Foundations of Mindfulness:

a Manual for Meditators

© Tarchin Hearn published by Wangapeka Books; Karunakarma Series Volume I, 2000, 2007

Two thousand five hundred years ago, a man, who eventually became known to us as the Buddha, was driven to grapple with some of the great conundrums of life. How can one live well in a world that is constantly changing, unpredictable, and impossible for any single being to control? How can one live with impermanence and death, with unsatisfactoriness and suffering, without shutting down, or escaping into fantasy, or grasping after facile philosophical explanations, or simply burying oneself in never ending reactivity and busyness?

The Buddha’s life demonstrated what I have come to think of as the path of the mystic scientist. He looked deeply into the moment by moment experience of living. This was intimate and direct exploration. His own body, speech, mind and activities became a laboratory for experimentation and observation. Here, with tremendous clarity and attentiveness, he investigated the processes of body and mind in minute detail, trying to understand the roots of dissatisfaction and suffering, and, in the process, discovering profound and essential keys for living well. Abandoning religious and philosophical preconceptions, he explored in a very pragmatic and factual way, letting his immediate actual experience guide the search.

Eventually he came to understand what he later referred to as The Four Noble Truths. The Buddha saw that wherever there are formations, be they physical or mental, there will be unavoidable unsatisfactoriness or suffering (dukkha). Everything lives by eating. Everything is eaten. All things wear out. Collision produces friction. This is the First Noble Truth. He came to see the fundamental causes of dukkha, namely, clinging or grasping, coupled with partial views. This is the Second Noble Truth. Through the very act of bringing a profound degree of friendly enquiry to every moment of experience, he came to realize the cessation of suffering. This is the Third Noble Truth. On reflection, he then clearly understood the path to the cessation of suffering. He described this as the Eight Fold Noble Path. This is the Fourth Noble Truth.

The Satipatthana Sutra sketches out this very practical path of awakening. It is not a philosophical text but more a map with a few hints at the general landscapes we might encounter on the way. Of course, even if you had the best map in the world, you still would have to do the journeying yourself. The text begins with where to meditate and how to sit. It then directs us to an exploration of the physical body through Anapanasati or mindfulness of breathing. Here we investigate and make friends with the entire phenomena of breathing.

These contemplations and enquiries eventually lead to a place of deep stillness and calm. The next step is to learn to carry this clear, responsive, awareness into the midst of activity. Gradually, we come to experience directly the interbeingness of the physical body; the fact that the body is a co-operative endeavor of many parts and processes.

These studies can lead to the dropping of unhelpful attitudes and assumptions that we may have about the body. Eventually, all physical bodies reveal themselves to be beginningless, endless arisings, embedded in a vast interconnected, interdependent universe. This is the birth of a deep ecological understanding of the physical world and the gateway to realizing what is referred to in Buddhist texts as Sunyata or emptiness.

Having investigated the miracle of form, the meditator then begins to explore the mystery of mind. The sutra directs us to examine the feeling or evaluation function; the process whereby likes and dislikes emerge. With a deepening wonder for the body and an increasing equanimity in the area of evaluation we are invited to meet the play of mindstates, the huge array of emotions and qualities of mind that so colour, and sometimes dictate, human experience.

Finally, equipped with a functional ongoing awareness of body, feelings and mindstates, one then, begins to investigate the unimaginable vastness of dharmas, the complex phenomena of Nature unfolding.Jesus once said that the truth alone shall set you free. Simply by deepening one’s understanding, and learning to rest easefully and alertly with whatever is arising, leads to realization.In the realm of what might be called sectarian Buddhism, the Satipatthana is often seen as belonging to the Theravadin tradition. Unfortunately, many so called Vajrayana students have little, or no time for this teaching of bare insight which, to some, seems devoid of devotion and compassion! But is this really the case? Actually, these views won’t stand up to close scrutiny.

The realization of the unity of compassion and emptiness, the very heart of Vajrayana, is implicit in this sutra. Any person with an open heart and passion for enquiry, who is wrestling with what it means to live meaningfully in a world that is being shaped by blind grasping and widespread ignorance, will surely find useful guidance and inspiration in this text. By bringing an unshakeable friendliness and a gentle but probing curiosity and interest to what is happening in and around you, by doing this again and again and acclimatizing to this way of being, you will come to see the very ordinary things in life as extraordinary miracles. At the same time, the extraordinary will reveal itself to be absolutely ordinary.This is the way of the mystic scientist, the lover and explorer of life. It is not particularly a religious path, nor is it necessarily divorced from the awe and wonder that arise when we meet with vast unfathomable mystery. Blending the pragmatic analysis of the scientist with the ecstatic union of the mystic, it is a way that is as vital and precious today as it was back at the time of the Buddha.

I feel extremely fortunate that my root teacher/lama the Ven. Namgyal Rinpoché underwent his early monastic training in Burma. Consequently, he taught us Satipatthana as well as the classical Vajrayana systems. Over the many years of studying and practising these two great treasuries of awakening, it has become ever more apparent that the seeds of all the Mahayana traditions are contained in this short sutra and the essence of Satipatthana is carried within all Mahayana practice. The spirit of Mahayana rests in seed form within the Satipatthana.

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