Sati (Pali: सति;[1] Sanskrit: स्मृति smṛti), literally "memory" or "retention", commonly translated as mindfulness, "to remember to observe," is an essential part of Buddhist practice. It has the related meanings of calling to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight, and the actual practice of maintaining a lucid awareness of the dhammas of bodily and mental phenomena, in order to counter the arising of unwholesome states, and to develop wholesome states. It is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: sammā-sati, Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness," "to remember to observe," originates in the Pali term sati and in its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. According to Robert Sharf, the meaning of these terms has been the topic of extensive debate and discussion. Smṛti originally meant "to remember", "to recollect", "to bear in mind", as in the Vedic tradition of remembering sacred texts. The term sati also means "to remember" the teachings of scriptures. In the Satipațțhāna-sutta the term sati means to maintain awareness of reality, where sense-perceptions are understood to be illusions and thus the true nature of phenomena can be seen. Sharf refers to the Milindapanha, which explained that the arising of sati calls to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight.[2] According to Rupert Gethin,
Sharf further notes that this has little to do with "bare attention", the popular contemporary interpretation of sati, "since it entails, among other things, the proper discrimination of the moral valence of phenomena as they arise". According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
It originates from the Pali term sati and its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. From Sanskrit it was translated into trenpa in Tibetan (transliteration: dran pa) and nian Chinese: 念 in Chinese.
In 1881, Thomas William Rhys Davids first translated sati into English mindfulness in sammā-sati "Right Mindfulness; the active, watchful mind".[3] Noting that Daniel John Gogerly (1845) initially rendered sammā-sati as "Correct meditation",[4] Davids explained,
Henry Alabaster, in The Wheel of the Law: Buddhism Illustrated From Siamese Sources by the Modern Buddhist, A Life of Buddha, and an Account of the Phrabat (1871), had earlier defined "Satipatthan/Smrityupasthana" as "The act of keeping one's self mindful."[5]
The English term mindfulness already existed before it came to be used in a (western) Buddhist context. It was first recorded as mindfulness in 1530 (John Palsgrave translates French pensee), as mindfulnesse in 1561, and mindfulness in 1817. Morphologically earlier terms include mindful (first recorded in 1340), mindfully (1382), and the obsolete English, Middle (1100-1500);: mindiness (ca. 1200).[6]
John D. Dunne, an associate professor at University of Madison-Wisconsin whose current research focuses especially on the concept of "mindfulness" in both theoretical and practical contexts, asserts that the translation of sati and smṛti as mindfulness is confusing and that a number of Buddhist scholars have started trying to establish "retention" as the preferred alternative.[7]
Bhikkhu Bodhi also points to the meaning of "sati" as "memory":
However, in What Does Mindfulness Really Mean? A Canonical Perspective (2011), Bhikkhu Bodhi pointed out that sati is not only "memory":
Also, he quoted the below-mentioned comment by Thomas William Rhys Davids as "remarkable acumen":
The Sanskrit word smṛti Sanskrit: स्मृति (also transliterated variously as smriti, smRti, or sm'Rti) literally means "that which is remembered", and refers both to "mindfulness" in Buddhism and "a category of metrical texts" in Hinduism, considered second in authority to the Śruti scriptures.
Monier Monier-Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary differentiates eight meanings of smṛti Sanskrit: स्मृति, "remembrance, reminiscence, thinking of or upon, calling to mind, memory":
Buddhist scholars translated smṛti with the Chinese word Chinese: 念 "study; read aloud; think of; remember; remind". Nian is commonly used in Modern Standard Chinese words such as Chinese: 觀念 (Chinese: 观念) "concept; idea", Chinese: 懷念 (Chinese: 怀念) "cherish the memory of; think of", Chinese: 念書 (Chinese: 念书) "read; study", and Chinese: 念頭 (Chinese: 念头) "thought; idea; intention". Two specialized Buddhist terms are Chinese: 念佛 "chant the name of Buddha; pray to Buddha" and Chinese: 念經 (Chinese: 念经) "chant/recite sutras".
This Chinese character nian Chinese: 念 is composed of jin Chinese: {{linktext|今 "now; this" and xin Chinese: {{linktext|心 "heart; mind". Bernhard Karlgren graphically explains nian meaning "reflect, think; to study, learn by heart, remember; recite, read – to have Chinese: 今 present to Chinese: 心 the mind".[9] The Chinese character nian or nien Chinese: 念 is pronounced as Korean yeom or yŏm Korean: 염, Japanese Japanese: ネン or nen, and Vietnamese Vietnamese: niệm.
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms gives basic translations of nian: "Recollection, memory; to think on, reflect; repeat, intone; a thought; a moment."[10]
The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism gives more detailed translations of nian "mindfulness, memory":
The terms sati/smriti have been translated as:
Originally, mindfulness provided the way to liberation, by paying attention to sensory experience, preventing the arising of disturbing thoughts and emotions which cause the further chain of reactions leading to rebirth.[13] In the later tradition, especially Theravada, mindfulness is an antidote to delusion (Pali: Moha), and is considered as such one of the 'powers' (Pali: bala) that contribute to the attainment of nirvana, in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place. Nirvana is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion (Pali: moha) have been overcome and abandoned, and are absent from the mind.
See main article: Satipaṭṭhāna.
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Sanskrit: Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra) is an early text dealing with mindfulness. The Theravada Nikayas prescribe that one should establish mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) in one's day-to-day life, maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of the four upassanā: one's body, feelings, mind, and dharmas.
According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations, but to the awareness of four different aspects of raising mindfulness:
Rupert Gethin notes that the contemporary Vipassana movement interprets the Satipatthana Sutta as "describing a pure form of insight (vipassanā) meditation" for which samatha (calm) and jhāna are not necessary. Yet, in pre-sectarian Buddhism, the establishment of mindfulness was placed before the practice of the jhanas, and associated with the abandonment of the five hindrances and the entry into the first jhana.
According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner, mindfulness provided the way to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." Buddhadasa also argued that mindfulness provides the means to prevent the arising of disturbing thought and emotions, which cause the further chain of reactions leading to rebirth of the ego and selfish thought and behavior.
According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
See also: Dhamma vicaya.
Satii was famously translated as "bare attention" by Nyanaponika Thera. Yet, in Buddhist practice, "mindfulness" is more than just "bare attention"; it has the more comprehensive and active meaning of samprajaña, "clear comprehension," and apramāda, "vigilance".[14] All three terms are sometimes (confusingly) translated as "mindfulness", but they all have specific shades of meaning.
In a publicly available correspondence between Bhikkhu Bodhi and B. Alan Wallace, Bodhi has described Ven. Nyanaponika Thera's views on "right mindfulness" and sampajañña as follows:
In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, sati and sampajañña are combined with atappa (Pali; Sanskrit: ātapaḥ), or "ardency," and the three together comprise yoniso manasikara (Pali; Sanskrit: yoniśas manaskāraḥ), "appropriate attention" or "wise reflection."[15]
| English | Pali | Sanskrit/Nepali | Chinese | Tibetan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mindfulness/awareness | sati | smṛti स्मृति | 念 (niàn) | trenpa (wylie: dran pa) | |
| clear comprehension | sampajañña | samprajñāna संप्रज्ञान | 正知力 (zhèng zhī lì) | sheshin (wylie: shes bzhin) | |
| vigilance/heedfulness | appamāda | apramāda अप्रमाद | 不放逸座 (bù fàng yì zuò) | bakyö (wylie: bag yod) | |
| ardency | atappa | ātapaḥ आतप | 勇猛 (yǒng měng) | nyima (wylie: nyi ma) | |
| attention/engagement | manasikāra | manaskāraḥ मनस्कारः | 如理作意 (rú lǐ zuò yì) | yila jeypa (wylie: yid la byed pa) | |
| foundation of mindfulness | satipaṭṭhāna | smṛtyupasthānaस्मृत्युपासना | 念住 (niànzhù) | trenpa neybar zagpa (wylie: dran pa nye bar gzhag pa) |
See main article: Anapanasati.
Ānāpānasati (Pali; Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti; Chinese: 安那般那; Pīnyīn: ānnàbānnà; Sinhala: ආනා පානා සති), meaning "mindfulness of breathing" ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), is a form of Buddhist meditation now common to the Tibetan, Zen, Tiantai, and Theravada schools of Buddhism, as well as western-based mindfulness programs. Anapanasati means to feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body, as is practiced in the context of mindfulness. According to tradition, Anapanasati was originally taught by the Buddha in several sutras including the Ānāpānasati Sutta. (MN 118)
The Āgamas of early Buddhism discuss ten forms of mindfulness. According to Nan Huaijin, the Ekottara Āgama emphasizes mindfulness of breathing more than any of the other methods, and provides the most specific teachings on this one form of mindfulness.[16]
See main article: Vipassanā.
Satipatthana, as four foundations of mindfulness, c.q. anapanasati, "mindfulness of breathing," is being employed to attain Vipassanā (Pāli), insight into the true nature of reality as impermanent and anatta, c.q. sunyata, lacking any permanent essence.[17] [18]
In the Theravadin context, this entails insight into the three marks of existence, namely the impermanence of and the unsatisfactoriness of every conditioned thing that exists, and non-self. In Mahayana contexts, it entails insight into what is variously described as sunyata, dharmata, the inseparability of appearance and emptiness (two truths doctrine), clarity and emptiness, or bliss and emptiness.[19]
Vipassanā is commonly used as one of two poles for the categorization of types of Buddhist practice, the other being samatha (Pāli; Sanskrit: śamatha).[20] Though both terms appear in the Sutta Pitaka, Gombrich and Brooks argue that the distinction as two separate paths originates in the earliest interpretations of the Sutta Pitaka, not in the suttas themselves. Vipassana and samatha are described as qualities which contribute to the development of mind (bhāvanā). According to Vetter, Bronkhorst and Gombrich, discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development, under pressure of developments in Indian religious thinking, which saw "liberating insight" as essential to liberation. This may also have been due to an over-literal interpretation by later scholastics of the terminology used by the Buddha, and to the problems involved with the practice of dhyana, and the need to develop an easier method. According to Wynne, the Buddha combined meditative stabilisation with mindful awareness and "an insight into the nature of this meditative experience."[21]
Various traditions disagree which techniques belong to which pole. According to the contemporary Theravada orthodoxy, samatha is used as a preparation for vipassanā, pacifying the mind and strengthening the concentration in order to allow the work of insight, which leads to liberation.
Vipassanā-meditation has gained popularity in the west through the modern Buddhist vipassana movement, modeled after Theravāda Buddhism meditation practices, which employs vipassanā and ānāpāna (anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing) meditation as its primary techniques and places emphasis on the teachings of the Sutta.
See main article: Mindfulness.
Mindfulness practice, inherited from the Buddhist tradition, is being employed in psychology to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and in the prevention of relapse in depression and drug addiction.[22]
Georges Dreyfus has expressed unease with the definition of mindfulness as "bare attention" or "nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness", stressing that mindfulness in Buddhist context means also "remembering", which indicates that the function of mindfulness also includes the retention of information. Dreyfus concludes his examination by stating:
Robert H. Sharf notes that Buddhist practice is aimed at the attainment of "correct view", not just "bare attention":
Jay L. Garfield, quoting Shantideva and other sources, stresses that mindfulness is constituted by the union of two functions, calling to mind and vigilantly retaining in mind. He demonstrates that there is a direct connection between the practice of mindfulness and the cultivation of morality – at least in the context of Buddhism from which modern interpretations of mindfulness are stemming.[23]
A Path to Enlightenment through Breathing, Movement and Meditation
. Kodansha International.