The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: A Very Brief Presentation

The Buddhist teaching of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness was first set out in the Satipattana Sutra as part of the large collection of texts known as the Tripataka. These texts, that purport to be the words of the Buddha, were first written down in the first century BCE in northern India. The four foundations of mindfulness are one of the sources of the modern mindfulness movement that has become such a cultural force over the past decade.

Modern mindfulness is often confused with feeling better. Time magazine periodically runs a cover story on mindfulness that shows an attractive young woman serenely hovering above all worry. She is the same iconic image that is used to sell everything from diamonds to deodorant. Now the image of youth, ease and beauty is offered in the service of selling the latest way to be happy and calm.

It is true that we all like to feel good and that the practice of mindfulness can lead to an improvement in our appreciation of our life. But the original mindfulness teachings were offered as a way for helping us see into the true nature of human experience and thereby find our freedom.

The first three foundations of mindfulness are: 1) awareness of breath and body, 2) awareness of the rising of the gut reactions of like, dislike and neutral, and 3) awareness of mental states. The fourth foundation of mindfulness is experiencing the Buddhist teachings through our own experience. This points to one unique aspect of Buddhist teachings; they are not presented as doctrine that we are supposed to believe but rather they are pointers to help us move closer to our own experience.

All Buddhist teaching, as I suppose all spiritual teaching, is a path to help us see into the true nature of reality. The ultimate purpose of the study and practice of the four foundations is not about feeling more comfortable, but about being free. When we see clearly what is so, everything may remain the same, but we are free right where we are.

Practicing the four foundations, we can begin to see for ourselves that everything is continually arising and passing way—the weather, our feelings, the mountains, and even ourselves.   We can also notice that dissatisfaction is unavoidable—sometimes we like what is happening in and around us, and sometimes we don’t. We also can realize that even the person we think we are is constantly changing—we too are of the nature of appearing and disappearing.

We can also know for ourselves that human life is shot through with grace—that even in the midst of difficulty and dailyness there is the possibility of seeing through the veil of ordinariness. And maybe, just for a small moment, we forget ourselves and remember that we have never been separate from the mysterious source that sustains and holds us.