How to Contemplate the Four Establishments of Mindfulness

What is contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā)? Contemplative practice is observation. For example, if there is a flower before your eyes, contemplative practice means observing what state the flower is in—whether it is one flower or several, the flower's posture, variety, color, petals, charm, whether it is fresh or not, and so on. The first step in contemplating the four foundations of mindfulness is contemplating the body as impure. First contemplate the breath. If you follow the contents taught in the Buddhist sutras step by step, you will be able to observe the various conditions of the material body during breathing. For example, observe that you are inhaling: where does the air enter from when you inhale? Upon observation you will discover that the air enters through the nostrils, passes through the nasal cavity, enters the lungs, and then follows the conception vessel down into the dantian—this is the process of the air entering. Observe the various phenomena and feelings of the material body during this process: whether the breath is long or short, whether the air is cool or warm. Then observe the various conditions of the material body when exhaling: you should know where the air exits from, what places it passes through, what sensations there are, where it goes out to, whether the breath is long or short, whether the air is cool or warm. Throughout the entire breathing process, observe whether the breathing is deep or shallow, smooth or unsmooth, where it reaches, and whether the breath is long or short—all of this must be known. This process is called contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). 

There is meditative concentration (samādhi) within the process of contemplation, because all of one's energy is focused on the breath, without scattered thoughts, making it easy to attain concentration. There is a knowing within the mind, and one must have knowing of all the dharmas being contemplated; in this way the mind will not be scattered. During the process of contemplative practice, the knowing of ignorance gradually transitions into the knowing of enlightenment. Clear knowing is wisdom. Because there is concentration and clear, lucid wisdom, when the contemplative practice reaches a certain point and the causes and conditions ripen, one will know that the breath is impermanent, arising and ceasing, empty, suffering, and not-self, and wisdom will arise. In this way it becomes easy to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi). 

The four foundations of mindfulness are not only a sutra for cultivating concentration but also a sutra for cultivating wisdom—a sutra in which śamatha and vipaśyanā operate simultaneously and in which Samādhi and Prajñā are cultivated in equal measure. Within concentration there is a knowing, and when the knowing reaches a certain degree, it goes from the knowing of ignorance to the knowing of enlightenment, knowing that all the dharmas you contemplate are impermanent, arising and ceasing, changing, empty, suffering, and not-self. In this way the wisdom of liberation arises; there is contemplation and knowing within the mind. From the not-knowing of ignorance to the knowing of enlightenment, there is a process, and it does not require much intellectual analysis. One only needs a clear, lucid knowing—not using much of the conscious mind, with its thinking, deliberation, comparison, inference, induction, summarization, and generalization. None of these are needed. One must maintain a knowing that is direct perception, and as long as one maintains this knowing, wisdom will appear at a certain point. A question to ponder: Why does maintaining a knowing of direct perception give rise to wisdom, thereby enabling one to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and realize the fruits of the path?