“In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings and subsequently mindfulness of the mind.”

“In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings and subsequently mindfulness of the mind.”

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Question: Can I practice mindfulness of feelings, mind, and mental qualities directly and skip mindfulness of body?

Than Ajahn: Mindfulness is usually developed through the mantra or through the body activities because when you first start, your mindfulness is very weak. You are not able to watch your mind or your feelings because they are too subtle for the beginner.

For beginners, it is easier to use a mantra or the body, which you can see. Sometimes when there is no feeling, where are you going to place your mindfulness? And when you have severe feelings, you cannot maintain your mindfulness anyway. When you have a painful feeling, you lose all your mindfulness because your desire to escape the pain will take over. Your desire will say, I want to get rid of this feeling. I am feeling bad. I am feeling terrible.

So, mindfulness of vedanā (feeling) and that of the mind are the second and third levels of mindfulness. The first level is the mindfulness of the body. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings, and subsequently mindfulness of the mind. You have to go step by step. You cannot just go up to the highest level.

For instance, if you have strong painful feelings, can you still remain calm and peaceful? If you can, that means you have mindfulness. But when you cannot become calm and peaceful and you start to become irrational, become restless, that means you don’t have the ability to have mindfulness of your feelings yet.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 2, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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