An insincere inclination inhibits the development of satiptthana. Right understanding can know whether we are sincere or not, whether there is development in the right way or not. Do we take our intellectual understanding for direct knowledge of realities and do we believe that there is nothing more to be developed? This will hinder the right practice of the eightfold Path. There are many misconceptions which can hinder its development. Do we have certain fixed ideas about sati, ideas of what it should be like? Do we, without noticing it, confuse sati with an idea of calm and peace? Some people find sati “a very special experience”, but then there is clinging. Sati is only a reality, not something special, and we should not hold on to it. Are we sure about the characteristic of sati or are we merely thinking of a concept of sati? In the beginning there cannot be clear understanding of any reality, and thus, when we think that we know sati as it is we may mislead ourselves. When we are too preoccupied with what sati is like, we forget to be aware of all realities that are appearing already, such as seeing, sound or hearing.

We may have prejudices against particular objects and we may not like to be aware of them. Someone thought that when she was practising satipatthana she should not recognize her parents or friends, or look at her watch, since she was then thinking of concepts. Are we doing the same, do we want to avoid thinking of concepts? We were walking around the great Stupa of Anuradhapura, the “Ruvanvelisaya”, and then there was thunder. The rainy season had begun. I was paying attention to the sound of thunder and thinking of a concept. I tried to experience just sound, but the concept of thunder seemed to come up immediately. What was really happening? I was thinking of a concept and trying to avoid thinking of it, because I wanted to know just sound. We should not resist being aware of the reality that appears. When we think of thunder it does not matter; the thinking can be studied in order to know it as only a reality that is conditioned. At another time, when we do not try to focus on sound, sound may appear and then it can be known as only a reality that arises because of the appropriate conditions. There is no self who can cause the arising of any reality and we can verify this in daily life. We should not try to live only in the world of ultimate truth because then there is clinging again. We cannot change what appears now.