Homage to him, the worthy one, the Perfectly self-enlightened one

 

Below is an extracted passage from the “Maha Satipatthana Sutta”:

 

“Thus have I heard:

At one time the Enlightened One was staying among the Kurus at Kammāsadhamma, a market town of the Kuru people. There the Enlightened One addressed the monks thus: "Monks,"  and they replied, "Venerable Sir!" Then the Enlightened One spoke as follows:

This is the one and only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of truth, for the realization of nibbāna: that is to say, the fourfold establishing of awareness.”

The extracted passage ended here.

 

 

The merit of yours is a good cause for you to be sitting for an hour in the fourfold establishing of awareness meditation. Over time of practice, as the mind develops, meditation times will be experienced as the valuable time, worth living in a human being life.

With mind contemplation as the primary foundation, beginners to the practice of the fourfold establishing of awareness need to know two purposes of maintaining the continuous presence of awareness in mind.

The first purpose:

Constant awareness helps to establish right concentration. Right concentration is the fertile soil for the development of understanding and wisdom.

What is right concentration? Right concentration is a state of mind in which right awareness is consistently present and fully takes control of the mind: be aware of the primary object of meditation; be aware of things coming to contact with five sensory organs; be aware of rising thoughts, memories, and feelings.

Right concentration will be lost when awareness is bypassed, the mind wanders off and gets lost into mental objects. Thinking, recalling and feeling take control of the mind. A person sits comfortably on a meditation cushion, lets the mind go freely after normal life stories,he is not meditating but he is thinking. This heedless attitude, if not recognized and rectified right at the beginning, will become a usual approach that will waste time and hinder the meditation progress.

Why do we need to keep being aware of the breaths? For beginners, paying attention to the contact of air coming in and out of the nostrils is to ensure that awareness is present. Be alert to recognize as soon as possible when awareness is no longer observing the breaths. Upon realizing that thinking is going on, practice a right attitude: do not upset, accept with calm that thinking is a natural activity of the mind.

That is the first purpose.

The second purpose:

Continuous awareness offers the right foundation for the mindful observation process resulting in the development of the right view. What is mindful observation? Mindful observation process includes: recognizing the rising object, looking at its changing nature and noting the cause of its rising with a momentary right thinking. Thus, with years of practice, the understanding of the ultimate characteristics of nature will gradually replace the knowledge accumulated from the activities of the six senses.

So please remember: The right condition for the observation can only be performed with the presence of right concentration

The presence of awareness concentration can only be recognized with the presence of the observation. The awareness concentration and the observation go together hand in hand on the path of Vipassana meditation.

 

The meditation hour will be divided into two halves using a bell sound. During the first half hour, there are verbal reminders. The second half is silent. Meditators use the silent second half to practice what were reminded in the first half.

 

To start the meditation time, relax the entire body, be gentle, comfortable. Meditation object of the first half hour is the touching sensation at the nostril skin when air comes in and out. Simply be aware of the breath, do not try to change the breathing pattern.

(10sec)

Reminder #1:

Is the mind still mindfully observing the breath? If there is thinking going on, practice the right attitude: Gently accept that the mind is being swept along the stream of thoughts, accept that thinking is only a natural activity of the mind and is an object of observation.  Observe any vague feeling of frustration because of the loss of mindfulness. In recognizing that thinking is going on, awareness has already returned.

Be aware of the posture and recognize the very present moment.

 

During the next short time, let the mind recognize sounds that come into contact with awareness.

 

During the next short time, let the mind recognize any touching sensations on the body that come into contact with awareness.

 

During the next short time, let the mind recognize the taste of saliva in the mouth.

 

During the next short time, let the mind recognize any incoming odors.

 

During the next short time, practitioner opens eyes to recognize the seeing of objects. Contemplate if there are differences between seeing in the presence of mindfulness versus seeing those objects in everyday life.

Close the eyes then mindfully observe the breath in and out air coming in contact with the nostril skin.

 

 

Reminder #2:

Is the mind still mindfully observing the breath? If there is thinking going on, practice the right attitude: Gently accept that the mind is being swept along the stream of thoughts, accept that thinking is only a natural activity of the mind accept that thinking is an object of observation. Observe any vague feeling of frustration because of the loss of mindfulness. In recognizing that thinking is going on, awareness has already returned.

Be aware of the posture and recognize the very present time. Observe thoughts dissolve slowly until they disappear.

Then mindfully observe the breath in and out air coming in contact with the nostril skin.

(10sec)

 

Reminder #3:

Is the mind still mindfully observing the breath? In the following time, meditators are going to observe objects of feeling and dharma foundations.

Recognize, accept and observe reactions of the mind upon the arising of an object is a persistent elaborate training. During the following time, focus awareness to recognize, accept, and observe any emotion upon the coming of the sounds. The hearing of the sound is the cause, the reaction of the mind is the effect. (this is observing the dharma)

 

Gently and mindfully observe the breath in and out air coming in contact with the nostril skin.

 

 

 

Reminder #4:

Is the mind still mindfully observing the breath? If there is thinking going on, practice the right attitude: Gently accept that the mind is being swept along the stream of thoughts; accept that thinking is only a natural activity of the mind and is an object of observation Observe any vague feeling of frustration because of the loss of mindfulness. In recognizing that thinking is going on, awareness has already returned.

 

During the following time, stop focusing awareness on the nostrils and do not focus on any chosen object. Keep awareness open freely to recognize and observe any prominent object that is firstly coming into contact with awareness in the present moment.

(10sec)

 

(1 sound of the bell).

The next 30 min begin now.

​

You just accomplished 60 minutes of Vipassana meditation.

Meditators had opportunities to observe not only one object but different objects from different foundations: body, feeling, mind and dharma. Upon the arising of an object from one foundation, related objects from other foundations are concomitantly present. Observing objects of different foundations may shed light to different aspects of ignorance and contribute a critical part in developing the understanding of the ultimate characteristics of nature and in opening the gate to the path of enlightenment.

May you have many blessings on your path of practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chú tâm ghi nhận thời khắc hiện tại: đó là thời khắc rất ngắn ngủi đủ để khởi lên một niệm “biết” khi đối tượng là âm thanh từ tiếng nước chảy vừa tiếp xúc với thính giác : sự biết xảy ra, đó là thời khắc hiện tại. Quán sát diễn tiến của đối tượng ngay sau thời khắc đó.

Một thoáng chánh suy từ về bản chất cuả giòng suối.

 

Chú tâm ghi nhận thời khắc hiện tại: đó là thời khắc rất ngắn ngủi đủ để khởi lên một niệm “biết” khi đối tượng là sự di chuyển của luồn không khí đến tiếp xúc với xúc giác nơi da khoé mũi : sự biết xảy ra, đó là thời khắc hiện tại. Quán sát sự diễn tiến của đối tượng ngay sau thời khắc đó.

Một thoáng chánh suy từ về bản chất cuả cái thân

 

Chú tâm ghi nhận thời khắc hiện tại: đó là thời khắc rất ngắn ngủi đủ để khởi lên một niệm “biết” khi đối tượng là âm thanh từ tiếng chim hót tiếp xúc với giác quan : sự biết xảy ra, đó là thời khắc hiện tại. Quán sát diễn tiến của đối tượng ngay sau thời khắc đó.

Một thoáng chánh suy từ về bản chất cuả tiếng chim.

 

focus to recognize the very present moment: that is the very short moment just enough for being aware of the object