touch what the body actually is.

Those three aspects that I just talked about,

Impermanence,

Suffering,

And no-self,

Are what are called the three doors of insight that lead one to deeper realizations.

They are the three aspects that we must work with in each of the foundations to have a deep-seated insight,

And thus freedom.

Next is the mindful foundation of feeling.

In the same way that we contemplated and meditated on the body as the body,

We meditate and train to know the feeling in the feelings,

Or the feeling as a feeling,

Which come from seemingly nowhere and goes to nowhere.

Odd,

Isn't it?

How the sensations which affect us so dramatically at times,

Taking hold of our actions and character,

Seem to come out of the blue.

In some ways,

It is not that when someone does something bad to us that we choose to become angry.

It is that anger arises from somewhere,

And we choose to fall into it,

And hold it.

Yet,

Being angry is like holding onto a hot coal and wishing for it to burn another,

Even though you are the one who has picked it up and grasping it so tightly.

Like the body,

Our feelings are not a single thing,

Not a unified entity,

That is one,

But can be subdivided into a great multiplicity of aspects,

Parts,

And qualities,

Depending on how closely we are willing and able to observe them.

In the traditional Buddhist view,

There are three main types of feelings.

They are pleasant feelings,

Unpleasant feelings,

And neutral feelings.

Each of these is one type of mental state of awareness that we find ourselves in,

Depending on the actions,

Words,

Thoughts,

And experiences that are happening to us,

And that we are engaging in.

An interesting aspect of these is that we only really have the capability to experience them one at a time.

While this may be somewhat muddled,

In that one can seem somewhat happy and somewhat sad at the same time,

One type of these pervading experiences,

Whether or not you break it down further into things like fear,

Doldrum,

Melancholy,

Or loneliness,

Will take hold as the main factor.

Pleasantness,

Unpleasantness,

Or neutrality.

The reason we observe,

Regard,

And train to understand feelings in this way is so that we can try our best to see when we want to pick up that hot coal,

But don't.

It is the practice of gaining a non-judgmental awareness of our experiences,

Seeing feelings as they arise,

And seeing feelings as individual and apart from one another,

Rather than as an aspect of our self,

Or me.

But as something comes up in it that we choose whether or not to engage with,

We can choose whether or not to engage with the happiness,

With the anger,

With the frustration,

With the sadness,

Not as a part of yourself,

And not permanent,

And in some particular cases,

All three types can lead to suffering,

Whether it be positive,

Neutral,

Or negative,

Or unpleasant,

However you want to name it.

As we meditate and train our awareness to watch each emotion,

Mood,

Mind state,

Sensation,

Feeling,

Or whatever arise,

Stick around for however long,

And then disappear,

We know with more truth each time that these things are impermanent,

And in fact don't have any concrete birthplace,

And seem to go back to that same mysterious void.

We learn that these pleasant,

Unpleasant,

And neutral feelings that arise within us are not created by us,

They come about on their own.

We see more and more that they are not a part of our self at all,

And so are selfless.

Through working with the foundation of mindfulness of feeling,

We come to a deep-seated wisdom,

And recognize feelings as they really are.

A feeling as a feeling,

A mood as a mood,

An emotion and a sensation as emotions and sensations,

Rather than something to which we must cling and be fettered to.

Next is the foundation of mindfulness of mind,

Which is in some ways a tongue twister,

And can get rather repetitive to say,

Though that seems to be something the Buddhists and other spiritual paths are entirely comfortable with.

At times,

With certain translations,

A translator may put an ellipse followed by a statement like,

And they continued for X amount of lines,

Just so that you don't have to read the same lines over and over and over again.

I will try my best to avoid this.

But anyway,

When we are trying to understand the mind and discuss it in terms of meditation,

It can get a little confusing.

We might talk about the mind,

Or our mind,

Or their mind,

As a single thing,

And we might even go so far as to lump consciousness and mind into the same basket of understanding,

When,

At least from the Buddhist view,

The mind and consciousness are not the same,

But are a continuous arising and passing succession of mind in mind,

Or mind as mind,

Each being its own particular impermanent instance of mind or consciousness.

Through mindfulness practice and training,

We learned that our consciousness arises moment to moment on the basis of all sorts of things.

It arises from all of the information that our senses are inputting,

Whether it be our sense of touch,

Smell,

Taste,

Hearing,

Or any of the more myriad specific aspects such as heat,

The vibe of a place,

Or our past history influencing it.

When looking at the mind,

We are not looking at just consciousness,

But we are looking at a tool,

A computer,

And a sense faculty of its own,

A rather powerful one at that,

But a sense faculty nonetheless.

The mind does not exist alone.

Our mental states appear due to internal and external factors that are input into it.

It does not create them of its own volition,

Nor does it stand on its own.

Observing the mind in our mindfulness training,

We can clearly see just how quickly thoughts will spring from nowhere and then a minute later be gone.

So far gone,

In some cases,

We may have trouble recalling them at all.

We learn to see these thoughts as they are,

Impermanent,

Not containing any self,

And so are selfless,

And thusly,

Dissatisfying.

By observing this through mindfulness,

We get rather bored of this seemingly endless stream of things coming and going,

And so gain the ability to step away from them and understand them not to be our own,

Learning that we are not our thoughts,

But mind as it is.

Just like the body,

And just like feelings.

So there is an old saying,

The mind is a useful servant,

But a dreadful master.

Yet the mind hates to be the servant,

And constantly attempts to be our master.

Through mindfulness practice,

We can see the mind as the useful tool and servant that it is,

And just how unsatisfying a master it can be.

And finally,

We come to what I think is perhaps the most all-inclusive of the four foundations,

Which is the foundation of the mindfulness of dharmas,

Or dhammas,

If you're more of a Pali kind of person.

In this case,

The word dharma uses a separate definition than the one that we are often associated with it.

A terrible aspect is with all of this medieval language,

Some words are used to mean a great variety of things.

Normally,

Dharma might mean teaching,

Essence,

Or way,

But here it means phenomena.

By phenomena,

It means everything.

Buddhist teaching,

The dharma within us,

The history of all of the world's truth seekers,

Along with reality.

It is the most clear and concise way,

Not just the exterior reality,

But also the interior.

Through this,

Through observing mindfulness of dharmas,

Through observing reality,

Existence,

Or all phenomena as best we can,

Through the same methods that we have observed and used on the three previous foundations,

We discover that we are subject to birth,

Growth,

Decay,

Death,

Sickness,

Sorrow,

Lamentation,

Defilement,

And all sorts of things.

When we don't understand this,

We cling and distract ourselves with reverence to ideas,

To gods,

To philosophies,

And objects outside of us that we are hoping will save us.

And yet,

By doing so,

We do not lessen our internal suffering and perpetuate our own problems in a way.

To contemplate and practice the foundation of mindfulness of dharma is to help us realize,

Little by little,

That we are the only thing that can free us,

That we are the only one who can understand our problems and our lives and actually take the time and hard interior work necessary to become free,

Calm,

And peaceful.

Buddha called this the teaching of come and see,

Or in other words,

Telling people not to take his word for it,

But to do the practice themselves,

And have those same truths,

Insights,

And wisdoms revealed.

The entire teaching of the Buddha is taught from this perspective,

That this isn't something that you must gain from some teacher,

A deva,

A god,

Or a saint,

But comes from within yourself,

And is a journey that you must make and take on your own.

We learn that our suffering,

Our craving,

And the end of those things both come from within us.

The roots of suffering are within us,

And the method for eliminating them is within us as well.

To practice mindfulness of Dharma in a more direct way on the cushion,

We sit and observe all individual phenomena that arise within reality as we experience it,

No matter what it is.

The objects around you,

The temperature,

The space between things,

The way your body forms itself in the room,

Thoughts,

Sensations,

Consciousness,

Mental activities,

Everything,

And watch them arise,

Stay for however long,

And pass away,

And maybe even come back.

Stay for a little while,

And pass away.

In many ways,

Mindfulness is quite easy.

It is just the direct observation of reality as it is.

That's what these four foundations are teaching you.

To observe reality for exactly what it is,

As closely and wisely as you can.

Watching it come,

And watching it go.

Not attaching yourself to any of it,

Or clinging to it for satisfaction,

And recognizing it for exactly what it is.

Yet,

We so often get in our own way,

And have so many things that come and go,

That eliminating our harmful habits is a process of a lifetime.

One by one though,

Through the practices of these four foundations,

And other things,

We can replace those harmful habits with beneficial qualities and observations,

And slowly,

Day by day,

Unfetter ourselves,

And find liberation,

Peace,

Calm,

And understanding.

These are the four foundations of mindfulness.

If you have any questions on them,

Please let me know.

They are to be practiced from your first sit ever,

And even after liberation.

I hope you found this talk and explanation helpful in some way.

I am Silas Day,

And have a wonderful day.