4Foundations of mindfulness(clarification needed)
Although the explanation of 4foundations is simple, I am not sure if I understand it correctly.
“Awareness of the mind in the mind”. Why is it not said just “Awareness of the mind.” ? If they are not the same thing, what would make them different?
Also, “awareness of phenomena of the mind in the mind”. I need the same clarification.
I also need to understand the difference between awareness of “objects of the mind(phenomena)” and awareness of “the mind” itself. Everything the mind perceives is an object. Isn’t it? So when we say “awareness of the mind” we are actually referring to its objects. So what is the difference?
Please either explain to me or introduce me a good video or book that targets my questions.
Thank you.
level 1
this short explanation with sutta references clears up many of the misconceptions on the topic:
https://lucid24.org/tped/l/lll/index.html#8.7
and this one:
https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2023/09/wagging-dhamma-kn-ud-110-bahiya-sutta.html
explains why 4th frame Dhamma is the Buddha's teaching that leads to nirvana, not "phenomena", "things", or "qualities".
Thank you for the link. I just read few pages of it awhile ago and found its language straight forward and direct to the point. It has some wit also in some parts that i found helpful. :)
Although reading all these different translations and their interpretation I am getting more and more confused now which is the correct one…
In previous translations that I read ,the second foundation was introduces as awareness of feelings. In your link it is awareness of sensations. It just made my whole previous understanding questionnable. Sensation and feeling are not the same in my understanding. From what I read before, I got the understanding it is talking about feelings that come to heart which can affect the mind (such as likes and dislikes, hatred, jealousy etc). Now this translation is talking about sensation which is completely different thing…
Moreover when it comes to 4th foundation, other translations say “awareness of the phenomena” or “awareness of the objects of the mind”. I understand the link you shared is saying “awareness of the dhamma” and you are saying this is the correct translation. But the funny confusing thing I encountered is that someone else also shared a link in this post which translates the 4th foundation just as exactly as “awareness of dhamma”. BUT the thing is that link says dhamma word here IS Not referring to Buddha teachings. In contrary, the one you shared is saying Dhamma word IS referring to buddha teachings…
“awareness of the dhamma” and you are saying this is the correct translation
Dhamma is not a translation of the word the buddha used, "Dhamma". It's leaving it untranslated. The term 'Dhamma' is a highly ambiguous word, so the best practice is to leave it untranslated and leave it to the listener to disambiguate, just as the Buddha intended. When translators force feed their INTERPRETATION on you with their translation of the term 'dhamma' (into 'phenomena' or something else wrong), then it can have serious consequences.
There are a few cases where the term 'dhamma' of 4th satipatthana fits better with 'phenomena' rather than Dhamma [Teaching], but those are in the vast minority if you look at all the passages where tha t occur. The vast majority of the cases Dhamma [the Buddha's teaching that leads to nirvana' ] is the much better fit, and a fair number of the instances both meanings [phenomena and teaching] would work.
Which is how Bodhi and other translators can justify to themself their wrong translation.
But if you leave Dhamma untranslated as I and a few others have done, then you are blameless because you represented the Buddha with 100% accuracy and intent.
How do I know I'm right in interpreting Dhamma of 4th satipatthana Buddha's teaching that leads to nirvana? Look at the last 4 instructions of the 16 steps of breath meditation, which are explicitly said to represent the 4th frame of satipatthana. They are:
13) anicca: impermanence
14) virāga: dispassion
15) nirodha: cessation
16) patinissagga: release
The last two are a synonym for the third noble truth, cessation of suffering, nirvana.
See Dhamma cakka pavattana sutta, under 3rd noble truth:
What is cessation of suffering?
yo tassa yeva tanha ya asesa
virāga, nirodho. patinissaggo, mutti anālayo.
It's the complete dispassion, cessation, release of craving.
The 4th frame of satipatthana in the 16 steps of breath meditation explicitly are describing Dhamma anu passana, the "seeing" of Dharma (not "awareness" of "phenomena").
In previous translations that I read ,the second foundation was introduces as awareness of feelings. In your link it is awareness of sensations. It just made my whole previous understanding questionnable.
Always question authority. Until you're fully awakened, everything is hearsay, and we can only keep researching and updating our understanding.
The authoritative understanding of Vedana is SN 36.
https://lucid24.org/sn/sn36/index.html
OUt of the 31 suttas in that SN collection, these suttas all say anatomical body is the cause of vedanasuttas SN 36.4, SN 36.6, SN 36.7, SN 36.12, SN 36.13
3 types of vedana can arise at the 6 sense doors (eyes, ears... mind).
Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.
Your first contact is the physical sensation, and then a mental 'feeling' interprets that sensation contacted at the sense door as either pleasant, painful, or neutral.
SN 48.37 states that
https://lucid24.org/sn/main/sn48/index.html#48.37
vedana includes both a physical and mental component.
But vedana arises from the body, so the sensation comes first.
The problem with translating vedana as 'feeling', is many people, as you've done, wrongly misunderstand it to be purely a psychological mental reaction, or pure emotion devoid of physical sensation.
vedana as 'sensation' makes more clear the physical origin.
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