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)
Full awareness: when going forward and returning, looking ahead and
looking away . . . 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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Mindfulness involves focusing awareness very precisely on whatever is occurring in the present moment. Its sibling term, full awareness,
expands the scope of awareness to encompass the whole sweep of a
movement or activity. The two terms work together somewhat like a
spotlight and a floodlight to illuminate an activity at the micro level
of detail and at the macro level of broader continuity.
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Cultivate an
attitude of full awareness as you go about the ordinary activities of
daily life. When you are sipping tea, full awareness takes in the entire
motion of lifting the cup, bringing it to the lips, sipping,
swallowing, and returning the mug to the table. Many ordinary motions,
like “looking ahead and looking away,” can be done every day as a
practice of full awareness, complementing rather than replacing
mindfulness.
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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)
One practices: “I shall breathe in experiencing the mind;”
one practices: “I shall breathe out experiencing the mind.”
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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