The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study)
by Dr Kala Acharya | 2016 | 118,883 words
This page relates 鈥楳ental Power of Mindfulness (Satibala or Smriti)鈥� of the study on the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The Buddha was born in the Lumbini grove near the present-day border of India and Nepal in the 6th century B.C. He had achieved enlightenment at the age of thirty鈥揻ive under the 鈥楤odhi-tree鈥� at Buddha-Gaya. This study investigates the teachings after his Enlightenment which the Buddha decided to teach 鈥榦ut of compassion for beings鈥�.
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5.3. Mental Power of Mindfulness (Satibala or 厂尘峁泃颈)
[Full title: The Five Mental Powers (Pa帽cabal膩ni or Bala)鈥�(3): Mental Power of Mindfulness (Satibala or 厂尘峁泃颈)]
The word sati is derived from a root meaning 鈥渢o remember,鈥� but as a mental factor, it signifies presence of mind, attentiveness to the present, rather than the faculty of memory regarding the past. It has the characteristic of not wobbling that is, not floating away from the object. Its function is absence of confusion or non-forgetfulness. It is manifested as guardianship, or as the state of confronting an object field. Its proximate cause is strong perception (迟丑颈谤补蝉补帽帽腻) or the four foundations of mindfulness.
The four foundations of mindfulness have a single essence, which consists of mindful contemplation (补苍耻辫补蝉蝉补苍腻) of phenomena. They are differentiated insofar as this mindful contemplation is to be applied to four objects鈥攖he body (办腻测补), feelings (惫别诲补苍腻), states of consciousness (citta), and mental objects (dhamma). The latter comprises such factors as the five hindrances (苍墨惫补谤补峁嘺), the five aggregates (khandha), the six sense bases (腻测补迟补苍补), the seven enlightenment factors (产辞箩箩丑补峁単补), and the four noble truths (补谤颈测补蝉补肠肠腻). The practice of the four foundations of mindfulness is identical with right mindfulness (蝉补尘尘腻蝉补迟颈) as the seventh factor of the noble eightfold path (补峁弓丑补苍驳颈办补尘补驳驳补).[1]
The antithesis of mindfulness (sati) is 尘耻峁弓丑补蝉补肠肠补, confused mindfulness or absent-mindedness. It means inability to become absorbed in the work of tranquility meditation (samatha-产丑腻惫补苍腻) or of insight meditation (惫颈辫补蝉蝉补苍腻-产丑腻惫补苍腻); inability to concentrate and to control one鈥檚 mind; the wandering of thoughts to objects other than the object of concentration. Ordinary mindfulness that one possesses in a rudimentary state from birth cannot dispel that absentmindedness. Only developed mindfulness can do it.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
DN, 22; MN, 10