Why is Satipaṭṭhāna Not a Stand-Alone Practice? Bhante Dr. Gangodawila Chandima @BMSM Samadhi Vihara, Malaysia

 

1. What is the direct/only path to Nibbana?

Maggānaṭṭhaṅgiko seṭṭho saccānaṃ caturo padā

Virāgo seṭṭho dhammānaṃ divipadānaṃ ca cakkhumā 

(Dhammapada 273) 

Of all the paths the Eightfold Path is the best; of all the truths the Four Noble Truths are the best; of all things passionlessness is the best: of men the Seeing One (the Buddha) is the best. 

Eso'va maggo natthañño dassanassa visuddhiyā
Etaṃ hi tumhe paṭipajjatha mārassetaṃ pamohanaṃ

(Dhammapada 274)

This is the only path; there is none other for the purification of insight. Tread this path, and you will bewilder Mara.

“Ekāyano ayaṁ, bhikkhave, maggo sattānaṁ visuddhiyā, sokaparidevānaṁ samatikkamāya, dukkhadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya, ñāyassa adhigamāya, nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya, yadidaṁ cattāro satipaṭṭhānā.

(Satipaṭṭhānā Sutta, MN 10)

This is the only way, O bhikkhus, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely, the Four Arousings of Mindfulness.

2. The word Satipaṭṭhāna

Sati+paṭṭhāna (foundation) | Abhidhamma and Pali Commentaries

Sati+upaṭṭhāna (presence) | Only in the Suttas

3. Is Sati Mindfulness? (filling the mind?)

4. What is a better translation for "sati"?

5. Basics of Satipaṭṭhāna 

6. Minsconceptions of the the Practice of Satipaṭṭhāna 

7. Why Satipaṭṭhāna is not a stand-alone practice?

8. Burmese Vipassana Movement (19 the century)

In response to western colonization, theravada traditions in Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka were revitalized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They served as rallying sites in the fight against Western hegemony, providing traditional values and culture a voice. However, the Theravada tradition was also changed, with modifications legitimized by Pali scriptural texts. The Pali canon, ironically, became widely available as a result of western interest in those texts and the publications of the Pali Text Society.

Ven. Medawi (1728-1816), who published Vipassanā manuals, reignited interest in meditation in Myanmar (Burma) in the 18th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the real practice of meditation was re-invented in Theravada-countries, and simplified meditation techniques based on the Satipaṭṭhāna sutta, the Visuddhimagga, and other writings emphasizing Satipaṭṭhāna and bare insight were produced.

Ven. Medawi is Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk who is credited with being the first author of existing modern Vipassanā manuals and hence the first practitioner in the modern Vipassanā movement. Medawi's first manual was published in 1754. Medawi was severely critical of the Burmese mindset at the time, which did not value meditation and did not believe enlightenment was achievable owing to the fall of the Buddha's teachings.

-Ledi Sayadaw 

When Theravada Buddhism was affected by western modernism in the 19th century, several monks attempted to revive the Buddhist practice of meditation, which is where the Burmese Vipassanā movement gets its start. Ledi Sayadaw popularized Vipassanā meditation for lay people on the basis of the commentaries, teaching samatha and putting an emphasis on the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna to get Vipassanā (insight) into the three marks of existence.

- Mahasi Sayadaw

In the twentieth century, the "New Burmese Satipaṭṭhāna Method" developed by Mahasi Sayadaw gained widespread acceptance in traditionally Theravada countries. Westerners who studied under Burmese masters like Mahasi Sayadaw, S. N. Goenka, and others helped spread Vipassanā around the world. Others went to Thailand to learn from Buddhist monks and nuns who, while still supportive of the commentarial tradition, place more emphasis on combining samatha and Vipassanā.

9. American Vipassanā  Movement (19 the century)

Contemporary American Buddhist instructors such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, Ruth Denison, Shinzen Young, and Jack Kornfield are part of the "American Vipassanā movement."

Due to their broader training and critical approach to Buddhist texts, the majority of these instructors integrate the rigid Burmese approach with the Thai approach, as well as other Buddhist and non-Buddhist concepts and practices.While the New Burmese Method is based only on the Theravda Abhidhamma and the Visuddhimagga, western instructors tend to base their practice on personal experience as well as the suttas, which they approach textually.

10. Vipassanā Movement and Mindfulness Practice (1980's)

Since the 1980s, the Vipassanā movement has given way to the largely secularized "mindfulness" practice, which has origins in Zen and Vipassanā meditation and has surpassed Vipassanā meditation in popularity. Instead of Vipassanā, the core practice in the latter approach is mindfulness, defined as "the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally."

11. Is it necessary to read Visuddhimagga/Abhidhamma for my dhamma practice?

- samatha yānika (Visuddhimagga)

Jhāna is induced by samatha, and then jhāna is reflected upon with mindfulness, becoming the object of vipassanā, with the reflector realizing that jhāna is marked by the three characteristics.One who uses this method is referred to as a "tranquility worker"

- suddha-vipassanā-yānika (Visuddhimagga)

'one supported by bare insight', is the commentarial term for one who, without having attained any of the meditative absorptions Jhanas, has realized only by the support of insight Vipassana one or several of the supra-mundane paths.

12. The need for practicing the Noble Eightfold Path encompasses all other individual practices. If someone merely absorbs parts separately, the dhamma path to nibbana will not improve.