Articles by alphabetic order
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 Ā Ī Ñ Ś Ū Ö Ō
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0


Four applications of mindfulness

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
57la-alus.jpg



Four applications of mindfulness (Skt. catuḥ-smṛtyupasthāna; Tib. དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་པ་བཞི་, Wyl. dran pa nye bar bzhag pa bzhi) sometimes translated as the four foundations of mindfulness refers to the close application of mindfulness to:


  1. the body (Skt. kāya-smṛtyupasthāna, Tib. ལུས་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་, lus dran pa nye bar bzhag)
  1. feelings (Skt. vedanā-smṛtyupasthāna, Tib. ཚོར་བ་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་, tshor dran pa nye bar bzhag)
  1. the mind (Skt. citta-smṛtyupasthāna, Tib. སེམས་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་, sems dran pa nye bar bzhag)
  1. phenomena (Skt. dharma-smṛtyupasthāna, Tib. ཆོས་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་, chos dran pa nye bar bzhag)


Commentary

The Buddha's most detailed teaching on mindfulness is to be found in the Satipatthana Sutta (Pali). ‘Sati’ means ‘mindfulness’ and ‘patthana’ means application or ‘foundation’. There are four of these ‘Applications or Foundations of Mindfulness.’ four applications of mindfulness (smrty-upasthana):


contemplate the body as impure; contemplate feelings as suffering; contemplate thoughts as impermanent; and contemplate dharmas as being without self.


Part of the thirty-seven branches or factors of enlightenment.


Training in the four applications or foundations of mindfulness enjoys a special place in the Theravadin tradition. But, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness also form part of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment on the Mahayana path.


If one practices these four applications of mindfulness according to the basic vehicle, “one meditates on:



If one practices according to the mahayana, during the meditation session one meditates on the same things as being spacelike, beyond all conceptual constructs. In the post-meditation period one considers them as illusory and dreamlike.


Between the basic yana and the Mahayana approach to this meditation, we may observe a threefold distinction:





Khenpo Namdrol says:


"When the shravakas practise the application of mindfulness of the body, they meditate on their body in the form of a skeleton, and concentrate on its impermanence, impurity and suffering nature. By contrast, the

bodhisattvas meditate on their own bodies and the bodies of others, focussing on their insubstantiality, their emptiness and their selflessness."


This meditation is termed literally ‘close mindfulness’ because the practitioner discerns the general and particular characteristics of the body and so forth with uninterrupted attention.


Further Reading

Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press

Source

RigpaWiki:Four applications of mindfulness