What is Mindfulness?

Last week my wife shared with me the “word of the day” sent to her in an e-blast by Word Genius. The word was “Mindfulness.” Two definitions were offered:

1. The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
2. A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

 
I believe that both definitions are lacking since “Mindfulness” encompasses so much more than consciousness or a therapeutic technique. Mindfulness is a way of being that guides us toward enlightenment and freedom from suffering.
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We can trace the origins of the concept of Mindfulness back to the Pali/Sanskrit word “Sati.” The word Sati is derived from one of the 80,000 Buddha's discourses (known as sutta in Pali or sutra in Sanskrit), called Satipatthana Sutta which is translated as the Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The four foundations of Sati include:

1. The Contemplation of the Body
2. The Contemplation of Feeling
3. The Contemplation of Mind State
4. The Contemplation of Mind Object

 
While the Buddha never had a specific section describing the term Sati in the suttas, by reading many suttas one can see a repetitive pattern that describes what Mindfulness is. Sati/Mindfulness is a mind pose, attitude, or way of being which brings together three qualities of mind: (1) clarity, (2) undivided focus of attention, and (3) objectivity. When the mind state embodies these three characteristics it becomes unified and synergistic. The sense of ego is diminished along with subjectivity, allowing us to see the naked truth.
 
Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of the practice of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Professor of Medicine Emeritus of at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, defines Mindfulness as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.” This conscious awareness is not actually Mindfulness, but the outcome of Mindfulness. When the mind behaves in this unique non-subjective way, we are able to see things as they really are in an objective way. Mindfulness, encompassing subject and object, is a dance between the conscious and the unconscious.
 
In English, “Sati” refers to the Hindu custom of a widow jumping into the funeral pyre of her dead husband as voluntary act of devotion to follow him into the afterlife. This sacred act was abolished in India in 1829. However, linguistically Sati also embodies a sense of sacredness in that it has the healing ability of enabling a person to see things with a unique perspective that alleviates suffering by gaining insight into the true nature of reality and freedom from suffering.
 
What is the true nature of reality? That is the subject for another blog post.

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