[Excerpts from an article in Ajahn Sucitto’s Blog]

What does ‘mindfulness’ mean?

A calm collected emotional state and a clear present-moment attention which can have many applications to improve how a human being functions, and mindfulness (sati) is commonly understood to provide just that. There’s also a referential quality; mindfulness connects present-moment experience to a frame of reference. An example of this is the teaching on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: 1) Mindfulness of body, 2) Mindfulness of feeling, 3) Mindfulness of, mind-state, 4) Mindfulness of physical and mental processes (M.10, D.22). [These are also called the four frames of reference or four establishments of awareness.]

In this context, mindfulness is the kind of attention that refers bodily experience to the body, feeling is referenced to the realm of feeling, and the current state of mind to the domain of mind, and mental qualities – such as ill-will or goodwill that support mind-states – to themselves, just as they are. One isn’t referring them to ‘Self.’ This reference, clears out the judgemental feeling of Self, ‘How am I seen by others?’ and so on. In the practice of the Four Foundations, mindfulness replaces that tension and reaction to Self, with clarity and a steady calm, that allows mind-states to unravel and the great ‘unbinding’ of nibbāna.

Right view, virtue and attention

Reference to an object in and of itself is then part of what mindfulness offers, but there are other factors – I call them ‘friends and relatives’ who tag along with mindfulness so that motivation and application is clear, and there is the learning from what the frame of reference presents. For instance, take mindfulness in the Noble Eightfold Path with its eight factors: 1) right view, 2) right intention, 3) right speech, 4) right action, 5) right livelihood, 6) right effort, 7) right mindfulness, and 8) right concentration. Mindfulness is only one factor of an unfolding process which begins with right view and leads on through right speech and right action through right mindfulness and into samādhi – right unification of mind. In this process the most important factor is right view – the wise perspective that reminds us that everything we say, do or even think has results, for good or for bad.

Mindfulness then carries right view into living experience; by highlighting the mind-states that are the causes and results of our actions, it gets the mind to see which ones are for our true benefit. The requirement to establish virtue and awareness of the causes and effects of one’s actions indicate that in Dhamma practice, it’s not enough to notice that one’s body is doing something and sensations are arising –there’s a “How?” and a “Why?” Robbing a bank might require clarity, focus and calm, but they wouldn’t be themes for right mindfulness. So, for right mindfulness, the attentive aspect of mind has to connect with felt awareness of one’s approach and intention. This is because taken on its own, attention (manasikāra) is the aspect of mind that is rational, an object-defining tool. This is the function that gets tuned to high degrees of efficiency and speed; enabling people to race through piles of data, rapidly trading stocks and shares.  What they’re not referring to is their own awareness, mind as ‘heart’ or ‘citta’.

Clear comprehension and deep attention

Citta is the mind of feelings and impressions and of ‘how I am’; it is an empathic awareness. It is the all-important focus of mindfulness, because if it is steadied and cleared of wrong views and unknowing, there is liberation. So, mindfulness refers the objects of attention to this mental awareness (or ‘heart’) to know what it is being affected by, and how that affect arises and passes. This knowledge is called ‘clear comprehension’ or ‘full knowing’ (sampajañña); it is a vital relative of mindfulness and in our well-being. Without it, people lose themselves in whatever grabs attention, or get stressed out, leading to anxiety, stress, and depression. Our systems and cultures have lost touch with awareness and its fundamental nature. Instead, the message is that happiness and success only come through chasing and acquiring what’s ‘out there ‘– no inner home, just a centre that remains swampy, hungry and restless.

Right mindfulness is vital; it connects manas, the object-definer, to citta, awareness, the subjective sense. Mindfulness is there in the moment of holding the question ‘How am I with this?’ If we liken the mind to a hand: attention is like the fingers, and citta is like the palm. Fingers can probe, twiddle and touch, but are unable to collect anything. The palm can’t probe and inquire, but it receives, collects and fully feels what the fingers place in it. So citta has a storekeeper’s wisdom – it wants to know what is worth being in touch with, what can be held for one’s welfare. It certainly needs educating, and that is the function of ‘deep’ or ‘wise’ attention (yoniso manasikāra), the attention that selects which sense data mindfulness should bear in mind. There’s so much stuff the mind can get lost in, so deep attention is another friend of mindfulness. It requires skilful intention and clarifies what you’re experiencing. Deep attention means that rather than note every thought that runs through your head, can it be included in one word? Restlessness, anxiety? Irritation, friendliness? Then mindfulness lets it sit in awareness. So, when right view and deep attention guide mindfulness, it draws manas and citta together; you know where your actions and thoughts are coming from, you’re ethically attuned.

Clear comprehension helps you to come to terms with what you’re experiencing. For example, as you attend to how your body feels and how you sense it internally, you establish mindfulness of body. By directing your attention to how your body feels in itself, you establish the embodied sense that gets you grounded and stable. You more fully get to know what the body is about – you know it not as a self-image but as a base of consciousness, and a resource for the mind. As you get embodied, feeling, both physical and mental, becomes more evident. Then if you attend to feeling in itself without rejecting, resisting or sinking into it, clear comprehension makes you less reactive. The mind is left clear and balanced and you don’t have to make a ‘Self’ out of it. Mental feelings and states of mind reveal their true nature: they’re not ‘Self’, not fixed things at all. You get to know the mind; you know it goes through moods, but they change and you can still arrive at clarity.

Samādhi and wisdom

As the various reactions and distractions die down, the fingers of attention and the palm of awareness can meet with no aim other than that meeting. Then you have samādhi – the mind is unified. Through mindfulness, attention comes home to awareness, and finding that this is a very comfortable place to be, intention settles into appreciation and ease. Putting aside self-judgements, an assessment of what is really useful can take place. So, to avoid having its attention hijacked, mindfulness has to be established and made firm. Mindfulness is thus involved with wisdom.

In meditation retreats we are supported by the energy of patient persistence, without getting side-tracked by self-criticism or doubt. Mindfulness has to be established and re-established through patience and a lot of kind encouragement so that the fingers of attention don’t keep grabbing hot coal! Knowing what burns or stabs the heart, or entangles it, is up to each of us to find out. Keep that patient persistence going, mindfulness needs enthusiasm, or ‘eagerness’. In this way persistence (viriya) and eagerness (atapi) become two more members of the mindfulness team. Don’t get put off by the idea of making an effort, because right energy comes from interest and fullness of heart, not blind will. When something gives us good results or is interesting to do, then energy is not a problem. So, we need to recall and be mindful of why we do what we do, whether that’s cultivating samādhi or cooking a meal; keep it relevant. Get interested in how your mind or body work, use mindfulness with interest; then the application of right effort is a way of it coming more fully into your life. With mindfulness you learn how to train, encourage, gladden and soothe the mind in a range of activities.

Investigation

The Buddha presents the examples of two cooks; both present their master, the king, with his meal – but one does and one doesn’t notice what food the king enjoys. The one who doesn’t notice serves the same food every day, regardless – and gets fired. The one who notices what food the king chooses from the meal; continues to refine the meal he prepares in line with what most satisfies his master – and gets promoted (S.47.8). The point is that mindfulness needs to attend to ‘the sign of the mind.’ This is beautiful: as it clears itself of its burdens and inner conflicts, the citta will present subtle signs of luminosity, ease, vastness or stillness. Any of these may be a key to be picked up, held and explored. So, we need to look and feel more deeply into what meditation theme the citta picks up readily and enjoys.

‘Picking up the sign of the mind’ is the entry to the mystical experience, when the heart attunes to a felt sense that isn’t coming from one’s normal personality programs. The required fine-tuning comes through another of mindfulness’ friends, one that tastes the mental qualities that support any state of mind. This is ‘investigation of qualities’, dhammavicaya. It has to be applied to the citta as in: ‘What effect is this having on my mind?’ or ‘What is there at the periphery of attention?’ Through investigation, unnecessary feelings get weeded out, such as: forcefulness, ambition, or ideas about what we should be experiencing. All are replaced by a more subtle invitation into Truth. In this way, citta educates manas in the ways of directly-experienced wisdom. And manas pays back by casting that wisdom into concepts that form the storehouse of one’s contemplative know-how.

As a member of a team, mindfulness frees the mind from the burden of self-consciousness, self-hatred and self-orientation – the shift that is the heart of awakening. For some it will bring fresh life to its forgetful Buddhist parent. And for others it’s an open opportunity. Eventually how we use it is our own ongoing responsibility.

Ajahn Sucitto

Image source and Malcom Huxter text on Mindfulness

https://insighttimer.com/blog/mindfulness-in-buddhism-secular-meditation/