Commentary on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Second Edition) (Newly Revised)

Chapter Two: Contemplating the Mindfulness of the Body

The first of the four foundations of mindfulness is contemplating the mindfulness of the body, called contemplating the impurity of the body. The second is contemplating the mindfulness of feeling, observing the various feelings of the six consciousnesses-mind. The result of this contemplation is that the feelings of the six consciousnesses-mind are all suffering—not only are they impermanent, arising and ceasing, they are also all suffering. The third is contemplating the mindfulness of the mind, observing the impermanence of our six consciousnesses-mind thoughts. The last is contemplating the mindfulness of dharmas, observing the selflessness of all dharmas. When all four contemplations of mindfulness are accomplished in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) can be eradicated. The first of the four foundations of mindfulness, the mindfulness of the body, is abiding contemplating the body within the body, and is divided into ten parts in total.

After the first part of contemplating the mindfulness of the body is cultivated, the view of the body can be eradicated. Once the view of the body is eradicated, one will never again take the material body as self or as belonging to self; this is the stage of entering the stream-fruit (srotāpanna), very close to the first fruit. Afterwards, by further eradicating the view of self in the several consciousnesses-mind, recognizing that the consciousnesses-mind are also not self and not belonging to self, and that the five aggregates subject to grasping are all not self, one can completely eradicate the view of self. Once the view of self is eradicated, the three fetters are all severed immediately; from then on, the karma of the three evil destinies is eliminated, and in future lives one will never fall into the three evil destinies again. After seven returns among humans and gods, one can attain liberation. If, after eradicating the view of self, one cultivates diligently further, one can cultivate to the second fruit of sakṛdāgāmin, and after one return among humans and gods, attain liberation.

With further diligent cultivation, attaining the first dhyāna concentration, and severing the two fetters of greed-desire and resentment, one can attain the third fruit of anāgāmin; after one round of cultivation in the heavens, one attains liberation, no longer needing to return to the human world to cultivate. If one continues diligent cultivation further, severing the deep and subtle conceit of self, and the craving for the form realm and formless realm, cultivating to the fourth fruit of arhat, one can be liberated from the suffering of the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. But if we want to become Buddhas, we cannot enter nirvāṇa without remainder; we can also choose not to go to the heavenly realms, because in the heavens one must enjoy a great deal of merit, and when too much merit is consumed, progress on the path becomes very difficult. We can choose to return to the human world to cultivate, or go to other Buddha-lands to cultivate; in this way, the wisdom of realization will rapidly increase, and Buddhahood will be swiftly attained.

This involves the issue of the grades of rebirth discussed in the Contemplation Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, and also the question of in which world cultivation brings faster accomplishment. After we have seen the mind and realized the fruits, we can make a choice beneficial for the rapid progress of our path, considering how to cultivate to Buddhahood most quickly—whether cultivation in the Sahā world is fastest, or cultivation in other Buddha-lands is fastest. After realizing the fruits and seeing the mind, one gains the ability to be reborn according to one's vows: one can go to the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), to Maitreya's inner court, ascend to the heavens, or return to the human world—the range of choice is very great. Before this, we can only transmigrate according to karmic power, pulled along by karma, unable to make any decisions ourselves.

The Buddhist sutras say that after seeing the mind and seeing the nature, at the time of death, in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), one can be reborn according to one's vows in the Buddha-lands of the worlds in the ten directions. This means that because of the merit and realization attained from seeing the mind, in the neutrino-body, if one wishes to be reborn in a certain Buddha-land, one need only give rise to a thought, and the World-Honored One of that Buddha-land will come to receive one, and we will then ride a lotus on a vajra platform to be reborn there—the lotus need not even close, and the material body need not be wrapped inside the lotus. If we have not seen the mind, we do not have this superior condition, and can only transmigrate through the six destinies according to karmic power. As for which of the six destinies we transmigrate into, that depends on the seeds of karma we created in past lives, our karmic actions in this life, and the degree of greed, resentment, and delusion afflictions in our minds.

Because sentient beings have not severed the three fetters, they cannot guarantee not falling into the three evil destinies, and the vast majority still go to the three evil destinies. Among them, eighty to ninety percent go to the ghost destiny. Why do so many people go to the ghost destiny? Because sentient beings all have greed and stinginess, which correspond to the ghost destiny, so they go to the ghost destiny to receive bitter retribution. Greed brings the retribution of a hungry ghost; when greed is heavy, the retribution received is extreme poverty and lowliness, and the beings of the ghost destiny are both poor and lowly—so poor they have nothing at all; the more greedy, the less merit. Greed draws inward, and merit drains away: coveting one dollar reduces one's blessings a hundredfold, a thousandfold, or even immeasurably. Generosity (dāna) flows outward, and merit increases: for money given away, the blessings that return are a hundredfold, a thousandfold, or immeasurable, depending on who the recipient of the generosity is. This is called "giving and gaining"—only by giving can one gain; without giving there is no gain. So as long as we have greed, we will deplete merit; without merit, we correspond to the beings of the evil destinies, and must go to the evil destinies to suffer.

In the first part of contemplating the mindfulness of the body, the World-Honored One taught us the concept and content of the four foundations of mindfulness. The second part begins to teach us contemplative practice—where does one begin to contemplate? One begins contemplating from the outgoing breath and incoming breath. Whether the breath is outgoing or incoming, the mind must be clear within, without scatteredness. One knows the long incoming breath, and knows the long outgoing breath, with the mind neither scattered nor drowsy. When breathing in, one must clearly know the condition of the whole body; when breathing out, one must also clearly know the condition of the whole body. Then, when breathing in, when all bodily actions have completely ceased and become completely tranquil, one must clearly know this in one's own mind. Then, when breathing out, when one's bodily actions have also completely become tranquil and ceased, one must also clearly know this in the mind, without scatteredness, without drowsiness.

This meditative concentration may take ordinary people a long time to cultivate; some people with sharp faculties (indriya) accomplish it in a few days. Some people need one month, two months, or even longer to cultivate their power of concentration to this degree. Those who need half a year to a year to accomplish it have minds that are ordinarily too scattered, unable to be aware of the whole body—clearly aware of even one thing may already be difficult; their power of concentration is truly very poor, and their thoughts cannot be gathered and unified. So the speed of each person's progress in learning and cultivating Buddhism differs from person to person. Some people can accomplish it in a few hours; their thoughts quickly become still, and they can clearly know the condition of the whole body from inside to outside—they are clear about the conditions of both the inner body and outer body, while most people need a long time of continuous training.

The third part of contemplating the mindfulness of the body is observing the state of one's own bodily actions while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; this is moving Chan, training the power of concentration in movement. If the power of concentration in movement is well cultivated, the mind is tranquil anytime and anywhere, the thoughts are clear anytime and anywhere, and there is only a "knowing" present in the mind. This knowing is a single thought of clear awareness; the thoughts are not turbid, not mixed. This knowing in the mind is very important: in the future when investigating Chan, one can replace this knowing with the huatou being investigated, turning the huatou into a single thought. If the contemplative practice of the mindfulness of the body is cultivated successfully, so that there is always a knowing in the mind, without language, without words, this knowing is precisely suitable for investigating Chan. We investigate our true mind, the eighth consciousness, with the huatou "Who drags this corpse around?" Take this phrase as a single thought, as a knowing, firmly suspended in the mind, suspended in the mind's field.

By suspending it like this again and again, the power of concentration will strengthen; afterwards, continuing the investigation, the thought will become very deep and subtle, rather than there being a voice in the mind reciting the huatou. Only when there is no concentration does one need to recite; when there is concentration, the mind need not recite, need not produce sounds, words, or images—there is just a knowing hidden deep in the mind. Later, this knowing will be replaced by questioning doubt, becoming a ball of doubt. That questioning doubt hangs deep within the mind; when it has hung there to a certain point, the doubt will be shattered, and one will see the mind and attain realization. So this method of cultivating concentration is not only applicable to the cultivation of the Small Vehicle dharma, but also to the cultivation of the Great Vehicle dharma; the true Buddhadharma is common to both Great and Small Vehicles, with all dharmas interconnected. As long as we can cultivate one kind of meditative concentration, by means of that concentration we can enter another kind of concentration and open up another kind of wisdom.

Meditative concentration includes the concentration of the desire realm, the concentration of the form realm, and the concentration of the formless realm. The concentration of the desire realm has the characteristics of desire-realm concentration, the concentration of the form realm has the state of form-realm concentration, and the concentration of the formless realm has the appearance of formless-realm concentration. As long as we cultivate the power of concentration by some method, the mind can become tranquil anytime and anywhere; with this power of concentration, further investigating Chan, the principles of both Great and Small Vehicles will be thoroughly understood. So cultivating the Great Vehicle dharma does not require rejecting the Small Vehicle cultivation methods; the Great and Small Vehicles will become interconnected. When the contemplation of the mindfulness of the body is cultivated to the end, when the thoughts are stilled, one then empties out and negates the so-called self in the thoughts, confirming that these are all not self, that there is no self; do not again take the material body as self, have no concept of the body in the mind, and the mind does not dwell on any thing. Yet one can still know everything, and there remains a knowing thought present, the same as that thought in investigating Chan.

In the future when investigating Chan, replace this knowing thought with a huatou, or with a Chan public case (gong'an), or with the most crucial phrase in the Buddhadharma to investigate; then one can penetrate it and understand its meaning. Concentration is interconnected, and within concentration wisdom is contained. That wisdom is the clear thought in the mind—toward all dharmas, the mind is extremely clear, clearly and lucidly knowing; this is contemplative wisdom. When contemplative wisdom is complete, one can enter the Path and realize the Path. This is the moving Chan within walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—clearly knowing, while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, all the states of the inner body and outer body, all dharma-marks. Then when the concept of the body arises in the mind, exclude and empty out this concept, knowing that this body is not self.

Do not have the concept of the body in every thought, nor concepts of other things. The conditions of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, of the inner body and outer body, what dharmas arise and what dharmas cease—the mind must be clear about all of them. Cultivating concentration to this degree is also not easy; we must be patient, gradually cultivating and training. Once this method is accomplished, any other kind of concentration can be easily accomplished; as long as one has mastered the fundamental method of cultivating concentration, one can succeed with any other concentration method, and will cultivate very quickly.

The fourth method of contemplating the mindfulness of the body is: whether we go out and return, whatever we do—going out in the morning and returning in the evening—the routes traveled and the things done throughout the day must all be done with right awareness, with the mind neither scattered nor muddled or drowsy, the mind constantly clearly and lucidly knowing all the things done. Whether looking ahead or looking back, all the actions of body, speech, and mind are done with right awareness—even going to the toilet is done with right awareness. Within the mind there is a clear knowing, a knowing nature; cultivated to the end, there is a knowing without language or words—this is preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi). This concentration is somewhat deeper, and that knowing is clearer; reaching the state of knowing without language or words, one can then investigate Chan and investigate the huatou. This cultivation method is gathering in the thoughts, not letting them scatter outward, concentrating them on observing the material body; when the mind has no stray thoughts, meditative concentration appears.

The fifth method of cultivating the contemplation of the mindfulness of the body is contemplating the impurity of the material body. Contemplating to the end, ask yourself: Is this impure material body me? When the contemplative practice succeeds and meditative absorption (samādhi) appears, one will confirm that the material body is not the true self. This material body, from head to toe, from inside to outside—hair and body-hair, nails and teeth, skin and flesh, sinews and bones, whatever solids, whatever liquids—are all extremely filthy and impure. Is this material body formed by the combination of these things me? In the end one will determine it is not me, clearly knowing that the material body is impermanent, arising and ceasing. I am not filthy; I am not a combination, not formed after the fact, and certainly not arising and ceasing—none of these is me. Contemplating back and forth, once there is a concept of the body in the mind, it is removed; the concept of the material body as self is negated by oneself, and at this point the view of the body is severed. After there is no material-body self in the mind, there should also be no other things—one emptiness, all empty. External things—wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—are also not mine, and one will not take these things as belonging to self; in this way the view of the body-self and the view of what belongs to self are severed.