Satipatthāna & Samādhi

　　by Ajahn Brahmali

　　Introduction

　　One of the most common unquestioned assumptions among Buddhist meditators is that satipatthāna is synonymous with vipassanā. This assumption, it seems, often is a result of reading the Satipatthāna Suttas(1) in isolation without carefully considering the context in which satipatthāna is used throughout the Suttas. When the broader view of the entire Sutta Pitaka is taken into account, it becomes clear that such an assumption, at best, is only partially correct. In this short study I will investigate the various contexts in which satipatthāna appears and particularly consider its relationship with samādhi.(2)

　　Samādhi and the Satipatthāna Suttas(3)

　　The Satipatthāna Suttas are often understood as only being concerned with vipassanā meditation. But there is nothing intrinsic to the Satipatthāna Suttas that allows one to conclude thus. Indeed, there are several aspects of these Suttas that point to satipatthāna also being concerned with samatha/samādhi.

　　The first of these aspects is the inclusion of the first tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta in the Satipatthāna Suttas. Ānāpānasati is usually regarded as a samatha (calm) practice,(4) and there seems no reason why it should be regarded otherwise here. Moreover, the Ānāpānasati Sutta states that each of its four tetrads fulfils one of the four satipatthānas. (5) It then concludes:

　　"Bhikkhus, that is how mindfulness of breathing, developed and cultivated, fulfils the four satipatthānas." (6)

　　And it is not only the ānāpānasati part of the Satipatthāna Suttas which relates to samādhi. The cemetery contemplations, for example, are elsewhere specifically said to be samādhi practices:

　　"And, monks, what is the effort of guarding

　　 Here, monks, a monk guards a favourable basis of samādhi which has arisen (in him): the perception of a skeleton, the perception of a worm-infested (corpse), the perception of a livid (corpse), the perception of a festering (corpse), the perception of a fissured (corpse), the perception of a bloated (corpse)." (7)

　　Indeed, it seems that all the satipatthāna practices have a samādhi aspect. Take the standard passage which concludes each exercise of the Satipatthāna Suttas:

　　"In this way he dwells contemplating the body in the body (then feelings/mind/phenomena) internally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body (feelings/mind/phenomena) externally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body (feelings/mind/phenomena) internally and externally." (8)

　　Then consider the following passage which relates the internal contemplation directly to samādhi:

　　"Here a venerable monk dwells contemplating the body in the body (feelings/mind/phenomena) internally, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. Dwelling contemplating the body in the body (feelings/mind/phenomena) internally, there he is rightly concentrated, rightly purified."(9)

　　Satipatthāna and Samādhi Outside the Satipatthāna Suttas

　　The above should be sufficient to at least suggest that samādhi is an integral part of satipatthāna. However, to be able to make a strong case for this relationship, and to consider in more detail what it involves, it is necessary to look beyond the Satipatthāna Suttas to the broader use of satipatthāna in the Sutta Pitaka.

　　In the threefold pision of the Buddhist Path, into sīla (virtue), samādhi, and paññā (wisdom), satipatthāna is classified under samādhi, not under paññā:

　　"Right effort, right mindfulness (i.e. satipatthāna),(10) and right samādhi (i.e. the jhānas)(11) - these states are included in the aggregate of samādhi. Right view and right intention - these states are included in the aggreg…

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