Revised January 26, 2019; June 6, 2022
You may want to read the post: “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – Structure“, which explains the basic layout of this long
Revised January 26, 2019; June 6, 2022
You may want to read the post: “Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta – Structure“, which explains the basic layout of this long sutta. You can read it before or after reading this post.
1. First we need to figure out what “sati” means. Bear with me as I use some key Pāli words because it is important to understand them correctly. Things will become clear as we proceed below. Again, first, try to read the post through without clicking on links, and then come back and read any relevant other posts as needed.
- Sati is a “good” mental factor (sōbhana cetasika). Therefore, “sati” arises only in moral thoughts (kusala citta), and DOES NOT arise in akusala citta. As discussed in “Cetasika (Mental Factors)”, “good cetasika” do not arise in akusala citta (similarly, “bad cetasika” do not arise in kusala citta).
- There is no “asati” cetasika. Therefore, the word “asati” is NEVER used as the opposite of this “sati“, which is a “good cetasika”.
2. However, there is another “mundane” meaning for “sati“, which is “attention” or “mindfulness”. Therefore, one must be able to figure out which meaning is to be used in a given context (depending on the subject matter).
- If one is not paying attention to the task at hand, then one is acting with “asati“, without being mindful of what one is doing or contemplating.
- That way one can clearly see the two different meanings of “sati“.
- Of course, in Satipaṭṭhāna, one is being mindful, but one MUST also know the deeper meaning too, in order to figure out what to be mindful about.
3. We can clarify the mundane meaning with the following examples: A suicide bomber has to pay close attention to wiring up 