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My try at Satipatthana
Zoltan
UK New
in Meditation
People may be interested. I decided to try to follow the Satipatthana sutta as closely as possible, in part to understand the meaning of mindfulness etc in the context of the early sutta's, and in part because it actually looked very rich and useful. So for the past year and a half my son and I worked through it. It isn't obvious how one does this exactly; so I kept a record of my attempt here: http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/Zoltan_Dienes/Satipatthana.html which shows our practice, warts and all. I got a lot out of following one Sutta for a year and half! At least intellectually; more things make sense to me now. And that I think is due to making sure I could explain it all to a child.
3
Comments
Came across this today and thought how serendipitous...
https://www.lionsroar.com/dharma-dictionary-satipatthana/
I think it was Analayo's 2004 book, a scholarly but clear analysis of Satipatthana, that inspired me to pursue the sutta as a practice. But how does one actually practice? It seemed Analayo's 2004 book, as a thorough exposition of the sutta, should have everything in, especially coupled with his 2014 book on Satipatthana - yet I still found I had work to do.So I was intrigued to see Analayo himself still thought there was work left - and presents it as his current book, just out this year. Having just finished my attempt, it was very interesting to read his take. He says he needed to find a way of fitting it all together: What makes the Satipatthanas cohere? Gotama was a great thinker; so there must be some reason he put things together in the way he did. There must be a simplicity underlying what seems at first sight complex. I found Analayo's 2018
book had many insightful takes on how one can see a coherent whole here.
Helpful link from @Kerome
Even though concentration > meditation > mindfulness are part of a continuum or entangled dharma knot, it is important to focus and expand. If one is following a self feedback plan ...
So for example samatha meditation has elements of focussed attention, mindfulness and awareness. Chanting has elements of focus, breath awareness and mindfulness. You never master a meditation technique you merely tighten and loosen, unfold and fold like a lotus or take another spin ...