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911 sati emergency video. Right remembering ("mindfulness") vs. How most teachers teach

 As I hit "publish" on this post, the clock strikes 9:11pm.

911 - the phone number you call in an emergency.

And we've had a global disaster on how most teachers seem to teach "mindfulness" for a long time now. 

Elephant standing under Bodhi Tree with Bodhi leaves falling


Elephants possess one of the most remarkable long-term memories in the animal kingdom. Their large hippocampus — the brain region associated with memory — allows them to remember individual faces, places, and experiences across decades. Elephants have been observed recognizing other elephants and humans they haven't seen in over 20 years. They remember the locations of water sources across vast territories, recall migration routes passed down through generations, and can identify the calls of hundreds of other elephants. Matriarchs in particular serve as living libraries for their herds, carrying memories of past droughts, predator threats, and safe refuges that prove critical to their herd's survival. This extraordinary memory is inseparable from their deep social bonds and emotional intelligence — they mourn their dead, revisit the bones of lost loved ones, and never seem to forget a kindness or a harm.


Buddha's definition of Right Sati (remembering and applying Dharma)

SN 48.10  (has standard right sati definition bolted on to the sati-indriya definition here which emphasizes memory)

Katamañca, bhikkhave, satindriyaṃ?And what is the faculty of rememberfulness?
Idha, bhikkhave, ariyasāvako satimā hoti paramena satinepakkena samannāgato, cirakatampi cirabhāsitampi saritā anussaritā.It’s when a noble-one's-disciple is rememberful. They have utmost rememberfulness and circumspection, and can remember and recall what was said and done long ago.
Standard right sati formula is 
kāye kāyā-(a)nu-passī viharati
He lives continuously seeing the body as a body [as it truly is].
vedanāsu vedanā-(a)nu-passī viharati
He lives continuously seeing sensations as sensations [as it truly is].
citte cittā-(a)nu-passī viharati
He lives continuously seeing a mind as a mind [as it truly is].
dhammesu dhammā-(a)nu-passī viharati
He lives continuously seeing ☸Dharma as ☸Dharma [as it truly is].
(… elided refrain from each way…)
[in each of the 4 ways of remembering]:
ātāpī sampajāno satimā,
he is ardent 🏹, he has lucid discerning 👁, he remembers 🐘 [to apply relevant ☸Dharma].
vineyya loke abhijjhā-do-manassaṃ;
he should remove greed and distress regarding the world.








How most teachers teach sati ("mindfulness")


Doesn't resemble the Buddha's definition at all.

It's almost the complete opposite!

lucid-discerning of Dhamma in present moment requires discernment, wisdom, judgment, choice, memory of past.

 Look at all those bodhi leaves float by the choiceless awareness monk and elephant in the video.

 

And that is the still the prevalent understanding of "mindfulness",

including even some pretty well known monastics.

Is this not a tragic emergency?






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