The Practice Method of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

The Sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is an excellent sūtra for cultivating both meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom in order to attain the purity of the Dharma Eye. Because we lack the power of concentration and the power of wisdom, our minds are coarse and we do not know how to introspect. This sūtra teaches us how to cultivate the mind to a state of utmost subtlety, so that we can introspect upon ourselves with increasing clarity, acknowledge that our own arising and ceasing, change and mutation are unreal, and thereby eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and attain the four fruits of the Small Vehicle.

The sūtra expounds the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the four foundations of mindfulness: contemplating the body as a foundation of mindfulness, contemplating feeling as a foundation of mindfulness, contemplating the mind as a foundation of mindfulness, and contemplating dharmas as a foundation of mindfulness. When contemplating the body as a foundation of mindfulness, one first contemplates one's own breathing, with the mind continuously following the breath; the mind rests on a single dharma, attaining meditative concentration (samādhi) and stillness, and then contemplation arises, realizing that the material body arises and ceases and is without self. Afterwards, one contemplates the entire material body, until one has contemplated through and through all the bodily actions and formations one engages in—knowing clearly and distinctly what one is doing at each moment. In the end only a single thought of the body remains; then one empties that thought, relinquishes that notion, and inwardly knows that all dharmas are empty and not self.

If in the future you wish to investigate Chan, you can rely on the power of concentration to replace this thought with a huatou for Chan investigation, or with a point of Dharma meaning that needs to be resolved, and carry this thought of investigation whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down; at a certain point, the Dharma meaning will be resolved through investigation. Right now our minds are not sufficiently alert; we do not understand ourselves and do not know how to introspect. Through cultivating concentration, once the mind has become subtle and refined, we can understand ourselves very well, and only by understanding can we resolve our own problems.

After cultivating for a period of time, you will taste the sweetness of practice. Although at the beginning it feels bitter when you first start—the mind is unwilling to be restrained and struggles—if you persevere and form a habit, it will be fine. You will be able to introspect upon yourself anytime and anywhere: what the body is doing, what the mind is doing, and thus you will come to understand your own bodily, verbal, and mental actions. When you understand them thoroughly, knowing yourself and knowing others, you can remain invincible in every contest, and resolve your own problems. Use the Dharma to examine yourself: whether or not you accord with the Dharma, you must manage yourself well. Once you can manage yourself, in the future you will have the ability to manage others. If you cannot even manage yourself, you cannot manage others, and cannot serve as a bodhisattva, as a guide and leader for sentient beings.

You must understand that your present actions and formations are precisely the view of the body and the view of self—taking all these behaviors and formations as real, as "I," and clinging to and grasping them. When you have the ability to introspect, you will know that this is self-grasping; taking the functions and operations of all dharmas as real is dharma-grasping. At first, just being able to observe this is enough—don't worry about whether you can actually do it; sooner or later you will be able to. What is to be feared is that you currently do not know and cannot observe yourself—that is ignorance (avidyā). If you do not know that your views are wrong, do not know that you have clinging and ignorance, then how could you ever change?

Starting from contemplating the breath to contemplate the body, cultivate the foundation of mindfulness of the body, and then cultivate the foundation of mindfulness of feeling. Sentient beings mostly drive their minds to engage in all kinds of karmic actions for the sake of their own comfortable feelings; these feelings are all the functions and operations of the arising-and-ceasing six consciousnesses, and also involve the operation of the manas; all of them arise, cease, change, and are unstable. Then contemplate the mind as impermanent. In contemplating the mind, one first contemplates the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses, and in the end it also involves the manas. The content is not long, but to become proficient in the contemplative practice of each small section also requires a long period of time—and how long depends on the individual.

At the end, the Sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness speaks of contemplating dharmas as without self. This "dharmas without self" does not mean that all dharmas are not good, not the "self" of the eighth consciousness; the contemplative practice of the Small Vehicle is not done in this way, and contemplating in that way cannot lead to the realization of the fruits. The "self" in the Small Vehicle refers to the self that can scatter and perish, that can be destroyed. In fact, there is no self that is permanent and imperishable; no dharma can exist forever—all must sooner or later return to extinction. Therefore it is said that dharmas are without self, not self.