The Seven Benefits of the four foundations of mindfulness

D.II.373 The Buddha explained that walking the path of the four foundations of mindfulness has seven benefits. 

D.II.373

The only way (ek∙āyano), bhikkhus, is this path (maggo), 

1. for beings' purification (sattānaṁ visuddhiyā),
2. for sorrow and
3. lamentation's overcoming (soka∙paridevānaṁ samatikkamāya),
4. for pain and
5. displeasure's disappearance (dukkha∙domanassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya),
6. for the right way's attainment (ñāyassa adhigamāya),
7. for Nibbāna's realization (Nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya) : that is, the four foundations of mindfulness (cattāro sati∙paṭṭhānā). 

1. PURIFICATION

DA.II.373 The first benefit The Buddha gave for practising the four foundations of mindfulness (cattāro sati∙paṭṭhānā) was beings' purification (sattānaṁ visuddhiyā). This means the purification of beings soiled by the stains of lust, hatred and delusion. All reach the highest purity after abandoning their mental taints. By way of removing physical impurities, however, there is no purification of mental impurities taught in the Dhamma:

DA.II.373

By the Great Seer it was not said that through bodily taints men become impure, or that by the washing of the body they become pure. By the Great Seer it was declared that through mental taints men become impure, and that through the purifying of the mind they become pure.

DA.II.373 Accordingly, The Buddha says in the second 'Gaddula∙Bad dha' sutta of the'Khandha ∙Saṁyutta': S.III.100

By mental defilement, bhikkhus, beings are defiled; by mental purification, beings are purified.

2&3: SORROW AND LAMENTATION'S OVERCOMING

DA.II.373 The second and third benefits The Buddha gave for practising the four foundations of mindfulness are sorrow and lamentation's overcoming (soka∙paridevānaṁ samatikkamāya). The minister Santati's sorrow (soka) was overcome by practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, and the woman Paṭācārā's lamentation (parideva) was overcome in the same way.

MINISTER'S SORROW

DhpA.141-2 Once, when the minister Santati had returned from successfully suppressing troubles on the frontier of King Pasenadi Kosala's territory, the king rewarded him by giving him a nautch-girl, and turning the kingdom over to him for seven days. For those seven days Santati steeped himself in liquor, and on the seventh day, fully adorned, he mounted the state elephant, and set out for the bathing-place. As he passed out of the gateway, he saw The Buddha entering the city for alms. Sitting on the elephant, he saluted The Buddha with a nod, and passed on.

Then The Buddha smiled. When the Venerable Ānanda asked Him why He smiled, He said:

Just look, Ānanda, at the king's minister Santati. This very day, adorned as he is, he will come into my presence, and after listening to a stanza of four lines, he will attain Arahant ship. He will then sit cross-legged at the height of seven palm-trees, and pass into Nibbāna.

People heard what The Buddha said. The faithless thought what the Buddha said was impossible, and that they would that day catch Him in telling a lie. But the faithful marvelled at The Buddha's powers, and looked forward to seeing the prophesied event take place.

Santati enjoyed himself at the bathing place, and then went to his pleasure garden, and sat down in his drinking-hall. Immediately, his nautch-girl came and danced and sang. But, to display more perfect grace of body, she had fasted for seven days, with the result that as she was dancing and singing, such fierce cutting pains arose in her belly that she died.

Santati was overcome with sorrow; and all the liquor he had drunk that week vanished like a drop of water on a red-hot potsherd. And he thought: 'Who, apart from The Buddha, can extinguish my sorrow?'

So in the evening, surrounded by his retinue, he went to The Buddha, did obeisance and said: 'Venerable Sir, this terrible sorrow has come over me. Please extinguish my sorrow; please be my refuge.' Then The Buddha said to him:

Numberless are the times that woman has died this way, and weeping over her, you have shed more tears than there is water in the four great oceans.

DA.II.373 And The Buddha uttered the following verse:

SuN.955 

What is before (pubbe), that get rid of, let there not be anything afterwards (pacchā),

And if you do not grasp what is in the middle (majjhe), then shall you walk in peace.

SNA.955 Here, when The Buddha says before, He means the past, when He says afterwards, He means the future, and when He says the middle, He means the present. SA.III.85 And when He says do not grasp (gaṇhāti), He means do not grasp sensual objects: sights, sounds, odours, flavours, tangibles, and other objects (dhammas).

Grasping such objects is sensual clinging (kām∙upadāna), which is reinforced craving (taṇhā) for sensual objects. Beings grasp sensual objects in three ways:

MA.I.82

1) Beings grasp sensual objects as 'This is mine'(etaṁ mama) : that is a manifestation of craving (taṇhā).

2) Beings grasp sensual objects as 'This I am'(es∙oham∙asmi) : that is a manifestation of conceit (māna).

3) Beings grasp sensual objects as 'This is my self.'(eso me attā) : that is a manifestation of wrong view (micchā∙diṭṭhi).

SNA.956 The Buddha's verse to Santati says that if you want peace, you should not grasp anything of the past, future or present by way of conceit, craving, or wrong view. You need to get rid of those three types of grasping (gāha).

How do you get rid of such grasping (gāha) ? You practise  meditation on the five aggregates of past, future and present: the material aggregate (rūpa∙kkhandha) and the four mental aggregates (nāma∙kkhandha). While Santati listened to The Buddha's verse, He practised vipassanā meditation.

DhpA.142 At the end of the verse, Santati attained Arahantship, together with the four types of discrimination (paṭisambhidā), and psychic powers (abhiññā). Then he surveyed his own aggregate of life, and seeing that he had but a short time yet to live, he asked The Buddha for permission to pass into Nibbāna. But The Buddha asked him first to related the meritorious deed that he did in a previous life: the deed that had produced his present human rebirth, enabling him to attain Arahantship as he did. And He asked him to rise up into the sky, to the height of seven palm trees, to tell his tale from there.

At this, Santati did obeisance to The Buddha, rose up to the height of one palm-tree, and came down. Then he did obeisance to The Buddha again, and rose up to the height of two palm-trees, and this way rose gradually up to the height of seven palm-trees above the ground, after which he sat cross-legged in the air, and told his story.

Ninety-one aeons earlier, in Buddha Vipassi's dispensation, he had been reborn in a household of a city called Bandhumati. And himself performing works of merit, he had encouraged others to perform works of merit. On the Uposathas, he had observed the eight precepts, which is morality (sīla) ; he had made offerings, which is (dāna) ; and he had listened to the Dhamma, which is a type of meditation (bhāvanā). And he went about praising The Buddha, the Dhamma and Sangha, encouraging people to venerate them.

The Buddha Vipassi's father King Bandhumati heard him speak thus, and had him summoned. He told him it was unfitting for him to walk about doing what he was doing, and gave him a garland of flowers to wear, and a horse to ride. And Santati went about teaching the Dhamma riding on a horse. Later the king again heard him teaching the Dhamma, again summoned him, and gave him a chariot drawn by four Sindh horses: the best breed of horses. And a third time the king heard his voice, A third time the king heard him teach the Dhamma, and sent for him, this time giving him much wealth, magnificent set of jewels, and an elephant. Santati put on all the jewels, sat on the back of the elephant, and for eighty thousand years went about teaching the Dhamma. As he did so, his body emitted the fragrance of sandal wood, and his mouth emitted the fragrance of the lotus. In this way, over thousands of years, he accomplished innumerable wholesome kammas. One of those kammas produced his present rebirth as a human being.

After Santati had told of his meritorious deeds in a previous life, then cross-legged in the air, he entered the fire element (tejo∙dhātu), and immediately passed into Nibbāna. His body burned up, and his relics floated down. A pagoda was built for his relics, and people were encouraged to worship the pagoda.

PAṬĀCĀRĀ'S LAMENTATION

DhpA.112-113 Then there is the story of the woman Paṭācārā. At an early age, she ran away from home together with a servant. Shortly before the birth of their first child, she set out for her parents' home but gave birth on the way. Later, on the occasion of their second child, the same thing happened, although this time, her husband was bitten by a snake and died. Spending the night alone in the forest with her baby and other child, Paṭācārā set out the next morning for her parents' home. But the baby was taken by a hawk, and the other child drowned in a river. In great despair and grief, Paṭācārā continued on her journey alone. On the road, she met a man coming from Sāvatthi. He told her that in the previous night's storm, her parent's house had collapsed, killing her parents and brother, and he pointed to smoke in the distance, coming from the funeral pyre. At this, Paṭā cārā went mad, and with her clothes fallen from her body, she walked about naked, weeping, wailing and lamenting:

Both my sons are dead; my husband lies dead on the road; my mother, father and brother burned on one funeral pyre.

People reviled her, threw things at her, and chased her away.

At this time The Buddha was staying at Jetavana monastery. And seeing Paṭā cāra in the distance, He saw that she had for a hundred thousand aeons fulfilled the pāramī, and that a vow she had made was to be fulfilled.

In Buddha Padumuttara's dispensation, she had seen The Buddha declare a certain nun chief in the Vinaya, and had made a vow: 'May a Buddha declare also me chief in the Vinaya.' Buddha Padumuttara looked into the future, and seeing that her vow would be fulfilled, prophesied: 'In the dispensation of a Buddha to be known as Gotama, this woman will bear the name Paṭācārā, and will become chief in the Vinaya.'

Seeing this, The Buddha had Paṭācāra brought to him. And pervading her with lovingkindness, He said: Sister, return to your right mind. And because of The Buddha's powerful lovingkindness, she returned to her right mind. Realizing she was naked, she crouched upon the ground.

A man threw her a cloth, she put it on, and did obeisance to The Buddha. Then she said, 'Venerable Sir, be my refuge, be my support,' and told The Buddha her story. The Buddha said:

Paṭācārā, be no more troubled. You have come to One who can be your shelter, your defence, and your refuge. What you said is true. But just as today, so also all through this round of rebirth you have wept over the loss of sons and others dear to you, shedding tears more abundant than the waters of the four oceans.

And he uttered the following stanza: 

But little water do the oceans four contain, compared with all the tears that man has shed,

By sorrow smitten and by suffering distraught. Woman, why do you still remain heedless ?

In this way, The Buddha spoke of the round of rebirth that is without conceivable beginning. As He spoke, Paṭācārā's displeasure became less intense. Perceiving that her displeasure had lessened, The Buddha continued:

Paṭācārā, to one that is on her way to the world beyond, nor sons nor other kith and kin can ever be a shelter or a refuge. Even if they were to be alive at the time of your death, still they would provide no refuge. A wise man should purify his conduct and so make the path clear that leads to Nibbāna.

DA.II.373 And then He uttered a verse:

Dhp.xx.16 

There are not sons for protection, not fathers, not kinsfolk either.

Seized by the Ender, there is no relatives' protection.

Dhp.xx.17

Because he the meaning of this has understood, let the wise man morality-restrained

Quickly clear the path that goes to Nibbāna.

At the end of the teaching, Paṭācārā obtained Stream-Entry (sotā∙patti). And then she asked The Buddha for ordination as a bhikkhunī.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE NOBLE STATE

DA.II.373 How did Santati and Paṭācārā overcome their sorrow and lamentation? Through meditation (bhāvanā). But for there to be meditation, there needs to be a meditation subject (kamma∙ṭṭhāna), a foundation of mindfulness (sati ∙paṭ ṭhāna) : either the body (kāya), or feelings (vedanā), consciousness (citta) or dhammas (dhammā) (dhammas are all other mental factors apart from feeling). Santati and Paṭācārā overcame sorrow and lamentation by understanding body, feelings, consciousness and dhammas.

THE DISPENSATION'S USAGE

Here we need to be aware of the Dispensation's usage (Sāsana∙yutti). To overcome sorrow and lamentation there needs to be full understanding of the five aggregates. By practising the four foundations of mindfulness, Santati and Paṭācārā understood the five aggregates: the materiality aggregate (rūpa∙kkhandha), the feelings aggregate (vedanā∙kkhandha), the perception aggregate (saññā∙kkhandha), the formations aggregate (saṅkhārā∙kkhandha), and consciousness aggregate (viññāṇā∙kkhandha) : all of the past, future, present, internal and external, gross and subtle, inferior and superior, far and near.

Let us then relate the five aggregates to the four foundations of mindfulness:

1)  To contemplate the materiality aggregate is the same as body contemplation (kāy∙ānupassanā).

2)  To contemplate the feelings aggregate is the same as feeling contemplation (vedan∙ānupassanā).

3)  To contemplate the consciousness aggregate is the same as consciousness contemplation (citt∙ānupassanā).

4)  To contemplate the perception aggregate and formations aggregate is included in the five aggregates section of dhammas contemplation (dhamm∙ānupassanā).

Another way to say this is:

1)  The material aggregate is materiality (rūpa).

2)  The immaterial aggregates are mentality (nāma).

To contemplate the body is to contemplate materiality (rūpa) ; to contemplate feelings, consciousness and dhammas is to contemplate mentality (nāma). That way, we may understand that to contemplate the four foundations of mindfulness is to contemplate just mentality-materiality (nāma∙rūpa). To contemplate internal mentality-materiality is to contemplate one's own mentality-materiality; to contemplate externally is to contemplate the body of others (sons and daughters, husband and wife, property, etc.).

By contemplating mentality-materiality, Santati and Paṭācāra knew with direct knowledge the impermanence (aniccā), suffering (dukkha) and non-self (an∙atta) of mentality-materiality: that is vipassanā meditation. Thereby, Santati and Paṭācāra realized Nibbāna and overcame their sorrow and lamentation.

Santati attained Arahantship with the four types of discrimination, and went into Parinibbāna, final cessation. Paṭācārā attained Stream-Entry (Sotāpatti), and was then ordained by The Buddha. As a bhikkhuni, she practised vipassanā meditation further, and like Santati attained Arahantship with the four types of discrimination.

VsM.Ṭ.429 Those who reach the Noble (Ariya) stage together with the four types of discrimination need to have fulfilled certain conditions to be able to do so: they need to have developed the required pāramī in the dispensation of previous Buddhas. The most important such past pārāmī is practice of vipassanā meditation up to the Arise&Perish Knowledge (Udaya ∙Bbaya ∙Ñāṇa), or the Formations-Equanimity Knowledge (Saṅkhār∙Upekkha∙Ñāṇa). It was owing to such past practice that Santati and Paṭācārā were in their last life able very quickly to contemplate mentality-materiality as impermanent, suffering and non-self, and thereby very quickly to realize Nibbāna. We may thus understand that having the required pāramī is crucial.

4&5: PAIN AND DISPLEASURE'S DISAPPEARANCE 

The fourth and fifth benefits The Buddha gave for practising the four foundations of mindfulness were pain and displeasure's disappearance (dukkha∙doma nassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya). This means the cessation of bodily pain (dukkha) and dipleasure (domanassa), which is mental pain. By practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, the Venerable Tissa's pain disappeared, and in the same way, the pain of Sakka, king of the devas, disappeared.

THE BHIKKHU TISSA

DA.II.373 Tissa was head of a family at Sāvatthī. Having renounced gold worth four hundred million, he became a bhikkhu and dwelt in the forest far from society. His sister-in-law, afraid that he might one day return and claim his inheritance, hired a gang of five hundred bandits to find and kill him.

The bandits found him, and told him they had come to kill him. Then he asked: 'On a security, please grant me life for just this one night.' The bandits said: 'O ascetic, who will stand security for you in a place like this?' Then, the Venerable Tissa took a big stone, and broke his legs, and asked: 'Lay disciples, is this sufficient security?' Knowing that the bhikkhu was now unable to escape, the bandits left him. 

DA.II.373 Then what did he do? He meditated. DṬ.II.373 He suppressed the pain of his broken legs by not paying attention to the pain, but instead to his virtue. DA.II.373 Knowing that his virtue was pure, joy and bliss (pīti∙pāmojjaṁ) arose, by which his physical pain disappeared. And he was able to practise samatha meditation, which is to develop concentration. With concentration, he was then able to practise vipassanā meditation, and develop insight step by step. In the three watches of the night, he fulfilled the ascetic's duties (samaṇa∙dhammā). At the end of the third watch, at the rise of dawn, he attained Arahantship. DA.II.373 Then he uttered a verse:

By breaking both my legs I gave you a security; I loathe and shrink from dying with a lustful mind.

Having thought thus, I saw things as they are, and with dawn's rise, I attained Arahantship.

This is the story of the Bhikkhu Tissa whose physical pain disappeared by his not paying attention to it.

Now on this retreat, many yogis complain that they have pain here and there in the body. Is that pain greater than the pain of legs broken with a big stone? Just like the bhikkhu who did not pay attention to his physical pain, you too should not pay any attention to your physical pain: you should pay attention only to your basic meditation-subject (mūḷa∙kamma ∙ṭṭhāna).

According to the Visuddhi∙Magga, your basic meditation-subject can be any of forty samatha meditation-subjects. You may choose the one you desire. Many yogis choose ān∙āpāna∙ssati; some choose four- elements Resolution meditation (catu∙dhātu vavatthāna kamma∙ṭṭhāna). When you concentrate on your meditation-subject, your concentration improves: when your concentration improves, you will be able to suppress the physical pain with ease. To succeed in meditation it is necessary to persevere.

If you are unwilling to bear the pain while meditating, it is very unlikely that you will escape rebirth in one of the four woeful states (apāya). Now, the physical pain that you may experience in meditation is nothing compared to the hellish pain of being reborn in one of the four woeful states. It is therefore essential that every one of you escapes from that suffering.

There is another story about a bhikkhu who suppressed his physical pain.

THE THIRTY BHIKKHUS

DA.II.373 Once, there were thirty bhikkhus who, having obtained a meditation-subject from the Buddha, went to a forest for the rains-retreat. They agreed among themselves to avoid each other's company, and practise the ascetic's duties during the three watches of the night.

THE ASCETIC'S DUTIES

M.I.416-433 What are an ascetic's duties (samaṇa dhamma) ? They are ten things:

1). Conscience and shame (hiri ottappa)

2). Purified bodily conduct (parisuddha kāya∙samācāra)

3). Purified verbal conduct (parisuddha vacī∙samācāra)

4). Purified mental conduct (parisuddha mano∙samācāra)

5). Purified livelihood (parisuddha ājīva)

6). Guarding the doors of the faculties (indriyesu gutta∙dvāra)

7). Moderation in food (bhojane∙mattaññu)

8). Devotion to wakefulness (jāgariya anuyuttā)

9). Mindfulness and discernment (sati∙sampajañña)

10). Abandoning the five hindrances (pañca nīvaraṇa) and purification of consciousness (the four jhānas) (citta parisuddha) and the three sciences (tevijja) :

• i) the Past-Lives Recollection Knowledge (Pubbe∙Nivās∙Ānussati∙Ñāṇa)
• ii) the Beings' Decease&Rebirth Knowledge(Sattānaṁ Cut∙Ūpapāta∙Ñāṇa)
• iii) the Taints Destruction Knowledge (Āsavānaṁ Khaya∙Ñāṇa)

A.III.82 These ten things are equivalent to the three higher trainings:

1). the higher morality-training (adhi∙sīla∙sikkhā)

2). the higher mind-training (adhi∙citta∙sikkhā)

3). the higher wisdom-training (adhi∙paññā)

A.III.90 The higher morality-training is training in the bhikkhu's rule (Vinaya), etc.; the higher mind-training is training in the eight insight-basis jhānas; the higher wisdom-training is training in vipassanā meditation up to Arahantship. As bhikkhus, we must carry out these three duties every day and night. That is what those thirty bhikkhus worked hard at doing.

IN A TIGER'S JAWS

DA.II.373 But in the early morning, towards the end of the third watch, some bhikkhus would doze. And they were taken by a tiger, but did not cry out. The tiger took fifteen bhikkhus. On the Uposatha (when bhikkhus meet to recite the monastic rule), they discovered that the others had been taken by a tiger. So they agreed that from then on, anyone taken by a tiger should cry out: 'He's got me!'

Then one night, again a tiger came, and took a young bhikkhu. He cried out: 'Tiger, Venerable Sirs!' And the other bhikkhus brought sticks and torches and went in pursuit of the tiger.

The tiger took the young bhikkhu up on top of a cliff that was inaccessible to the bhikkhus, and there began to devour him. The bhikkhus down below could do nothing for him. But even as the tiger was devouring him, that bhikkhu suppressed his pain, and developed insight knowledge. He attained the four Paths and Fruitions of Arahantship together with the four types of discrimination.

Past and Present Pārami

How could he become an Arahant so quickly? Because of powerful pāramī. VsM&T/Ṭ.429&VbhA.718 There are two types of pāramī : past pāramī, and present pāramī.

1)  Past pāramī: Those who attain the four discriminations will always have developed the necessary pāramī in the dispensation of previous Buddhas. Those pāramī include:

• i) Scriptural knowledge (pariyatti): learning The Buddha's Word off by heart (Buddha∙Vacanassa pariyāpuṇanaṁ), reciting the Pali (Pāḷyā sajjhāyo).
• ii) Hearing (savana) : learning the Dhamma thoroughly, with care and respect.
• iii) Inquiry (paripucchā) : discussing knotty passages in the Texts, Commentaries etc.
• iv) Past practice (pubba∙yoga) : practising samatha and vipassanā up to the Formations-Equanimity Knowledge (Saṅkhār∙Upekkhā∙Ñāṇa). Even though none of these things can be left out, this prior practice of samatha and vipassanā is the most important factor: it is the same as practising the four foundations of mindfulness.

All this can have been done only in the dispensation of previous Buddhas: they do not exist otherwise.

2)  Present pāramī:

The bhikkhu devoured by the tiger had such past pāramī. Having received a meditation-subject from The Buddha, he worked hard at vipassanā meditation. He discerned the eleven categories of five aggregates as impermanent, suffering and non-self. Thus, his past pāramī together with his present practice, enabled him to attain the four Paths and Fruitions together with the four types of discrimination even as the tiger devoured him.

Also in this case, the bhikkhu did not pay attention to his physical pain: he paid attention to only his basic meditation-subject, and thus developed insight knowledge. We may thus understand that to develop insight knowledge based on access- or absorption concentration (jhāna) is very important.

HOW TO REGARD PHYSICAL PAIN

S.III.160 A good way to understand how we should regard physical pain (pain in our body), is to listen to The Buddha's explanation of disease. Once, a bhikkhu called Rādha asked The Buddha about Māra. And The Buddha explained that the five aggregates are Māra. The Buddha explained that the five aggregates should be seen as the killer (māretu) and as the killed (mīya). He explained that the five aggregates should be seen as a disease (roga), as a boil (gaṇḍa), as a dart (salla), and as pain (agha).

If we analyse our body and consciousness, we find only five aggregates. They are always present. And as long as there are the five aggregates, there will be diseases. We cannot avoid it. Why not? When we have a fever, that is excessive heat or cold: the fire element. When we suffer, for example, from rheumatism, that is excessive wind: the wind-element. When we suffer from, for example, diarrhoea, that is excessive flowing: the water-element. And any bodily pain or dissatisfaction we may have (for example, headache, ear-ache, tooth-ache, pain in the neck, back-ache, knee-ache, etc.), it is always caused by an imbalance either in the earth-element, the fire-element, or wind-element. Bodily pain (kāyika dukkha) arises because of body contact (kāya∙samphassa). Bodily pain is a mental factor that arises together with body-conscious ness (kāya∙viññāṇa). And body-consciousness arises always because of contact between the body-base and the earth-, fire-, or wind-element. Because our body is made of those elements, we cannot avoid such disorders. Since there is no way we can escape our body now, we cannot escape from the four elements. So we should not worry about them; we should not worry about bodily pain.

When you meditate, you need to have a strong desire for Arahantship. When you have such strong desire, your effort increases. When your effort increases, you can bear any bodily pain.

Please remember, we may die any time. So, we must work hard to attain Arahantship, before we die. After death, we cannot know whether we shall be able to meditate again. So to have strong desire for and to make great effort to practise right now is necessary. We must not allow ourselves to be disheartened by physical pain.

Please try to remember the two courageous bhikkhus, and learn from their example: the bhikkhu with broken legs, and the bhikkhu eaten alive by a tiger.

To help you remember even better, we should like to tell you another story about the bhikkhu Pītamalla: he attained Arahantship while in severe pain.

THE BHIKKHU PITAMALLA

DA.II.373 When the Venerable Pītamalla was still a layman, he was wrestling champion in three kingdoms. At one time, he came to Tambapaṇṇī Island (Sri Lanka), where he had an audience with the king, and was granted royal patronage. Then one day, he passed by a place where a bhikkhu was reciting the following passage from 'The Snake Simile Sutta'. There, The Buddha says:

M.I.247

Rūpaṁ, bhikkhave, na tumhākaṁ, taṁ pajahatha!

Taṁ vo pahīnaṁ dīgha∙rattaṁ hitāya sukhāya bhavissati.

Materiality, bhikkhus, is not yours: abandon it!

When you have abandoned it, that will be to your welfare and happiness for a long time. 

Hearing this, Pītamalla thought: 'Indeed, neither materiality nor feeling is one's own.' With only that thought as motivation, he renounced the world. He received the going forth (pabbajja) and the higher ordination (upasampadā) at the Great Monastery (Mahā∙Vihāra) at Anurādhapura. After he had mastered the two the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni rules, he went to a place called Gavaravāliya-Aṅgana with thirty other bhikkhus. They carried out the ascetic's duty (samaṇa dhamma). When the Venerable Pītamalla could no longer, he continued his walking meditation on his knees.

One night, a hunter mistook him for a deer, and struck him with a spear. The spear went deep into his body, and the bhikkhu removed it. He covered the wound with a wad of grass, and sat down on a flat stone. Seeing his misfortune as a reason to arouse energy, he aroused great energy, developed insight, and attained Arahantship with the four types of discrimination.

To let his fellow-bhikkhus know, Pītamalla Thera made a sign by clearing his throat, and uttered a stanza of joy:

DA.II.373

The Word of the Fully Awakened Man, the Chief, Proclaimer of Right Views in the whole world is this: 'Materiality, bhikkhus, is not yours: abandon it!'

Impermanent, indeed, are all formations; subject to origination and perishing. What arises, ceases; the cessation of all formations is real happiness.

The wrestler had been inspired to become a bhikkhu because of The Buddha's instruction:

M.I.247

Rūpaṁ, bhikkhave, na tumhākaṁ, taṁ pajahatha!

Materiality, bhikkhus, is not yours: abandon it!

What does that mean? It means we must abandon our attachment to materi a lity, as well as our attachment to feeling, perception, formations and con scious ness: all five aggregates. And how do we do that? First, we need to know and see the five aggregates with direct knowledge. Once we know and see the five aggregates with direct knowledge, we need to contem plate them in three ways:

1) We need to contemplate the five aggregates to see that as soon as they arise they perish, meaning the five aggregates are impermanent.

2) We need to contemplate the five aggregates to see that they are always oppressed by the origination and perishing, meaning the five aggregates are suffering.

3)  We need to contemplate the five aggregates to see that since they are impermanent and suffering, there can be no stable self in them, meaning the five aggregates are non-self.

If we contemplate the five aggregates in these three ways, we can abandon our attachment for them.

Materiality is not yours. Feeling is also not yours either. Neither physical painful feeling, nor mental painful feeling are yours. If painful feeling was yours, it would always be there, because whenever there is consciousness, there is also feeling. But painful feeling is not yours, because feeling arises only when the six bases (ayātana) come into contact with their six objects. Furthermore, if feeling was yours, you would be able to control your feelings. But painful feeling arises when one of the five senses comes into contact with its respective undesirable sense objects: you cannot control it. Feelings arise and perish for a reason (hetu) and cause (paccaya), and that means they are impermanent, suffering and non-self. If you contemplate feelings this way, you can give up your attachment for feelings. If you are practising samatha meditation, and are yet unable to see the five aggregates, you must suppress the painful feeling by paying attention to your meditation-subject, such as the in & out-breath or the four-elements.

That is how the way of mindfulness makes pain disappear: it did so in the Bhikkhu Tissa with the broken legs, the young bhikkhu in the tiger's jaws, and the Bhikkhu Pītamalla with the spear-wound in his chest. Then we shall give an example of how to overcome mental pain.

SAKKA, KING OF THE DEVAS

DA/Ṭ.II.373 Once, Sakka, king of the devas, was struck with displeasure and fear of death, for he saw the five portents of impending death. For this reason, he went to see The Buddha, and asked The Buddha fourteen questions. When The Buddha had explained neutral feeling (upekkha vedanā), Sakka and eighty thousand other devas had attained Stream-Entry. And Sakka was reborn once more as king of the devas. By practising contemplation of formations led by feeling (vedan∙ānupassanā sati∙paṭṭhāna), Sakka dispelled his mental pain, displeasure. This example is very brief indeed: the reader who is not fully and well acquainted with the story does not know what The Buddha's explanation of neutral feeling was about, he does not know how all the devas attained Stream-Entry, he does not know why Sakka was reborn as king of devas, and he does not know how Sakka contemplated his mental pain and overcame it. The inexpert reader does not learn very much from this example.

THE DEVA SUBRAHMĀ

DA.II.373 There is, in this connection, also the case of the deva Subrahmā. SA.I.98 Once, he was enjoying heavenly delights together with a thousand deva nymphs. Then five hundred of them died as they were picking flowers, and were reborn in hell. Seeing where they were reborn, Subrahmā became very much afraid. Then he looked into the future, and saw that seven days later, he and the remaining five hundred nymphs would also be reborn in that hell. Why? Because he and his female companions in the garden indulged themselves too much in sensual enjoyment. Such excessive sensual enjoyment is unwholesome kamma that leads to rebirth in hell.

Now feeling a sense of spiritual urgency, Subrahmā and the remaining five hundred nymphs, went to see The Buddha. He said to the Buddha:

S.I.98

Always afraid is this mind, always agitated is this mind, about unarisen difficulties, and arisen ones too.

If there exists fearlessness, [being] asked, please tell me.

The Buddha replied:

S.I.98

Not apart from the enlightenments (bojjhaṅga) and austerities (tapasā), not apart from faculty-restraints (indriya∙saṁvarā), not apart from complete relinquishment (sabba∙nissagā), do I see welfare for beings.

DA.II.373 At the end of the instruction, Subrahmā and his five hundred nymphs became Stream-Enterers. With this invaluable attainment, Subrahmā returned happily to his deva world.

It should be understood that to develop the four foundations of mindfulness as explained by The Buddha dispels displeasure just as it did in Sakka and Subrahmā.

6: THE RIGHT WAY'S ATTAINMENT

DA.II.373 The sixth benefit The Buddha gave for practising the four foundations of mindfulness was the right way's attainment (ñāyassa adhigamāya). The right way is the Noble Eightfold Path. When one cultivates the preliminary, mundane path of the foundations of mindfulness (lokiya satipaṭṭhāna∙magga), it leads to attainment of the Supramundane Path (Lokuttara ∙Magga).

7: NIBBĀNA'S REALIZATION

The seventh benefit The Buddha gave for practising the four foundations of mindfulness was Nibbāna's realization (Nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya,).

DA.II.373 That means the one's attainment, one's own direct experience of the Deathless, Nibbāna. Nibbāna is so called because of the absence of vāna: vāna is a synonym for craving (taṇha) : Nibbāna is the absence of craving. DA.II.64 Vānameans also a web or a weave. Craving sews (saṁsibbati) or weaves (vinati) existence with existence, result with kamma. But in Nibbāna there is no such web or weave.

If this path is gradually cultivated, it produces Nibbāna's realization. And The Nibbāna that the Noble One (Ariya) sees more and more clearly as she or he progresses on the Noble Path is the Unformed Nibbāna (Asaṅkhata Nibbāna).

SUMMARY

 DA.II.373 When beings are in this way purified  (which was the first benefit given by the Buddha) all the other conditions are fulfilled: sorrow and lamentation are overcome, pain and displeasure are dispelled, the true path is attained and Nibbāna is realized. But to know this, one needs to be familiar with the usage, the paradigm, of the Dispensation (Sāsana∙yutti).

DA.II.373 The Buddha does not at first make people familiar with the Dispensation's usage, and afterwards teach the Dhamma. Rather, He makes the meanings known by the suttas. Therefore, to explain the things that are brought into effect by the only way, He said: for sorrow and lamentation's overcoming, etc.

DA.II.373 We may also say that The Buddha explained in this manner to show the causes for liberation by the only way:

1)  Beings are purified by the only way, because sorrow and lamentation are overcome.

2)  And sorrow and lamentation are overcome because pain and displeasure are destroyed.

3)  And pain and displeasure are destroyed because the True Path is attained [the Noble Eightfold Path].

4)  And the True Path is attained because Nibbāna is realized.

In this way The Buddha explained the procedure of liberation by the only way. The procedure has been fully completed only with the Arahant's realization of the Unformed Nibbāna (Asaṅkhata Nibbāna).

DA.II.373 Furthermore, by the seven phrases for beings' purification etc., The Buddha praised the only way in seven ways. Why did He praise it like this? To inspire interest in the bhikkhus. The Buddha knew:

Furthermore, by the seven phrases for beings' purification etc., The Buddha praisedthe only way in seven ways. Why did He praise it like this? To inspire interest in the bhikkhus. The Buddha knew:

DA.II.373

On hearing these praises, these bhikkhus will believe that this way casts out the four troubles (upaddava):

[1]   the burning of the heart that is sorrow (soka);

[2]   the wailing that is lamentation (parideva);

[3]   the bodily distress that is pain (dukkha);

[4]   the mental distress that is displeasure (domanassa).

And they will believe that it brings the three distinctions (visesa) : purity (visuddhi), the right way (ñāya), and Nibbāna. And they will be convinced that this instruction should be taken up, learned well, borne in mind and memorized, and that this way should be developed.

That concludes our discussion of the seven benefits to be gained from practising the four foundations of mindfulness. Let us then discuss the four foundations of mindfulness themselves.