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Reproduced from Access to Insight site, with gratitude
This is the front matter for Soma Thera's translation of the Satipatthana
The Satipatthana Sutta, the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, is generally regarded as the canonical Buddhist text with the fullest instructions on the system of meditation unique to the Buddha's own dispensation. The practice of Satipatthana meditation centres on the methodical cultivation of one simple mental faculty readily available to all of us at any moment. This is the faculty of mindfulness, the capacity for attending to the content of our experience as it becomes manifest in the immediate present. What the Buddha shows in the sutta is the tremendous, but generally hidden, power inherent in this simple mental function, a power that can unfold all the mind's potentials culminating in final deliverance from suffering.
To exercise this power, however, mindfulness must be systematically cultivated, and the sutta shows exactly how this is to be done. The key to the practice is to combine energy, mindfulness, and clear comprehension in attending to the phenomena of mind and body summed up in the "four arousings of mindfulness": body, feelings, consciousness, and mental objects. Most contemporary meditation teachers explain Satipatthana meditation as a means for generating insight (vipassana). While this is certainly a valid claim, we should also recognize that satipatthana meditation also generates concentration (samadhi). Unlike the forms of meditation which cultivate concentration and insight sequentially, Satipatthana brings both these faculties into being together, though naturally, in the actual process of development, concentration will have to gain a certain degree of stability before insight can exercise its penetrating function. In Satipatthana, the act of attending to each occasion of experience as it occurs in the moment fixes the mind firmly on the object. The continuous attention to the object, even when the object itself is constantly changing, stabilizes the mind in concentration, while the observation of the object in terms of its qualities and characteristics brings into being the insight knowledges.
To practise Satipatthana successfully a student will generally require a sound theoretical knowledge of the practice along with actual training preferably under the guidance of a qualified teacher. The best source of theoretical knowledge, indeed the indispensable source, is the Satipatthana Sutta itself. However, though the sutta is clear and comprehensible enough as it stands, the instructions it offers are extremely concise, often squeezing into a few simple guidelines directions that might need several pages to explain in a way adequate for successful practice. For this reason, from an early period, the ancient masters of Buddhist meditation began to supply more detailed instructions based on their own practical experience. These instructions eventually evolved into a lengthy commentary on the Satipatthana Sutta, which was then incorporated into the complete commentaries on the two collections in which the sutta appears, namely, the Digha Nikaya and the Majjhima Nikaya. The two commentaries that have come down to us today, based on the older Sinhala commentaries, are called the Sumangala-vilasini (on the Digha Nikaya) and the Papańca-sudani (on the Majjhima Nikaya). These commentaries are ascribed to Acariya Buddhaghosa, an Indian thera who worked in Sri Lanka in the 5th century A.C., but are securely based on the old commentaries which record the explanations devised by the ancient masters of the Dhamma. The commentary has in turn been further elucidated by a sub-commentary, or tika, by Acariya Dhammapala, who worked in South India, near Kancipura, perhaps a century or two after the time of Buddhaghosa.
This book, The Way of Mindfulness, contains all the authorized instructions on Satipatthana meditation passed down in the Theravada tradition: the Satipatthana Sutta stemming from the Buddha himself (in the more concise version of the Majjhima Nikaya, which omits the detailed analysis of the Four Noble Truths found in the Digha Nikaya's Maha-Satipatthana Sutta); the commentary by Buddhaghosa; and selections from the tika by Dhammapala. While the volume of material found here will certainly exceed the amount a beginner needs to start the practice, the book will prove itself useful at successive stages and will eventually become a trusted friend and advisor in all its manifold details. Thus the reader should not be intimidated by the detail and the sometimes formidable technical terminology, but should continue reading, selecting whatever material is found useful and leaving until later whatever presently seems difficult to grasp.
The book was originally compiled in the late 1930s by Ven. Soma Thera (1898-1960), a bhikkhu of Sri Lanka, and has been maintained in print since the early 1940s. The Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy has published the work since 1967 in several editions. This latest version contains several minor changes in terminology authorized by the present writer. Christine Chan and her friends in the Buddhist Communities in Malaysia, as well as Rev. Suddhinand Janthagul from Thailand, who helped in the proof-reading of the Pali texts, deserve our congratulations and appreciation for their hard work in transcribing the book and for making it available for free distribution. I am sure this book will prove an invaluable road map for anyone who has entered the steep and rugged road of Satipatthana meditation, leading to final deliverance from suffering.
Bhikkhu Bodhi Kandy, Sri Lanka
Directing attention to the four truly genuine stages of Arahantship in this universe, the Buddha says: "Here, O Bhikkhus, are the First Ascetic [Sotapanna], the Second Ascetic [Sakadagami], the Third Ascetic [Anagami], and the Fourth Ascetic [Arahat]; empty of Ascetics are the other ways of thought. Resound thus, O Bhikkhus, your swelling diapason of just rejoicing." [Cula Sihanada Sutta].
Later, the Buddha states why he affirms that nowhere, outside his System of Deliverance, are genuine Arahants to be found. It is because the Goal, Perfection [Nittha; here a synonym for the attainment of the Arahant] is "One, not Multiple," and the views of man are many. In a Buddha's system of Deliverance there are no "views"; instead, there is right understanding of things as they really are.
"The Tathagata, O Bhikkhus, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One, declares himself fully aware of all forms of clinging, and he makes known to perfection the science of the same. In a doctrine and discipline [Dhamma-vinaya] of this sort, O Bhikkhus, what joy there is in the Buddha is to be proclaimed perfect; what joy there is in the Dhamma is to be proclaimed perfect; what observance of Virtue there is proclaimed perfect; what pleasure and happiness there be amongst fellow-disciples is proclaimed perfect. And for what reason? Because, truly, O Bhikkhus, clearly explained, leading to the Deliverance, conducive to the Peace taught by a Supreme Sambuddha."
In the subject now presented to the reader, "The Discourse on the Arousing of Mindfulness [Satipatthana Sutta]" (I myself prefer to call it "The Discourse on Penetrating Mindfulness") the peerless Teacher gives an aspirant details of how to use the weapon of Mind if he wishes to make an end of the Bonds of Suffering.
The reader will note a certain abruptness, almost jerkiness of expression, in the text. This is even more so in the commentary. This effect is brought about partly by the concise way in which a complex subject, of many details, is treated. But actually the text reflects the course of the aspirant's progress in watchful thinking, even as verses in a gallop rhythm can picture the speeding rider and the steady beat of a horse's hooves.
He who begins this practice of Satipatthana finds that indeed he needs must rein in his thoughts sharply and often. No racing steed can equal thought which, now here, looking at the Temple Bo Tree, is in a moment at Buddhagaya's Shrine, and next instant visualizing the poplars in an English park. But, as a rider slides as it were into the way of its doing, on a bicycle, or a trotting horse -- so in this practice the Yogi gradually falls in with "its way" till, after a while, its working seems smooth and clear.
The Translator is a Bhikkhu well qualified for the task. For him it was a happy labour of love, and a tribute to his Teachers in that secluded many-celled Arama in far Burma, where he, and another young Bhikkhu from Lanka, held out to the last in a long course of instruction in Satipatthana method. A Maha Thera, as well-known there as he was qualified in learning and temperament, supervised the course. The Discipline was strict, but just; and the Teacher firm, compassionate and a seer beyond the normal. The lodging and diet were simple to a degree. The Maha Thera's own teacher of old, master of meditation and expert in practical teaching for all that he was a layman, was deputed to instruct the yogins. Like all older Burmese, he had aforetime himself been a wearer of the yellow robe; his experience was vast and his learning profound.
The course started with a crowd of aspirants many of whom were pious lay folk; but, as the weeks passed and endurance gave way, the class of pupils was sadly thinned out. Some, after a time, gave up the effort. Others, perhaps through a difference in preparation or temperament, completed the course early. Others again went on and on with the training until, at last, the two earnest ones from Lanka were left to face the calm Teacher whose evenness of mind was in no way disturbed by the recurring phenomenon of dwindling enthusiasm or numbers in those courses of hard life and abstruse thought. The training was beyond price. Keener at the close than even at the start of that course, our Translator today is yet happily and earnestly following that trail.
These are indeed difficult times for layman and Bhikkhu alike. The seven year maximum has not yet passed; and indeed we are woefully weak for the Sutta's "seven days" minimum for results -- that is Arahantship, or failing that, the Anagami stage of Awakening. Yet the strenuous will press on --
"Remembering the Arahants of other days,
And recollecting how it was they lived,
E'en though today be but the after-time --
One yet may win the Ambrosial Path of Peace."
Saritva pubbake yogi tesam, vattam anussaram
Kińcapi pacchimo kalo phuseyya Amatam Padam.
Theragatha 947
Cassius A. Pereira
Nugegoda,
8 August, 1941
In 1936-37, while living with my teacher in Burma, I had the opportunity of knowing the practice of the Buddhist method of meditation called The Development of Insight (vipassana bhavana). The enthusiasm with which many persons there took up the practice and continued in it and the kindliness and understanding which prevailed among those who had gone through the course of training patiently to the end made me and a fellow-bhikkhu from Lanka to take up the practice. Many began to train along with us. Some of them gave up the effort in a short time and some continued the practice to the end. The time taken to complete the course varied according to the individual. We were among the last to complete the training.
The details and the spirit of the method are shown in the commentary-excerpts translated here. These were at first intended for the use of a few friends. Later when a group of sympathetic students of the Dhamma decided to get these printed, a translation of the Discourse had to be included to make the compilation coherent to the general reader.
I wish to record here my warm appreciation of the kindness of the members of the Saccanubodha Samiti, "Nandana", Asgiriya, Kandy, especially Mr. Richard Abeyasekere, the Hon. Secretary, and Mr. W. J. Soysa, in getting this book published and encouraging me in my humble effort to serve the Dhamma.
This compilation was begun with the Ven. Bhikkhu Nyanaponika and carried out largely according to his suggestions. To him and to the Ven. Bhikkhu Kheminda I am deeply thankful for the kindly help they gave me while I was engaged in this work.
I also wish to record here my sincere thanks to the Ven. Bhikkhu Dhammapala for his valued assistance in reading over the proofs carefully, and for the active interest he has taken in my work.
Soma Thera Island Hermitage, Dodanduwa, August 15, 1941
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