RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body
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A person goes to the forest
or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having
crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence
of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: “Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I
am content.” (SN 47.10)
When sitting, one is aware: “I am sitting.”. . . One is just aware,
just mindful: “There is body.” And one abides not clinging to anything
in the world. (MN 10)
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The Zen meditation practice called zazen
means “just sitting.” This is a form of the early Buddhist practice
described here. The idea is to always do only one thing at a time. Not
sitting and reading, or sitting and watching TV, or sitting at your
computer—but just sitting. This is an exercise in being rather than
doing. The only activity you are doing while sitting is “being aware.”
Aware of what? Aware that you are sitting.
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Spend some time
every day, either regularly or adventitiously, just sitting. At first
the tendency might be to “sit and think about stuff,” or “sit and
remember,” or “sit and plan.” But this is a mindfulness of the body
practice, so it involves being aware of all the microsensations of the
body as you sit. There is a lot going on when you just sit and take the
time to notice. Notice it all without clinging to anything in the world.
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RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the First Phase of Absorption (1st Jhāna)
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Having abandoned the five
hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded
from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, one enters
and abides in the first phase of absorption, which is accompanied by
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
seclusion. (MN 4)
Breathing in long, one is aware: ‘I breathe in long’;
or breathing out long, one is aware: ‘I breathe out long.’
This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated,
so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)
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Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and Abiding in the Second Jhāna
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