..續本文上一頁ve to make a really good effort, not a slackening effort. This word "ātāpī" implies all these meanings. To right effort to be understood here is the Right Effort that is one of the eight factors of the Path. You may have read about Right Effort in other books. Right Effort means to remove or avoid unwholesome mental states and to acquire and cultivate wholesome mental states. In order to resist unwholesome mental states, in order to resist evil, you need mental effort. If you do not make effort you cannot resist evil. Effort is very useful in resisting or removing unwholesome mental states and also to cultivate wholesome mental states. To develop wholesome mental states you need effort. If you do not make effort you do not come here, if you do not want to make effort you do not go to a retreat at all. So you need a real, strong effort to practice the Foundations of Mindfulness. Here also the Buddha described the monk as being ardent which means he has that kind of effort that burns up the mental defilements. That is indicated by the word ātāpī in the Pāli text.

　　The next word is "clearly comprehending". Clearly comprehending means clearly seeing. Whatever object he puts his mind on, he sees it clearly. What does "clearly" mean

　　 He sees it thoroughly, he sees it with wisdom. When a yogi concentrates on breathing, for instance, he sees the breath clearly. He sees the in-breath distinctly from out-breath and out-breath distinctly from in-breath; and also he sees that the breath arises and disappears and that at the moment there are only the breaths and the awareness of the breaths and no other thing to be called a person or an inpidual. Such understanding is called "clear comprehension." When you have clear comprehension about something, you know that thing and all its aspects. And also according to the teachings of the Buddha, you know that there are just the thing observed and the mind that observes and none other which you could call a person or an inpidual, a man or a woman. Seeing in this way is called clear comprehension. This clear comprehension will come only after some time, not right at the beginning. You practice mindfulness, but right at the beginning you may not even see the breaths clearly. Sometimes they are mixed together and very vague. Little by little with the growth of your concentration and practice, you”ll see the objects more and more clearly and then also their arising and disappearing and so on. So this clear comprehension comes not right at the beginning but after one has gained some experience.

　　In order for this clear comprehension to arise, we need one more thing. Although it is not mentioned in this Discourse we need one more thing and that is concentration. Without concentration clear comprehension cannot come. What is concentration

　　 Concentration is a mental state or a mental factor, which keeps the components of mind squarely on the object, and does not let them go to other objects. That is what we call concentration. It is usually described as the mind being able to be on an object for a long period of time. For example, if you take the breath as an object your mind is always on the breath and the mind does not go anywhere else. That is what we call concentration. Actually, at every moment also the mental factor or state which is called concentration keeps the mind and its components unified on the object, it keeps them together and does not let them go to another object. This concentration is essential for clear comprehension to arise. Without this concentration we cannot hope to see things clearly, we cannot hope to get clear comprehension.

　　When we get concentration, our mind calms down and becomes quiet and that is the time when we begin to see things. It is like, say, water. At first there is di…

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