Markdown source file: sati.md

⠠⠵ Simple Satipatthana Suta ⠮⠄

Being present without distractions

[DIRECT PATH] Friends¹, this is the simplest way² to feel more free, to overcome sadness and grief, to end suffering and unhappiness, to live a good life and to stop reacting to everything all the time³. You can learn to live like this, present without distractions, using four exercises.
[DEFINITION] Which four exercises? By practicing carefully, you can become fully aware of your body, feelings, mind, and how things change⁴. All without getting lost in desire, disgust, or confusion.
And how do you become aware of your body? You go to a quiet place, if possible somewhere in nature. Sit down with your back straight, and rest your eyes somewhere in front of you. Then you focus on your breath. It doesn’t matter if your breathing is long or short, just feel it is long or short. While you breathe in or out, try if you can feel parts of your body. While you breathe in or out, feel how breathing without judging calms your body.
Internally, externally, and both. Arising, passing away, and both. “There is a body”.

Sample texts

These translations are from Satipaṭṭhāna. The direct path to realization. Anālayo 2003. Paperback ISBN: 978-1-899579-54-9. Ebook ISBN: 978-1-907314-47-6

Par 1.

[DIRECT PATH] “Monks, this is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha and discontent, for acquiring the true method, for the realization of Nibbāna, namely, the four satipaṭṭhānas.

Par 2.

[DEFINITION] “What are the four? Here, monks, in regard to the body a monk abides contemplating the body, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to feelings he abides contemplating feelings, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to the mind he abides contemplating the mind, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to dhammas he abides contemplating dhammas, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world.

Par 3.

[BREATHING] “And how, monks, does he in regard to the body abide contemplating the body? Here, gone to the forest, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, he sits down; having folded his legs crosswise, set his body erect, and established mindfulness in front of him, mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out. “Breathing in long, he knows ‘I breathe in long,’ breathing out long, he knows ‘I breathe out long.’ Breathing in short, he knows ‘I breathe in short,’ breathing out short, he knows ‘I breathe out short.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body,’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.’ He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in calming the bodily formation,’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out calming the bodily formation.’ “Just as a skilled turner or his apprentice, when making a long turn, knows ‘I make a long turn,’ or when making a short turn knows ‘I make a short turn’ so too, breathing in long, he knows ‘I breathe in long,’ … (continue as above). ### Par 4.

[REFRAIN] “In this way, in regard to the body he abides contemplating the body internally, or he abides contemplating the body externally, or he abides contemplating the body both internally and externally. He abides contemplating the nature of arising in the body, or he abides contemplating the nature of passing away in the body, or he abides contemplating the nature of both arising and passing away in the body. Mindfulness that ‘there is a body’ is established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. “That is how in regard to the body he abides contemplating the body.

Other sources

https://www.tipitaka.org/stp-pali-eng-parallel.html#25

I’m translating Bhikkhus as friends. It literally means beggars, or those who live by alms, but certainly not “monks” when it was used in the time of Siddhārtha Gautama. I could have used a more quaint word like “fellows”, or “practitioners”, but I’m using a word I believe is a better—and also non-gendered—fit for use within secular Buddhism.↩︎
I’m convinced by the “Direct Path” analysis of Anālayo, but I wanted simpler words.↩︎
I’m using “stop reacting to everything all the time” as a translation of Nibbāna. I’m in agreement with Stephen Batchelor that Nirvana isn’t some highly elusive state only reserved for monks or mosquito beleaguered people starving themselves in faraway forests, but simply a temporary experience of the cessation of reactivity.↩︎
this was a hard one. See Anālayo‘s extensive analysis on the meaning of dhammas. I went for change mainly because Anālayo uses “keep calmly knowing change” to summarise the Definition and Refrain parts of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.↩︎