Vedanānupassanā — Nine Ways of Attending to the Nature of Feelings (Exercises 7-15 in Satipaṭṭhāna Practices) Reflections by Bhante Dr. Chandima

                  

2. Vedanānupassanā Satipaṭṭhāna

(Section on Attending to the nature of Feelings as Mindfulness of the Feelings)

2.1 Kathañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vedanāsu vedanānupassī viharati?

And how, monks, does a bhikkhu dwell contemplating the nature of feelings in feelings?

1. Sukha-Vedanā (Basic/default Pleasant Feeling)

Sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a pleasant feeling, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a pleasant feeling.”

• You drink your first warm coffee in the morning and feel a gentle sense of comfort.
  

2.  Dukkha-Vedanā (Basic/default Painful Feeling)

Dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a painful feeling, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a painful feeling.”

• You accidentally hit your toe on the corner of a table. Pain arises sharply.

3. Adukkhamasukha-Vedanā (Basic/default Neutral Feeling)

Adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, he/she completely understands:

“I feel neutral.”

• You sit in your chair during work and feel neither comfort nor discomfort—just ordinary.

4. Sāmisa-Sukha (Pleasant Feeling in regard to material things/6 pleasures)

Sāmisaṃ vā sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “sāmisaṃ sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a pleasant feeling in regard to the six sensual pleasures with specific sources, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a sensual, pleasant feeling.”

• You bite into your favourite dessert and feel immediate enjoyment from taste and sweetness.

5. Nirāmisa-Sukha (Pleasant Feeling in regard to renunciation)

Nirāmisaṃ vā sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “nirāmisaṃ sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a pleasant feeling in regard to renunciation, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a non-sensual pleasant feeling.”

• You decide not to respond to a hurtful message even though you feel triggered. Later in the day, you notice a gentle inner joy — the lightness of not creating conflict, not being driven by anger, and knowing you protected your peace.

6. Sāmisa-Dukkha (Painful Feeling in regard to material things/6 pleasures)

Sāmisaṃ vā dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “sāmisaṃ dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a painful feeling in regard to the six sensual pleasures with specific sources, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a sensual painful feeling.”

• You smell something rotten, or hear someone shout harshly at you, and feel discomfort or hurt. Or: You drop your new phone and feel a painful “oh no!” sensation of worldly loss.

7. Nirāmisa-Dukkha ( Painful Feeling in reagrd to renunciation)

Nirāmisaṃ vā dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “nirāmisaṃ dukkhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a painful feeling in regard to renunciation, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a non-sensual painful feeling.”

• You stop scrolling social media at night and go to bed early to develop discipline. For a few nights, you feel restless, bored, and uncomfortable because your mind misses stimulation. This discomfort is not harmful — it comes from withdrawing from craving.

8. Sāmisa-Adukkhamasukha (Neutral Feeling in regard to material things/6 pleasures)

Sāmisaṃ vā adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “sāmisaṃ adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a neutral feeling in regard to the six sensual pleasures with specific sources, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a sensual neutral feeling.”

• You hear a sound in the background—like air-conditioning or distant traffic—that doesn’t feel good or bad. Or: You touch an object that is neither warm nor cold.

9. Nirāmisa-Adukkhamasukha (Neutral Feeling in reagrd to renunciation)

Nirāmisaṃ vā adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyamāno “nirāmisaṃ adukkhamasukhaṃ vedanaṃ vediyāmī”ti pajānāti.

When experiencing a neutral feeling in regard to renunciation, he/she completely understands:

“I feel a non-sensual neutral feeling.”

• You choose simple food instead of indulging. You’re not excited or suffering — just quietly okay. There is contentment without craving, the absence of emotional drama.

2.2 Iti ajjhattaṃ vā vednāsu  vedanānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā vednāsu vedanānupassī viharati, ajjhattabahiddhā vā vednāsu vedanānupassī viharati;

Thus, he/she dwells contemplating the feelings internally, or he dwells contemplating the feelings externally (universalizing the nature of feelings), or he dwells contemplating the feelings both internally and externally.

• The triadic formula—internal, external, and both—broadens mindfulness beyond the self. Observing one’s own feelings (ajjhattaṃ) cultivates introspective clarity; observing others’ feelings (bahiddhā) nurtures empathy and detachment; observing both dissolves the boundary between self and other, revealing universality in the feeling processes.

2.3 Samudayadhammānupassī vā vednāsu viharati, vayadhammānupassī vā vednāsu viharati, samudayavayadhammānupassī vā vednāsu viharati.

They dwell observing the feelings as subject to origination, as subject to vanishing, or as subject to both origination and vanishing.

• This section deepens contemplation into anicca-saññā—the perception of impermanence. One sees the feeling as a process, continuously arising and ceasing. Awareness of this flux uproots craving and builds insight into dukkha and anattā. The feeling is no longer “mine,” but a transient flow of conditions.

2.4 ‘Atthi kāyo’ti vā panassa sati paccupaṭṭhitā hoti. Yāvadeva ñāṇamattāya paṭissatimattāya anissito ca viharati, na ca kiñci loke upādiyati.

Or mindfulness that ‘there is a feeling’ is established to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. And they dwell unassociating, not grasping at anything in the world.

• At this stage, awareness becomes purified of grasping. The practitioner does not think “I am the feeling,” but merely recognizes “there is a feeling.” This detached observation marks the maturity of mindfulness: awareness for the sake of knowing, not for owning. One abides free from worldly attachment (anissito ca viharati).

Evampi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vednāsu vedanānupassī viharati.

In this way, monks, a monk dwells observing the feeling in the feeling.

Notes for Vedanānupassanā — Nine Ways of Attending to the  Nature Feeling as Mindfulness of the Feeling

Emotion vs. Feeling

Emotion can be differentiated from a number of similar constructs within the field of affective neuroscience.

Emotions: predispositions to a certain type of action in response to a specific stimulus, which produce a cascade of rapid and synchronized physiological and cognitive changes.

Feeling: not all feelings include emotion, such as the feeling of knowing. In the context of emotion, feelings are best understood as a subjective representation of emotions, private to the individual experiencing them.

Moods: enduring affective states that are considered less intense than emotions and appear to lack a contextual stimulus. 

1. Emotional Literacy Begins With Feeling-Literacy

Modern psychology teaches “name it to tame it.” The Buddha teaches the same: recognizing the exact feeling at the moment it arises weakens blind reactions.

By learning to distinguish:

• pleasant (sukha)

• painful (dukkha)

• neutral (adukkhamasukha)

• sensual (sāmisa)

• non-sensual (nirāmisa)

the practitioner becomes fluent in the language of internal feeling experience, preventing small sensations from escalating into full emotional storms.

2. Interrupting the Automatic Chain From Feeling → Emotion → Action

In Buddhist psychology, vedanā is the trigger-point that leads to craving (taṇhā) and wrongdoing.

By observing:

• This is pleasant,

• This is painful,

• This is neutral,

the practitioner interrupts reactivity before it becomes:

• anger

• craving

• fear

• anxiety

• impulsive behavior

This is the Buddhist equivalent of deconditioning the brain’s habitual responses.

3. Training the Brain Toward Non-Addictive Happiness

Modern neuroscience shows that sensory pleasure can create dopamine loops that reinforce craving.

Vedanānupassanā distinguishes:

• sāmisa-sukha (sensual happiness) → addictive, unstable

• nirāmisa-sukha (non-sensual happiness) → stable, peaceful, ethical

By observing the nine types of feeling, one slowly shifts from consumer-driven pleasure to wisdom-driven well-being, making happiness more resilient and independent of circumstances.

4. Reducing Suffering (dukkha) by Seeing Pain as a Process, Not a Personal Problem

The Buddha’s instruction “I feel a painful feeling” is radically modern.

It avoids:

• catastrophizing

• personalizing

• self-blame

• victim-identity

Pain becomes a temporary process, not “my suffering.”This mirrors modern trauma therapy: separating the person from their experience.

5. Neutral Feelings Become a Doorway to Mindfulness (Instead of Boredom)

Most people ignore neutral feelings. Buddhism teaches that forgetting neutral feelings leads to dullness, mind-wandering, and unskillful habits.

By noticing:

• sāmisa-neutral (worldly neutral sensations)

• nirāmisa-neutral (spiritual equanimity)

one transforms boredom into clear presence, making the mind stable and centered.

6. Strengthening Compassion and Reducing Ego Through Internal–External Observation

The Buddha instructs observing:

• feelings internally (ajjhattaṃ)

• feelings externally (bahiddhā)

• feelings both ways

This mirrors modern empathy training.

When we see that:

• others feel the same pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings

• feelings everywhere behave the same way

the boundary between “me” and “them” softens, reducing ego and increasing compassion.

7. Deep Insight Arises by Seeing Arising and Passing Away (anicca in real-time)

Modern mindfulness emphasizes “watching the moment change.”

Buddha taught:

• feelings arise

• feelings vanish

• feelings are not stable

By observing impermanence in the nine feelings, the practitioner sees:

• anicca (instability)

• dukkha (unsatisfactoriness)

• anattā (not-self)

Not as ideas, but as direct experience. 

8. Cultivating a Mind That Knows Without Grasping

The final instruction—“There is just a feeling”—is profoundly modern.

It creates:

• cognitive defusion (knowing a thought is a thought)

• emotional non-identification (not taking emotions personally)

• mindfulness “for the sake of knowing”

The mind becomes free from taking a stand on anything. This is mental maturity and the end of psychological clinging.