On Mindfulness 1
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On mindfulness 1 Cultivating the heart-mind On mindfulness by Patrick Kearney Introduction “Mindfulness” is a key concept in the teaching of the Buddha, and has been central to all Buddhist traditions for the past two and a half millennia. Mindfulness has also become central to a number of contemporary therapies, and is considered by some to be a new discovery. But what is mindfulness? The term is variously defined, in both the field of psychology and in Buddhist traditions. In contemporary Buddhist discourse, for example, mindfulness is often spoken of as awareness. This seems odd, however, since the Buddha already had a word for awareness, viññāṇa, so why would he need another? But if mindfulness is not awareness, what is it? And what is its relationship to awareness? We find a variety of definitions of mindfulness among contemporary Theravāda1 authorities. Nyanaponika Thera, for example, defines mindfulness as “a kind of attentiveness that … is good, skilful or right (kusala).”2 Bhikkhu Bodhi defines it as “focused awareness applied to immediate experience in both its subjective and objective factors.”3 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu sees it as “the ability to keep something in mind.”4 Ñāṇavīra Thera says it is “general recollectedness, not being scatterbrained,”5 and he links it with “reflexion,” knowing what one knows or does as one knows or does it.6 Since mindfulness is so important to both Buddhism and psychology, and since there are so many variations in the way the term is understood, it may be useful to take a fresh look at mindfulness to clarify its meaning. The approach in this essay is to seek the meaning of mindfulness by examining some of the ways in which the Buddha and his students use the term. We will begin with a definition, and go on to examine the relationship between mindfulness on the one hand and memory and wisdom on the other. From there we will look at the Buddha speaking of how mindfulness is 1 Theravāda (“the teaching of the elders”) is the form of Buddhism found in Sri Lanka and South East Asia. This is the tradition that has given rise to the modern insight movement. 2 Nyanaponika Thera. The heart of Buddhist meditation. London: Rider & Company, 1969: 9. 3 Bhikkhu Bodhi. The connected discourses of the Buddha. A translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000: 1506. 4 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. The wings to awakening. An anthology from the Pāli canon. Barre, Massachusetts: Dhamma Dana Publications, 1998: 72. 5 Ñāṇavīra Thera. Clearing the path. Writings of Ñāṇavīra Thera (1960-1965). Colombo: Path Press, 1987: 155. 6 Ñāṇavīra Thera (1987): 350. Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 2 established, how it is lost, and finally, how it is cultivated. By seeing mindfulness in action, so to speak, we may gain a more rounded picture of what it is. What is mindfulness? The word “mindfulness” as the standard translation of the Pāli7 word “sati” comes from T. W. Rhys Davids, the great nineteenth century pioneer of Pāli studies. What does “mindfulness” as an English word suggest? The OED defines “mindful” as “taking heed or care; being conscious or aware,” and “mindless” as “unintelligent, stupid; … thoughtless, heedless, careless.” Mindfulness implies awareness, but more than awareness; it also suggests both care and intelligence. The Pāli word “sati” literally means “memory.” Bhikkhu Bodhi says that sati comes from a root meaning “to remember,” and he adds that “as a mental factor it signifies presence of mind, attentiveness to the present, rather than the faculty of memory regarding the past.”8 Mindfulness, then, is the act of remembering the present, rather than the past; keeping the present in mind. But does this mean that the past is excluded from mindfulness? Not according to Venerable Ānanda,9 who described the mindfulness of the mature practitioner in this way: She has mindfulness; possessing supreme mindfulness [sati] and discrimination [nepakka], recalling and recollecting what was done and said long ago. (Sekha Sutta M53)10 Mindfulness here is linked to memory, in its normal sense of remembering the past, and to wisdom. Why is memory of the past so important to mindfulness? And why should memory be linked to wisdom? After all, a fundamental principle of contemporary Buddhist practice is the necessity for the practitioner to remain firmly in the present rather than being distracted by thoughts of past and future. This is neatly summed up in the slogan, “Be here now.” Then why is memory important? A hint of this may be found in an incident I witnessed while teaching at a Buddhist gathering. Some mornings we saw a bird sitting on a branch just outside the glass window of the main hall. Suddenly the bird would fly toward the window, crash into it, and stagger back to its branch. It would resume its vigil, then at some point fly again into the window, crash, and stagger back to its branch. And so on. It seemed that in the morning the light was such that the bird could see its own reflection in the glass, and perhaps perceiving this as a rival bird would fly across to challenge the 7 Pāli is the scriptural language of Theravāda Buddhism and the earliest Indian language in which the teaching of the Buddha and his immediate circle is recorded. 8 Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed). Abhidhammattha Sangaha. A comprehensive manual of abhidhamma. Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Edition, 2000: 86. 9 The Buddha’s personal attendant for the last twenty years of his life, and subsequently one of the most important Buddhist teachers. 10 The translations used in this essay are based on those of Bhikkhu Bodhi, but with some modifications. Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 3 Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 2 Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 3 trespasser. Now, clearly the bird had awareness. It was “in the present,” it was “here- &-now,” for otherwise it could not have seen and reacted to its reflection. However, we can be confident that the bird was lacking mindfulness. Why? Because it never learned from its experience. What do we mean by “experience” when, for example, we say, “He is an experienced carpenter,” or “She is very experienced in sorting out problems of this nature.” Experience refers to accumulated knowledge, which in turn implies an ability to learn from the past. This suggests that a present encounter which is informed by the past has a different quality to a present encounter which is innocent of any influence from the past. What’s the nature of this difference? I’m suggesting that whatever the difference is, that’s where we will uncover the nature of mindfulness. Let us explore this issue further using a small section of Mahāsīhanāda Sutta (Greater discourse on the lion’s roar M12) as our text. Here the Buddha, at this time an old man of 80, is under attack from a disgruntled former follower and is forced to defend his authority as a teacher. The discourse is addressed to his close disciple Sāriputta, revered by the tradition as foremost in wisdom among the Buddha’s students and himself an old man. Towards the end of his discourse the Buddha comes to the subject of mindfulness and wisdom, and its relationship to age. Mindfulness and lucidity Sāriputta, there are certain samaṇas and brāhmaṇas11 whose doctrine and view is this: “While this good man is still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life, so long is he perfect in the lucidity of his wisdom. But when he is old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, and come to the last stage, being eighty, ninety, or a hundred years old, then the lucidity of his wisdom is lost.” But it should not be seen in this way. I am now old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, and come to the last stage: my years have turned eighty. Now suppose I had four students, each with a life span of a hundred years, perfect in mindfulness [sati], retentiveness [gati], memory [dhiti] and lucidity of wisdom [paññā-veyyattiya]. … Suppose they continuously asked me about the four establishments of mindfulness [satipaṭṭhāna]12 and that I answered them when asked. Suppose they remembered each answer of mine, never asked a secondary question, and never paused except to eat, drink, ... piss, shit and rest … 11 Samaṇas (roughly meaning “philosophers” in the classical Greek sense) and brāhmaṇas (the hereditary Vedic priesthood) together constituted the religious/philosophical elite of the Buddha’s time. The Buddha himself was a samaṇa. 12 The four establishments of mindfulness constitute a discrete way of practice in the Buddha’s teaching, centring on the cultivation of mindfulness. When contemporary practitioners refer to “insight meditation,” they are referring to these four establishments used as the basis for a meditation technique. Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 4 Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 3 Cultivating the heart-mind Perth, July 2009 Patrick Kearney On mindfulness 4 The Tathāgata’s dharma13 teachings, his explanations of the detailed aspects of dharma and his replies to questions would not end before those four students of mine would be dead at the end of their hundred years. Sāriputta, even if you have to carry me about on a bed, there will be no change in the lucidity of the Tathāgata’s14 wisdom. The Buddha’s authority is under attack, and this authority is based on his spiritual accomplishments and abilities.