The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: A Summary

　　by Venerable Sayadaw U Sīlānanda

　　A Talk Given at the Buddha Sāsana Yeikthā

　　Seven Bridge, Ontario, Canada

　　The opening Passage from the Mahāsatipatthāna Sutta:

　　"This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for reaching the Noble Path, for the realization of Nibbāna, namely, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

　　"Herein (in this teaching) monks, a monk dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming covetousness and grief in the world; he dwells contemplating the feeling in the feelings, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming covetousness and grief in the world; he dwells contemplating the consciousness in the consciousness, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming covetousness and grief in the world; he dwells contemplating the dhamma in the dhammas, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming covetousness and grief in the world."

　　------------------

　　Today I will explain the passage that we read every morning. This is from the Discourse called The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This passage is just a summary of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. But it is important that those who practice Foundations of Mindfulness or Vipassanā Meditation understand this passage correctly and clearly.

　　As I have said, the method of the practice of Mindfulness or the Four Foundations of Mindfulness was discovered by the Buddha. He practiced it himself and got the best results from this practice and then for forty-five years he taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness many times. After his death these methods were collected and recorded in what is known as the Pāli Canon. The instructions given at Vipassanā retreats are all based on the Mahāsatipatthāna Sutta which contains this passage.

　　The first sentence is, "This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings ... namely, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness." So, at the very beginning the Buddha said, "This is the only way". The Four Foundations of Mindfulness or the Practice of Mindfulness, is the only way for the purification of beings ... Here the Buddha said, "This is the only way".

　　Now, the Pāli word for this translation is "Ekāyano". "Ekāyano" is composed of two parts, "eka" and "ayana". Ayana means way, path or road, and eka means one. So, ekāyano literally means one way. This one way is interpreted to mean one way which has no forks, no branches. There is just one way and if you tread this way you will surely reach your destination. There are no misleading branches of this way. The other meaning is that this is the way to be taken by one, to be taken by the inpidual only. That means when you are treading on this path or on this way you are alone, you have no companion because you make progress or you do not make progress depending on your own capabilities.

　　Also, this word is interpreted to mean "the Way of The One". "The One" here means the Buddha. The Buddha was the best of the beings and so he was called "The One" and this is the way discovered and taught by the Buddha, so this is called the Way of The One. Also, it is interpreted to mean the only way, this is the only way, there is no other way for the purification of beings and so on. Now, with regard to the translation "the only way" there are two questions. One is that here, Four Foundations of Mindfulness mean mindfulness only. But, there are other factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. So, are they also not the way to purification of beings ...

　　 The answer is that they are also the way to purification of beings ..., but they do not exist without mindfulness. So when mindfulnes…

《The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: A Summary》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…