The Satipaṭṭhānasutta; Pāli Text, English Translation and Commentary by Pemasiri Thera; Ditrich

Tamara Ditrich [+–]

University of Ljubljana

Tamara Ditrich has taught and researched at several universities in Australia and Europe, and is currently Professor of Indian Studies at the University of Ljubljana. Her areas of interest include Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit language, and Vedic philology, while her current research focuses mainly on Theravāda Buddhism.

This book is a new contribution on the subject of mindfulness, having at its core the classic Buddhist meditation text the Satipaṭṭhānasutta (“Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness”) in the original Pāli, translated here into English alongside the comments and explanations of the text by Pemasiri Thera, a contemporary meditation master and scholar from the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka. Pemasiri Thera has richly commented on the ancient text, drawing on the larger Tipiṭaka and its commentaries, and provided helpful elucidations of the key concepts from the sutta (awareness, mindfulness, contemplation, etc.) as well as offered new and alternative interpretations and concrete experiential examples from meditation practice. Tamara Ditrich compiled, edited, and translated the Satipaṭṭhānasutta with Pemasiri Thera’s commentary into English and in turn she also contributed her own comments in extensive notes, linking the Thera’s commentary to the Theravāda Buddhist sources and highlighting those aspects that enrich or throw new light on the standard approaches.

The book presents a comprehensive guide for understanding mindfulness by situating it within the larger Theravāda doctrinal framework in a way accessible to contemporary readers. The book will appeal to general and scholarly readers interested in any aspects of the theory and practice of mindfulness, Buddhist teachings or Pāli studies.

Introduction

Chapter 1

Introducing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (cattāro satipaṭṭhānā) [+–]

Chapter 1 introduces the main topic, with a special focus on making precise what mindfulness (sati) is, discussing its foundational role in Buddhist meditation and within the entire Buddhist doctrinal framework. Also explored are basic concepts related to mindfulness, such as attention, wise attention, clear comprehension and right mindfulness, clarifying linkages and differences. Then the four main areas of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhānas), are presented, namely, (1) the body, (2) feelings, (3) the mind and (4) mental phenomena, along with how they interrelate and are situated in either calm or insight meditation. Subsequent chapters take up each of these in turn.

Chapter 2

Contemplation of the Body (kāyānupassanā) [+–]

Chapter 2 presents the contemplation of the body (kāya); a major focus here is on the mindfulness of breathing. Special attention is paid to the interpretation of an enigmatic recurring passage in the Satipaṭṭhānasutta, instructing meditators to approach contemplation in different ways (i.e., contemplating either internally or externally or both, while paying attention to the arising or passing away of phenomena or both). Following on from this, other areas of the contemplation of the body are discussed: mindfulness of ways of movement (i.e., walking, standing, sitting, lying down) and clear comprehension of bodily activities. The last section discusses areas of mindfulness less practised today: the troublesomeness of the body, the four material elements along with an understanding of materiality in Buddhism and, finally, comments on contemplation of dead bodies.

Chapter 3

Contemplation of Feelings (vedanānupassanā) [+–]

Chapter 3 focuses on the contemplation of feeling (vedanā), highlighting the important role of mindfulness of feeling in meditation and outlining its central position within Buddhist doctrinal models. The three modalities of feeling are introduced (i.e., pleasant, unpleasant and neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant) and how they are related to both the body and mind, and significantly, how they are linked to craving which is viewed as the very root of suffering.

Chapter 4

Contemplation of the Mind (cittānupassanā) [+–]

Chapter 4 is about the contemplation of the mind (citta) with a treatment of the concept of mind in Buddhism, the links to perception, thought and different mental states. The various Pāḷi words for the mind or consciousness are examined (i.e., citta, viññāṇa, mano) and their specific meanings discussed. What follows is the presentation of the sixteen different types of mind which, according to the sutta, the practitioner should contemplate on, focusing especially on those that arise with (or without) the three main roots of suffering, namely, desire, aversion and delusion.

Chapter 5

Contemplation of Phenomena (dhammānupassanā) [+–]

Chapter 5, the most extensive of all, takes up the contemplation of mental and physical phenomena (dhamma). Firstly, the five hindrances (i.e., sense desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt) that commonly arise in meditation practice are introduced, the causes and conditions for their arising are outlined, and their relation to the five faculties and the five factors of meditative absorption (jhāna) are discussed. Then the five aggregates of clinging are comprehensively examined and how, if not mindfully observed, they allow the defilements to arise and proliferate. A large section is dedicated to the sense spheres and the fetters (saṃyojana) that arise within them. The differences between fetters, defilements (kilesa) and taints (āsava) are discussed and then each of the ten fetters is separately examined. This chapter also includes important discussions on the contemplation of the seven factors of awakening which, when fully developed, are the foundation for liberation. The last section of this chapter presents the well-known four noble truths, paying special attention to the noble eightfold path.

Chapter 6

Conclusion [+–]

Chapter 6 presents a commentary of the concluding passage of the sutta about the four foundations of mindfulness and the time required for the meditator to reach the final liberation.

Reviews

The book is an impressive one, it not only contains extensive new material on a vital area of Buddhist meditation practice and theory but manages to link together contemporary commentary with traditional analysis and scholarship. This combination achieves a delicate but unusual balance between respecting the authenticity of the tradition, but nevertheless adding sympathetic analyses, commentary, insights and above all, practical comments.
Detailed explanations from an authentic non-Western source have been ‘curated’ by being translated extremely carefully and then annotated to make the content useful for both academic and non-academic purposes. Without the footnotes and amplifications the work would be only a traditional presentation, however, by adding the technical terms and checking rather widely with traditional commentary and explicatory material there is a solid grounding for the comments and insights presented in the text. This opens intriguing and novel avenues of inquiry while at the same time offering multiple new insights into previous work.
This is a significant new addition to publications in this area where new publications are frequently but re-hashings of earlier contributions. In contrast, this cumulation of comments and added material presents areas for fruitful (re-)examination and exploration, and does so in a way that is accessible to the two major but disparate groups interested in this traditional material: (1) academics and serious students approaching the original classical text (and commentaries) and (2) the much larger international group of users of meditation-related materials from the Buddhist traditions.
This is a wonderful resource and a potential text-book and reference work for students in this area.
Dr. Royce Wiles, Research Associate, New Zealand South Asia Centre, University of Canterbury

Buddhist Studies

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The Satipaṭṭhānasutta

Pāli Text, English Translation and Commentary by Pemasiri Thera

Tamara Ditrich [+–]

University of Ljubljana

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