Four Facets of Mind and One approach

Four Facets of Mind and One approach      

Question: Venerable Sir, as we have understood so far, meditation is supposed to be practiced in stages, beginning with Contemplation of the Body (kayanupassana) and continuing with Contemplation of feelings (vedananupassana), Contemplation of Conciouseness (cittanupasana), Contemplation of Mental Objects (dhammanupassana) respectively. So, kaya, vedana,citta and dhamma are four methods of establishing mindfulness, not four facets of the mind? In other words, is it one approach for  establishing mindfulness in respect of  the fourfold operation of the mind?

Answer: Your question implies the right answer as well. The Supreme Buddha has presented the Four Foundations of Mindfulness separately in the satipattana Sutta for the purpose of full explanation. However, those are the four facets of the same mind in which mindfulness could be established using one approach. When a thought arises one of these aspects becomes more prominent to a meditator. One of the following aspects could be more prominent.

1.      Kaya – action of the mind

2.      Vedana -  feelings or sensations of the mind

3.      Citta – the way mind accepts feelings or sensations

4.      Dhamma – qualities or properties of the mind

These are the classifications found in the Satipattana Sutta. A meditation practitioner could utilize any of these aspects to achieve success in meditation. By utilizing any of these aspects, which may become more prominent during meditation practice, a meditator, more importantly, intends to keep the mind free from defilements. The sole objective of the meditation practitioner should be to keep the mind free from defilements in order to achieve success. This fact is corroborated by the phrase “atapi sampajano...”, meaning suppression of the defilements, which is the sole objective of Satipattana meditation practice. Kayanupassana of Satipattana Sutta could be categorized into the following sections.

   
 i. Anapana Pabba         (Section on In and Out Breathing)
ii. Iriyapatha Pabba      (Section on Postures)
iii. Sampajanna Pabba  (Section on Clear Understanding)
iv. Patikulamanasika Pabba   (Section on Contemplation of impurities)
v. Dhatumanasikara Pabba   (Section on Contemplation of Elements)
vi. Navasivathika Pabba       (Section on Nine Stages of a Corpse)

Navasivathika Pabba (Section on Nine Stages of a Corpse) deals with the situation after the existence of an individual ceases. Soon after the existence ceases, body heat ceases gradually. Navasivathika Pabba describes post death phenomena in detail. All the sections which come under the kayanupassana provide preliminary training on how to maintain the mind devoid of defilements. At the same time, we need to keep in mind that by watching the breath, as taught in the anapan pabba, one is not able to reach nibbana. Nibbana begins establish itself  as a result of suppression of defilements at the time one sees one’s breath. Suppression or cessation of defilements takes place in three stages, namely, tadanga pahana (overcoming by the opposite), vikkhambhana pahana (overcoming by repression) and samuccheda-pahāna (overcoming by repression). One is able to achieve the objective of calming one’s mind depending on one’s knowledge, ability to make rightful decisions (nepakka panna) and perseverance.

I would like to reiterate that kaya, vedana, citta and dhamma are four facets, processes of a single mind.  We should not think that we follow one process at a time and move towards the rest of the processes. We need to observe what is prominent in a given time. No matter what type of a process arises in the mind for us to observe, our objective should be to observe any process without greed (lobha) or aversion (dosa). The Buddha has analyzed these four aspects in greater details for the purpose of providing the full picture of the functioning of the mind. Based on this preliminary knowledge, one needs to establish a frame of mind devoid of defilements, attachment at all times.

The most important technique, enabling one to establish a frame of mind devoid of attachment and defilements is to limit any sense object to the stage of identification only. When we add further thoughts to the sense objects beyond the stage of identification, mind tends to get inflamed bringing intense heat to the mind. What we usually do is adding further thoughts to what we perceive through our sense objects, beyond identification, and  generate dissatisfaction in our minds as the result of intense heat generated by those additional thoughts. The Buddha clarified this stage in his teaching as ““Ditte dittha-mattam bhavissati. Sute suta-mattam bhavissati. Mute muta-mattam bhavissati. Vinnate vinnata-mattam bhavissati. This means that ;

In sight is just the seen.
In sound is just the heard.
In thinking is just the thought.
In cognizing is just the cognized.

Whether it be seeing, hearing, thinking or knowing , we need to restrict it only to identification.