Skip to main content

The slurpšŸ„¤ for sati (remembering, "mindfulness") has an implicit direct object

This is an extremely important lesson. 

Hardly anyone teaches this thoroughly and completely correctly, so pay very close attention.

When you see the word 'sati' in the suttas, it means 'remembering' (or the more common translation of 'mindfulness').

In the famous Nike sneaker commercial, they had a popular slogan "just do it."
You should be asking "what" is "it" I should do?
The motif of their commercial campaign, is that one should stop making excuses, procrastinating, and 'just do' that important thing you've always wanted to do or need to do, like exercise or fight injustice.
It's a great mantra, and really resonated for people.
(Nike corporation's real message though, was to use the catchy idealistic mantra to make you,  "just buy our overpriced 200$ sneakers that were produced in China for 1$ by child slave laborers working 14 hours a day without pay so we can gorge ourselves on the multimillion dollar stock options and bonuses.")

When I was in calculus (math) class, my teacher used to say this a lot about derivatives. "We're deriving that with respect to WHAT?"

Similarly, when you see "sati, mindfulness" in suttas, you should be asking this:

What am I supposed to 'remember' (sati)? 
What am I supposed to be 'mindful' of?

Just as in English, if I say "go", it really means:
[someone] goes [some place].

[some place] in this example is a 'direct object'.

di·rect ob·ject

noun: direct object; plural noun: direct objects

    a noun phrase denoting a person or thing that is the recipient of the action of a transitive verb, for example,  the dog,  in "Jimmy fed the dog."


Sati 'slurps' in Dhamma and Sampajano

In the EBT suttas, whenever you see 'sati'  in isolation, what you should be doing in your mind is slurpšŸ„¤ in the full phrase intended with the single word 'sati':

[I] remember [Dharma] and [I lucidly discern that Dharma].

If there is no specific dharma instruction in that context, then you slurp in the 4spšŸ˜ formula as your default direct object of 'sati'.

Right view (sampajano) always rides shot gun with 'sati'!
The 4sp formula recursively includes, 4 times for each frame,  S&SšŸ˜šŸ’­  (the second 's' is sampajano). 

Sati = Remembers Dharma and lucidly discerns it.



Appendix:


proof  that 'dhamma' is direct object of sati and sampajano rides shotgun with sati

(implied: pamojja and pīti would result from contact with inspiring monks)
(0. šŸ‘‚ BhikkhÅ«naį¹ƒ dhammaį¹ƒ sutvā)
0. šŸ‘‚ listen to Dhamma [teaching] from a monk [and memorize it]
(1. šŸ˜ Sati: taį¹ƒ Dhammaį¹ƒ anus-sarati anu-vitakketi)
1. šŸ˜ that Dhamma [teaching] (he) recollects and thinks about
(2. šŸ’­ Dhamma-vicaya: taį¹ƒ Dhammaį¹ƒ paƱƱāya, pa-vicinati pa-vicarati pari-vÄ«maį¹ƒsam-āpajjati )
2. šŸ’­ that Dhamma discerning; he discriminates, evaluates, investigates
(3. šŸ¹ VÄ«riya: āraddhaį¹ƒ hoti vÄ«riyaį¹ƒ a-sallÄ«naį¹ƒ.)
3. šŸ¹ his aroused vigor is not-slackening
(4. šŸ˜ PÄ«ti: Āraddha-vÄ«riyassa uppajjati pÄ«ti nir-āmisā,)
4. šŸ˜ his aroused vigor leads to arising of rapture not-carnal (of jhana)
(5. šŸŒŠ Passaddhi: PÄ«ti-man-assa, kāyo-pi passambhati, cittam-pi passambhati )
5. šŸŒŠ with enraptured-mind, his body becomes pacified, his mind becomes pacified
(6. šŸŒ„ Samādhi: Passaddha-kāyassa sukhino, cittaį¹ƒ samādhiyati.)
6. šŸŒ„ with pacified body, he is in pleasure, mind becomes undistractable and lucid.
(7. šŸ‘ Upekkha: so tathā-samāhitaį¹ƒ cittaį¹ƒ, sādhukaį¹ƒ ajjh-upekkhitā hoti)
7. šŸ‘ he of such undistractable & lucid mind, thoroughly looks-upon-it-with-equanimity


 sampajano (corresponds to paƱƱa) above.

  S&SšŸ˜šŸ’­ is recursively defined in the STED 4spšŸ˜ satipattana formula
Remember, if there is no other more specific Dharma designated by context, then the 4spšŸ˜ formula is what you slurp in and use as the direct object of 'sati'.


Questions and responses to this article


Someone asked a good question on the difference between sati and saƱƱa (perceptions), and differences between right and wrong sati:


Ven. Kumara makes a good suggestion that I agree with:

(I'll include the change to my sutta translation in SN 46.3 on next website update)
Kumara BhikkhuJune 28, 2020 at 8:25 PM

taį¹ƒ Dhammaį¹ƒ anus-sarati anu-vitakketi

My choice: repeatedly remembers that Dhamma, repeated thinks about that Dhamma.




Comments

  1. Kumara BhikkhuJune 28, 2020 at 8:25 PM

    taį¹ƒ Dhammaį¹ƒ anus-sarati anu-vitakketi

    My choice: repeatedly remembers that Dhamma, repeated thinks about that Dhamma.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha
Post a Comment
Read more

SN 48.40 Ven. Thanissaro comments on Ven. Sunyo's analysis

This was Ven. Sunyo's analysis of SN 48.40: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2024/05/exciting-news-honest-ebt-scholars-like.html And here is Ven. Thanissaro's response to that analysis: I think there’s a better way to tackle the issue of SN 48:40 than by appealing to the oldest layers of commentarial literature. That way is to point out that SN 48:40, as we have it, doesn’t pass the test in DN 16 for determining what’s genuine Dhamma and what’s not. There the standard is, not the authority of the person who’s claiming to report the Buddha’s teachings, but whether the teachings he’s reporting are actually in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma that you know. So the simple fact that those who have passed the Buddha’s teachings down to us say that a particular passage is what the Buddha actually taught is not sufficient grounds for accepting it. In the case of the jhānas—the point at issue here— we have to take as our guide the standard formula for the jhānas, a
Post a Comment
Read more

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex
Post a Comment
Read more