225: Back to the Basics of the Practice

We return to the foundations of Buddhist practice by exploring the Five Aggregates — material form (rupa), feeling (vedana), perception (sanna), mental formations (sankhara), and consciousness (vinnana) — the components that make up what we call the “self.” From this understanding, we examine how the Four Foundations of Mindfulness arise: mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma.

The talk emphasizes that whichever object becomes most prominent — body, feeling, or mind — can serve as the doorway to insight. With steady mindfulness, supported by effort and concentration, wisdom gradually develops. Like polishing a tarnished brass bowl, repeated and continuous practice removes layers of defilement accumulated over countless lives.

Through persistent cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path, each moment of precise mindfulness becomes a stroke of the paddle carrying us across the ocean of samsara toward Nibbana. A practical reminder of what truly matters in the journey of insight meditation.

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Sayar Myat 0:02

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa,Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa, Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Theravada Buddhismseries, Dhamma talk number forty eight. Back to basics of the practice. Body and mind in working order are necessary to have awareness. Mind. It splits into four components: feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness. These five: One materiality, four mentality are called the five aggregates that represent the self. Based on these five aggregates, Buddha taught us the four foundations of mindfulness. Let's have a review on the five aggregates. They are rupa, vedana, senna, sankara and vinniana in Pali. Rupa is the body's materiality is always present as long as we are alive under the right conditions. It gives access to the direct understanding that the body consists of the four great elements earth, wind, fire and water. That's rupa. Vedana feeling. Feeling arises with every mental contact of an object and a consciousness. Under correct observation, every feeling perishes without leaving any residue. Only holding on to the feeling with likes and dislikes produce seed for future existence. It represents sannyas representation could be right or also could be wrong from facts or truth. However, constant right and correct perception can establish by applying mindfulness at the point of mental contact and feeling. If you apply mindfulness right at the contact, mental contact and feeling, you will always have the correct and right perception, never a wrong perception. The fourth is syncharat. Fifty mental formations are also called mental associates. That is Sankharat is a mental factor volition, intention or chitana associated with every mental factors. There are fifty of them, so we call it Shankara. But whenever the other forty-nine are arising, that jitana, volution is arising with them. So sometimes we say this jitana, volition or intention, as a representative of sinkara mental formation. They are not exactly the same, but it can be taken as the same. Here mental context means pasat. In Pali it's pasat. Feeling is vidana. And mindfulness produce correct perception sinya. Fruition or chitana represent the mental formation sankara and the life force is Vinyana. So these are the five aggregates. So let's see how full foundation of mindfulness is connected to these five aggregates. Mindfulness of the body is observing materiality in the body. It is an investigation of Rupa. Mindfulness of the feeling is the experience or in Pali Vidana at mental contact. When the object, external object, internal object sensitivity and consciousness come together is called mental contact. And the experience at that point of mental contact is Vedana feeling. That is mindfulness of the mind. It investigates into mental factors as well as into the nature of consciousness. Those are the three foundations and mindfulness of Dhamma is the observation of Dhamma concepts. We have this observation of Dharma or the concept because all the experiences we have regarding to the matter of feeling or mental factors, emotions, awareness, they have to put into context in the way we could understand, such as five hindrances, five controlling faculties, factors of enlightenment, full noble truth. They are in a conceptual form of this experience. Investigating into the conceptual form of this experience is Dharma. When you investigate into this nature it's called mindfulness of Dharma. Basically connecting the practice and theory so that we have a bigger picture understanding. As the materiality, the rupa, consciousness, and some of the mental factors, jidisiga, are arising together. They all arise together. So we observe whatever is most prominent at the moment. We don't choose rupa or vadana or emotions. Whatever is prominent we observed at that moment. It may be the body, feeling, or mind. Whichever one becomes prominent. We observe it. There are many approaches to the practice. Some follow all four groups of mindfulness. Some choose to focus on Vedana feeling. Some specialized on the mind. They call it Jaita Nupasana. Vedana nupassana. Which one is right? Which one is wrong? Everything is right. It is up to an individual choice. You choose what you like to do, number one, and then when you are doing it, are you experiencing the progress in Dharma? And if it is so, keep on doing. That's it. Although one may observe all full groups of mindfulness. You observe whatever comes, body, feeling, mind. But once you progress, you will find that one of the full foundations arise more in you than the other. And also that one works better with you than the others. Automatically, your mind bent ticks and channel to it. You don't have to choose one. And at the same time, let's say you are observing the feeling. But there's a awareness of the feeling, that's consciousness. And also the feeling can come from the physical source. There's a rupa. And there are many emotions along with it. So even though you might think you are only observing one or specializing in one, all other trees are there. So if you understand that we won't be quibbling on this method is right or that method is right, simply do it and your progress will direct you which one is the most suitable for you. Follow it. Satipatthana Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the salt of the dish. The dish of this practice. Without it the practice will go nowhere. Samapatana effort. Samadhi concentration will be established. Concentration can penetrate the true nature of mind and matter, giving wisdom, binya. However, wisdom will not arise instantly. It needs a repeated development of concentration by applying mindfulness with great effort. You need that. You were digging somewhere, and one day you found a brass bowl in the ground, which was made let's say a thousand years ago. You unearthed and found a brass bull. The color of the brass is nowhere to be seen, but dirty and dirt, dark color, overwhelm it due to oxidation. To get the original shine of breast, one needs to rub repeatedly with a clock for an extended period. It may take hundreds of thousands of rub to get the desired result, to get the shine of the breast. Similarly, beings, which is us, beings have been accumulating unwholesome mental defilements for innurable, inmurable lights, and a thick layer of mental defilement has coated a being. Yogi needs to rub it with mindfulness millions and millions of times, supported by effort and commitment to eliminate, peel off these layers and layers of mental defilements that will produce the required amount of concentration samadhi. This process is like an antioxidant to a brass bowl. This process will peel off lay and layers of mental defilement that one had accumulated for endless number of past lives. That's why we need to work very hard, non-stop, with no break and no gap. This pinya we are developing, this lack of wisdom. Most of us have no wisdom. Lack of wisdom to understand the true nature of mind and matter is due to wrong view, deity, craving, dhna and ignorance of three main points. Because of these three we are living in a state of self-delusion. Sakayaditi. Because let's see this way. Whenever we are born, we have a father and mother, parents. Without parents we are not born. The same way, whenever we are born, this craving and ignorance, dana and delusion with us all the time, like a parent. So we are with that parents of dana and awija every life, all the time. Without it, we are not born. They are like our parents. And they condition us based on their nature. They have been conditioning us for countless number of past life. That's why we live with the wrong view. In the scripture, it presents this way, this side of the shore, the other side of the shore, and we cross the body of water with the boat. This side of the shore means living with the full of mental defilements and wrong view. That's this side of the shore. The other side of the opposite shore is Nibbana, where all suffering ends. There's no mental defilement there. The boat refers to the practice of eightfold noble path, which we have to use to cross the ocean of sansara, cycle of birth and death. One needs to paddle the vessel repeatedly until it reaches the other shore. If you don't, you won't get to the other side. And that paddling repeatedly, non-stop till you arrive there is called bhaviniyat. In other words, bhavana development. It's called bhaviniyat. Each stroke of the paddle is a moment of precise mindfulness. Where one is on the path of mundane world. We are still in a mundane world, but that little moment we are right on the dot, like as if we are on the path. The majority of mundane parts, these little precise moments will establish Logodra Magga, ultra mundane path, which permanently, permanently eradicates wrong view, craving, and ignorance, all mental defilements. We just go back to the back to the basic. Have a little reminder to ourselves what is really important and what we are doing. May all of you be able to practice mindfulness inside meditation and may you be able to cut through the cycle of rounds of rebirth and attain nibbana as soon as possible. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu. Thank you very much.