What is mindfulness, sati?


What is mindfulness, sati? There are many levels of sati. Sati is a sobhana
 
cetasika (beautiful mental factor) that arises with each sobhana citta. When
 
we are generous sati accompanies the kusala citta and it is non-forgetful of
 
kusala. When we observe síla sati accompanies the kusala citta. When
 
there are moments of calm, for example, when we have loving kindness,
 
there is sati, so that we are intent on other people’s happiness. Sati of
 
vipassana is of a different level and it has a different object. Sati of
 
vipassana is mindful of realities, it is mindful of one reality at a time which
 
appears now, through one of the six doors. We are usually living in the
 
world of conventional truth. When we, for example, look at a sunset we are
 
quite absorbed in what we perceive, we are lost in the shape and form and
 
in the details of things. We believe that what we perceive really exists. When
 
sati arises we wake up from our dreams. There is, for a short moment, non-
 
forgetfulness of whatever reality appears at that moment, be it kusala or
 
akusala, pleasant or unpleasant. We may believe that we should not think of
 
concepts, but thinking is a reality and sati can be aware of it. 
 
 
Sati arises when there are the right conditions for its arising. Association
 
with the good friend in Dhamma, listening to the Dhamma, considering it
 
thoroughly for oneself and knowing what the object of right understanding is
 
can condition the arising of sati. At the moment of sati there can be a
 
beginning of learning and noticing the characteristics of the different
 
realities which appear. Sati is not an aim in itself, right understanding
 
of realities is the goal. Just sati without the study of realities will not lead
 
to the growth of right understanding.
 
 
We hear sounds all day long; some are soft, some are loud, but most of the
 
time there is ignorance of realities. When there are conditions for sati it can
 
be aware of the characteristic of sound, a reality appearing through the
 
ears. At that moment we do not think of the quality of the sound or its
 
source. When sound appears, there must also be hearing, a reality that
 
experiences sound, at the same time. We may wonder how realities can be
 
known one at a time. Each citta and, thus, also the citta with sati can
 
experience only one object at a time. The characteristic of hearing may
 
appear to sati. Sati may be mindful of hearing so that there can be more
 
understanding of that characteristic. At another moment, not at the same
 
time, the characteristic of sound may appear to sati and then there will be
 
more understanding of it. Each moment of “study” with mindfulness is
 
extremely short. The reality which is there as object of study appears and
 
then it is gone, it is like a flash of lightning. There is no rule as to the
 
object sati is mindful of, there is no self who can direct sati to a
 
particular object.  We know in theory that the characteristic of sound is
 
quite different from the characteristic of hearing. We know that rupa does
 
not know anything and that nama experiences an object. However, the
 
difference between nama and rupa can be directly known through
 
mindfulness and study of their different characteristics when they appear.
 
That is why one needs courage to be mindful of realities over and over
 
again. Only at the first stage of insight knowledge (vipassana nana) the
 
difference between nama and rupa is clearly known. If the difference
 
between these two kinds of realities has not been realized yet their true
 
nature cannot be known, they cannot be known as impermanent and not
 
self.


Topic 225