Satipatthana Sutta


The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, and the subsequently created Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, are two of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, acting as the foundation for contemporary vipassana meditational practice. These suttas stress the practice of sati "for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of truth, for the realization of nibbāna."

Dating

While elements of the Satipathana sutta can be found in the Samyutta Nikaya and the Samyukta Nigama, which belong to the oldest strata of the Buddhist suttas, the elaborate Maha Satipatthana Sutta exists only in the Theravada Digha Nikaya. Bhante Sujato postulates that the sutta was compiled from elements from other suttas as late as 20 BCE.

Title translation and related literature

Satipatthana| is a compound of sati, mindfulness; and either ', "foundation," or ', "presence." The compound term can be interpreted as ' or ', "presence of mindfulness". According to Anālayo, the analysis of the term as ', "presence of mindfulness," is a more etymologically correct derivation as ' appears both throughout the Pali Canon and in the Sanskrit translation of this sutta; whereas the is only found in the Abhidhamma and post-nikaya Pali commentary.
English translations of the title, "," include:
In regard to the prefix "Maha-" in the Pāli title of DN 22, this simply means "great," or "larger" and likely refers to DN 22's expanded section on mindfulness of the Four Noble Truths.

Various recensions and canonical placement

In the Pali Canon, the ' is the tenth discourse in the Majjhima Nikaya. In the Pali Text Society edition of the Canon, this text begins on the 55th page of the first volume of its three-volume Majjhima Nikaya.
As for the ', this is the 22nd discourse in the Digha Nikaya. In the PTS edition of the Canon, the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta begins on the 289th page of the second volume of the PTS' three-volume Digha Nikaya.
In the Chinese Canon, the Nian Chu Jing, based on a Sarvastivadin source, is found on page 582 of the Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 1, Madhyama gama No. 26. Another similar sutra is in the Ekottara Agama and it is called the Ekayāna sutra, Direct Path sūtra.
An early Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra version also survives inside some of the large Prajñāpāramitā sutras, one of which has been translated into English by Edward Conze. These passages on mindfulness are treated as the first element in the 37 wings to awakening. According to Bhante Sujato, "This version of the satipaṭṭhāna material displays a refreshing simplicity that may indicate that it lies close to the early sources."
There does exist in Tibetan translation a "Saddharma Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra" but this is a very large early Mahayana sutra and is an entirely different text. Bhante Sujato completed an extensive comparative survey of the various recensions of Sutta, entitled A History of Mindfulness.

Later sources

The Satipaṭṭhāna material, including the various meditation objects and practices, is treated in various later Abhidharma works such as the Theravada Vibhanga and Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Sarvastivada Dharmaskandha, the Jñānapraṣṭhāna, the Śāriputrābhidharma and the Arthaviniscaya Sutra.
In post-canonical Pali commentaries, the classic commentary on the is found in Buddhaghosa's Papañcasudani.
Later works, such as the Abhidharmakośakārikā of Vasubandhu, and Asanga's Yogacarabhumi and Abhidharma-samuccaya, also comment on the four satipatthanas.

Contents

Contents of the Pali version

In the Satipatthana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 10, the Buddha identifies four "foundations of mindfulness" or "frames of reference," on which he contemplates or focusses after leaving behind the wordly life: kāyā, vedanā, cittā, and dhammas. The sutta then gives an overview of Buddhist practices, under these four headings:
  1. Kāyā :
  2. *mindfulness of breathing, calming the bodily fomations ;
  3. *extension of mindfulness to all postures and actions;
  4. *reflections on the repulsiveness of the body-parts;
  5. *reflections on the elements which are in the body: earth, water, fire, and air;
  6. *charnel ground contemplations;
  7. *in these ways, remaining focussed on the body itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to the body; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of the body.
  8. Vedanā :
  9. * understanding feelings as pleasant, unpleasant, or neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant feelings;
  10. * in this way, remaining focussed on feelings in themselves; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to feelings; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of feelings.
  11. Cittā, awareness of the presence and absence of the unwholesome states of the three poisons ; and the presence or absence of the wholesome states related to dhyana:
  12. * Three poisons:
  13. ** lust or without lust
  14. ** hate or without hate
  15. ** delusion or without delusion
  16. * Dhyana-related factors:
  17. ** contracted or scattered
  18. ** lofty or not lofty
  19. ** surpassable or unsurpassed
  20. ** quieted or not quieted
  21. ** released or not released
  22. * In this way, remaining focussed on the mind itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to mind; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of mind
  23. Dhammā :
  24. *the five hindrances: awareness of the presence or absence, arising and abandoning, and no future arising, of sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and uncertainty;
  25. *the five skandhas, the aggregates of clinging: the discernment of the existence, the origination, and the disappearance, of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness;
  26. *the six sense-bases, and the fetters that arise in dependence on them: discerning the internal sense-media, the external sense-media, the arising of fetters in dependence on the six-sense bases, the abandonment of the arisen fetters, and the future non-arising of these fetters;
  27. *the Seven factors of awakening: awareness of the presence or absence, the arising, and the culmination, of sati', dhamma vicaya, viriya, pīti, passaddhi, samadhi, upekkha'' ;
  28. *the Four Noble Truths.

    Comparison of the content in other sources

The Sarvāstivāda Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra differs in some ways from the Theravada version, including postures as the first contemplation instead of breathing for example. According to Bhante Sujato, it seems to emphasize samatha or calm abiding, while the Theravadin version emphasizes Vipassana or insight. The text also often refers to 'bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs' instead of just male bhikkhus.
A section on Smṛtyupasthāna is found in various Tibetan and Chinese recensions of large Prajñāpāramitā sutras, such as the 25,000 line version translated by Edward Conze. This skeletal version of the Smṛtyupasthāna is incorporated into the larger sutra and thus appears as part of the Buddha's discourse to Subhuti. It only outlines specific practices for the contemplation of the body, the other three satipatthanas are simply enumerated.
VibhangaDharma-skandhaŚāriputr-ābhidharmaTheravāda Mahā-satipatṭhāna SuttaSarvāstivāda Smṛtyupasthāna SūtraEkāyana SūtraPrajñā-pāramitā
Body Parts of the bodyParts of the body, 6 elements4 elements, Food, Space, Oozing orifices, Death contemplationĀnāpānasati, 4 postures, Clear Comprehending, Parts of the body, 4 elements, Death contemplation4 postures, Clear Comprehending, Cutting off thought, Suppressing thought, Ānāpānasati, 4 jhāna similes, Perception of light, Basis of reviewing, Parts of the body, 6 elements, Death contemplationParts of the body, 4 elements, Oozing orifices, Death contemplation4 Postures, Comprehension, Ānāpānasati, 4 elements, Body parts, Death contemplation
Feelings Happy/pain/neutral, Carnal/spiritualHappy/pain/neutral, Bodily/Mental, Carnal/spiritual, Sensual/Non–sensualHappy/pain/neutral, Carnal/spiritualHappy/pain/neutral, Carnal/spiritualHappy/pain/neutral, Bodily/Mental, Carnal/spiritual, Sensual/Non–sensualHappy/pain/neutral, Carnal/spiritual, No mixed feelingsN/A
Mind Greedy, Angry, Deluded, Contracted, Exalted, Surpassed, Samādhi, ReleasedGreedy, Angry, Deluded, Contracted, Slothful, Small, Distracted, Quiet, Samādhi, Developed, ReleasedGreedy, Angry, Deluded, Contracted, Exalted, Surpassed, Samādhi, ReleasedGreedy, Angry, Deluded, Contracted, Exalted, Surpassed, Samādhi, ReleasedGreedy, Angry, Deluded, Defiled, Contracted, Small, Lower, Developed, Samādhi, ReleasedGreedy, Angry, Deluded, Affection, Attained, Confused, Contracted, Universal, Exalted, Surpassed, Samādhi, ReleasedN/A
DhammāHindrances, Factors of EnlightenmentHindrances, 6 Sense-Bases, Factors of EnlightenmentHindrances, 6 Sense-Bases, Factors of Enlightenment, Four Noble TruthsHindrances, Aggregates, 6 Sense-Bases, Factors of Enlightenment, Four Noble TruthsHindrances, 6 Sense-Bases, Factors of EnlightenmentHindrances, Factors of Enlightenment, 4 jhānasN/A

Interpretation and practice

Stage of practice leading to ''jhana''

According to Rupert Gethin, "he sutta is often read today as describing a pure form of insight meditation that bypasses calm meditation and the four absorptions." Yet, in the older Buddhist tradition, mindfulness aided in abandoning the five hindrances, which then leads into the first jhana. According to Gethin, the early Buddhist texts have "a broadly consistent vision" regarding meditation practice. Various practices lead to the development of the factors of awakening, which are not only the means to, but also the constituents of awakening.
Gethin, followed by Polak and Arbel, notes that there is a "definite affinity" between the bojjhaṅgā, the seven factors of awakening, and the four jhanas, which actualize the Buddhist practices aiming at calming the mind. According to Gethin, satipatthana and anapanasati are related to a formula that summarizes the Buddhist path to awakening as "abandoning the hindrances, establishing mindfulness, and developing the seven factors of awakening." This results in a "heightened awareness," "overcoming distracting and disturbing emotions," which are not particular elements of the path to awakening, but rather common disturbing and distracting emotions.
According to Sujato, samatha and vipassana are complementary elements of the Buddhist path. Satipatthana explicates mindfulness, the seventh limb of the eightfold path, and is to be understood as an integral part of this path.
Polak, elaborating on Vetter, notes that the onset of the first dhyana is described as a quite natural process, due to the preceding efforts to restrain the senses and the nurturing of wholesome states. According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas, describing how the samskharas are tranquilized:
There are a variety of ways that one could use the methods described in the including:
  1. Focus on a single method. The method most written about in the English language is that of mindfulness of breath.
  2. Practice the various methods individually in succession.
  3. Maintain breath mindfulness as a primary object while using other methods to address non-breath stimuli.
  4. Practice multiple methods either in tandem or in a context-driven manner.
According to Analāyo and Soma, writing from a traditional point of view, the Papañcasudani recommends a different satipaṭṭhāna depending on whether a person:
Based on these two dimensions the commentary's recommended personality-based satipaṭṭhāna is reflected in the grid shown at right.
Soma adds that all practitioners should also practice mindfulness of Postures and Clear Understanding, about which he writes: "The whole practice of mindfulness depends on the correct grasp of the exercises included in the two parts referred to here."

English commentaries