Ekāyanō ayaṃ bhikkavē -–Cattarō satipaṭṭhāna
Dukkha dōmanassaṃ attamgamāya – gnāyassa adhigam
āya
Nibbānassa sacchim kiriyāya – yadidam cattārō satipaṭṭhāna
The moment we hear about the Four Satipaṭṭhāna, we immediately think of the Satipaṭṭhāna sūtra. Gautama Buddha preaches in that sūtra as follows.
Sōka pariddavānaṃ samatikkamā ya
Dukkha dōmanssanaṃ atthamgamā ya
gnānassa adhigamāya – nibbānassa sacchi kiriyāya
yadidaṃ cattāro satipaṭṭhāna
In the analysis of Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma, Sattis Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma can be called a good process recommended by Buddhism to achieve enlightenment as well as to succeed in the journey from Threefold Bōdhi to attain one Bōdhi. There are two types in the world we live in. One is those who offered their mind, body, and speech to the Triple Gem. The other group was those who did not sacrifice like that. According to the Buddhist view, those who offered the Three Doors to the Triple Gem still follow the teachings of the Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma. However, those who did not do so will join this journey of saṃsāra in the future or so, sacrifice Three Doors with faith in the Triple Gem and following Sattis Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma.
Teachings in Buddhism show that this journey of saṃsāra is a far-off journey and a journey full of suffering. Although we take it unpleasant when we feel sorrow and pleasant when we feel happiness, sorrow is the fundamental nature of all these things. The animals in the saṃsāra formalise the understanding of these facts here. The Buddhist who starts with the Four Brahma Vihāra moves to follow Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma after becoming a complete human being throughout the Brahma Vihāra. But before following these Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma, the method that Buddhists used was to take refuge in the Triple Gem. In most straightforward words, it is the offering of Three Doors to the Triple Gem. As the next step of one who offered Three Doors to the Triple Gem, we find the Five Precepts (Pancaśīla). That would be the syllabus of our life.
The person who follows the path of the Five Precepts is the one who walks in the direction of the Four Brahma Vihāra. After that, we come to contemplate the Sattis Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma. In this way, my explanation is to consider that you have already taken three steps in understanding dharma. Having taken three steps forward, understanding the Sattis Bōdhipakṣa Dhamma is the fourth step for you. Here, I am trying to explain the dharma matter of Four Satipaṭṭhāna included in these thirty-seven valuable dharma, thinking that it will be more and more useful to you.
The comprehensible meaning of Chattāro satipaṭṭhāna or Four Satipaṭṭhāna that we are about to analyse is in the Satipaṭṭhāna sūtra. But before paying close attention to Four Satipaṭṭhāna, there is one thing that we must understand. As a human being, it is more important to pay attention to one’s mental state or to pay attention to levels of cognitive intelligence according to today’s society. Because the Gautama Buddha preached Satipatthānā to people with a certain level of intelligence. Understanding something and implementing what is understood are connected to one’s mentality. These levels of intelligence are in many places in Buddhism. Buddhism has described this along with the names of Uggaṭitaňňa, Vipaṭitaňňa, and Gnyayepadaparama. The highest level of intelligence mentioned here is the ability to grasp thoughts firmly that one person says after listening to them with a free mind. But there is a different group of people to whom we must express our ideas several times to make them understandable.
Meanwhile, other people grasp something in their mind after thinking about it several times after hearing it. There is another group of people that we meet regularly in society. Even if they listen for a long time, they do not understand. Otherwise, even if they memorise everything they hear, they must comprehend everything. We must realise that all this happens according to people’s intelligence levels.
Many among us memorise dharma. These people often talk about that dharma. But we can see that the scale of energy they have to remember and grasp that dharma is different from each other. How much dharma are our Buddhist devotees listening to now? Many people listen to those sermons and try to understand the dharma. Some people try to understand dharma less than memorising those sermons. It is required to see these two factors separately. The best example we can remember for this topic is Ānanda Thero. Ānanda Thero is a Buddhist monk with a great memory. He was second only to the Gautama Buddha. Ānanda Thero held several positions in the Buddhist order, such as Śäti mantānaṃ aggō, Diti mantānaṃ aggō, and Muti mantānaṃ aggō, etc. We have heard Ānanda Thero could memorise sixty thousand words in the first hearing. But we can think about the other side of this story by considering Cullapanthaka Thero. Cullapanthaka Thero is a name that comes to mind from Buddhist monks who cannot remember anything well. Buddhist scriptures reveal that he studied one Buddhist stanza for four months. But when comparing these two Buddhist monks regarding understanding dharma, it was not Ānanda Thero who had the best memory, who understood dharma in the shortest time and reached the Arahat Bodhi. As we know, Cullapanthaka Thero studied one stanza for four months and became an Arahat, while Ānanda Thero could not become an Arahat until the Gautama Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa.
Here, I am trying to analyse the fact that memorising Four Satipaṭṭhāna, telling after learning Four Satipaṭṭhāna, and comparing these facts with society and trying to grasp them in mind are different from each other. We have to be thorough with dharma knowledge and social understanding. Today’s society is advanced with various scientific knowledge; psychological concepts have been developed, sociological concepts have been built, and even subjects like criminology are coming to the fore. We can compare the Four Satipaṭṭhāna through those concepts and add them to life. It is vital to analyse and socialise this dharma through different ways of knowledge through varying levels of expertise.
Studying dharma from dharma itself and studying dharma from society are two different facts. When analysing dharma, some people are interested in it and understand it comes to dharma. But many Buddhists and non-Buddhists can have the opportunity to comprehend dharma when we analyse it with society. We need to know that the dharma taught by the Gautama Buddha is open according to the levels of intelligence and the capability of understanding by man. Therefore, the socialisation of dharma becomes more critical. In this explanation, what I tried to tell was about the background of Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, the cause and the purpose of preaching it.
The Gautama Buddha preached this Sūtra to the people of a Niyamgama called Kammāsagamma in Kuru Rata. Niyamgama means the instance when a village becomes a town. Or when a village developed into a town. The people of this Kammāsagamma village were brilliant. The city has more facilities than the village. Therefore, urban people are pretty knowledgeable. That’s why the people of villages come to the town. Accordingly, the cleverest children who study in the villages come to the city schools. Therefore, when giving a sermon, the Gautama Buddha needs to consider where the teaching is delivered, the people listening to it, and their levels of intelligence.
The Kālāma Sūtra is also the same as the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra. It is not a Sūtra that everyone agrees with and likes at first glance. Only those with a higher level of understanding can comprehend and work with the Kālāma Sūtra. Usually, the people with less intelligence do not understand it. Although we all know about the Kālāma Sūtra, it will not be easy to understand such Sūtra sermons without the knowledge we have about society and the world and the strength we have to understand something. Therefore, the Gautama Buddha always taught dharma with a good understanding of the disciples. He did not preach such Sūtras to Sunīta and Sōpāka.
Consequently, we can think that because the people of Kammasagamma Niyamgama have a high intelligence level and teaching of caraṇa dharma, the Buddha preached this Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra to them. In Buddhism, there is a method for everything. Today, Buddhists do their household work in the morning, go to the meditation hermitage in the evening, and are in a hurry to attain Nirvāna at night. We are eager to reach Nirvāna in this life span. Even if we say so, it is worth doing and trying to do so. If you are in a hurry to reach peacefulness, working for it is more valuable than talking about it. Many of us write, chat, and do YouTube programs about it, but none seem to know about Nirvāna, the Five Precepts, and the Four Brahma Vihāra.
Some speak violently. There were people in the world who could prove the dharma logically. They live according to the Mahāyāna tradition. But in the Thēravāda tradition, even if we did not prove dharma logically, we tried hard to clarify dharma through life. These are two paths that lead to the same dharma. Therefore, instead of trying to understand Satipaṭṭhāna in a hurry, if our intelligence is not yet ready for it, the development of wisdom takes place in trying to practice the practices of Four Brahma Vihāra while protecting the Five Precepts.
The Buddha has explained in this sermon that sōka pariddavānaṃ samatikkhamāya. That is to say, the cause of grief or mourning is related to the human mind. The mind needs both happiness and sadness. If there is too much sadness in the mind, it would be a problem for the intellect. Recently, a young man came to meet me. He was in a relationship and thinks he was in some emotional turmoil after it ended. He said his chest felt so heavy that it was difficult to bear that sorrow. Sadness is something we feel, at any rate. If you do not think it, it is a mental illness or a problem in parts of the brain. Recently, our psychologists conducted a test. They took a sample of monkeys, surgically removed the fear-sensing part of their brains, and set them free. Then, the monkeys started going wherever they wanted. The fear they had was lost and forgotten. Therefore, if we do not feel fear and sadness, it is a threat to us. Thus, even if it is sad, we need it. But if it goes beyond that, psychologists today explain that it is a problem in the hormonal function of people with weak minds. The young man who came to see me now has a disease that has grown in him so much that he cannot bear the pain, more than the sadness of losing his love. But the Sūtra sermon does not analyse the sorrow caused by such immature things. It explains excessive grief and mourning. Suffering is common to all of us, but we should not succumb to it. Therefore, the Gautama Buddha says Samatikkhamāya about controlling suffering rather than eliminating it.
At the same time, the Buddha preached dukkha dōmanassānaṃ attaṃgamāya. One might think that śoka paridēva dukkha dōmanassa and all these statements represent the same idea. But all these are different from each other and are situations that arise in our minds. However, our knowledge emerges when we are in a sound mind and remove it with understanding. We call that knowledge of Samādhi. It can also be called the knowledge of life understanding. Some people have a big problem with whether knowledge and wisdom are one or two or two different things that seem the same. But when said, wisdom is something that emerges to us. Knowledge is something we achieve by ourselves. We carry wisdom from birth itself. Two children from the same family can have different levels of wisdom. Intelligence grows with the power of understanding; wisdom grows with the power of memory. Instead of increasing wisdom, it happens that one possesses it from birth.
In the Damsak Pävatum Sūtra, this is mentioned separately as Ňāṇaṃ Udapādi, Vijjā Udapādi, and Pragngnā Udapādi. Vijjā means excellent wisdom. Because the other religious leaders did not have this wisdom, the Gautama Buddha hardly talked about these metaphysical worlds. They are not described even in the texts. Buddha was a nobleman who had mastered the understanding of beyond ordinary sight. Therefore, his wisdom is unlimited. However, in this sūtra sermon, it is explained that knowledge grows in the contemplation of Four Satipaṭṭhāna. It is a process that happens through many souls and many lives, not a miracle that happens in one moment.
Accordingly, the Gautama Buddha then preaches nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya. Before preaching the Four Satipaṭṭhāna, the Buddha briefly expressed its benefits and advantages. It explains the benefits that can be obtained from it and the change in the mind. All these benefit the mind significantly. One might think that the brain and mind are the same. But here is the difference. The brain is physical, but the intellectual capability is immaterial. A healthy mind resides in a healthy brain. A sick mind grows in an ill brain. Damage to the brain affects the mind, and damage to the mind affects the brain. Therefore, the development of Four Satipaṭṭhāna paves the way to a fertile and rich mind.
Now, reading this lengthy post, you may be thinking that although the main topic of this analysis was Four Satipaṭṭhāna, this Thero still did not mention those four things. I have been trying to prepare the necessary background until now, and from now on, I will explain those four factors. Like our Buddhist monks, even many well-known preachers give sermons with emphasis on attaining Nirvāna by going on the Noble Ārya Path, so I am trying to introduce you not only to gain Nirvāna but how to practice all these things practically in everyday life.
When you support your husband as a good wife, when you live at home as a good child, when you live in society as a good grandparent, when you work in a temple as a good Buddhist monk, and when you perform administrative tasks as a good ruler, it is precious to grasp these Four Satipaṭṭhāna and add them to life to live physically and mentally healthy and as well as for the well-being of your own and the society.
Kāyānupassanā, Vedanānupassanā, Cittānupassanā, and Dhammānupassanā. Anupassanā means ‘to see accordingly’. Thinking in this way, Kāyānupassanā means contemplation of the body. Here, looking at the external appearance of your body is one thing, and seeing the internal appearance of your body is another. Also, we can understand that the body we had then, the body we have today, will not be the same tomorrow, and we can appreciate the effort to hide the change in the changing body. Contemplation of Vipariṇāma and Paṃcaskandha, as well as Vipariṇāma and the society, is a good meditation. When you wake up in the morning at home, before you sleep at night, in the office, while you are on the bus, or even on Facebook, there is an opportunity to contemplate these things and see the Dhamma through them.
If we think about it in one way, contemplating Satipaṭṭhāna is a good meditation compatible with life. The word Sati has a meaning in Sinhala as well as in Pāli. When seven days have passed, we use Sati in the Sinhala language for that time. But in Pāli, Sati means being mindful. Mindfulness, which we learn as Sammā Sati, the concept of memory, is something that we need to pay attention to here. Some people close their doors and windows in the evening. But after a while, they have to repeatedly look at the doors and windows because they are unsure about their memory. Some women turn off the gas stove, come to the living room, and return with suspicion to see if the furnace is turned off. Mindfulness is intertwined with our memory. Kāyānupassanā, which is about mindfulness, is also important to treat mental irregularities.
Also, contemplation of pain is the next step here. Pain is felt not by our body but by our mind. We have to think about contemplating pain or suffering. This feeling is divided into two parts. One is pleasant feelings, and the other is unpleasant feelings. Vedanānupassanā can mean both. In the concept of feeling, we feel both sadness and happiness.
Cittānupassanā is the contemplation of one’s mind. How inspiring it is. It’s inspiring to see how your mind works when you visit a loved one and how your mind works when you see an enemy of yours. Studying how the mind behaves according to what we see outside society is an excellent exercise. Further, Dhammānupassanā means contemplation of dharma that we cannot change. It is also good training for the mind not to get attached to these dharma intimately and wait for them to happen. At the end of all this, when we think about it, the Four Satipaṭṭhāna are a mental process that goes completely with the mind.
Today, before we finish the journey that we are walking through, this rather lengthy description, I hope to emphasise further that a person with an average mentality would not be able to comprehend these Four Satipaṭṭhāna. We know it is uncomplicated for a group of people with wisdom, a healthy brain, and the ability to understand what is needed to walk along this path and cross the border without getting lost. Also, the most important thing we need to learn through Four Satipaṭṭhāna is that even if we memorise dharma, if we do not practice them, Nirvāna is far away.
By Ven. Senior Professor Dr Pātēgama Gnānissara Thero