Friends:
What is this Fundamental Right
Awareness?
That Noble Eightfold Way,
leading to Nibbāna, is simply this:
Right View,
Right
Motivation,
Right Speech,
Right Action,
Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Awareness
and Right Concentration.
But what is Right
Awareness?
The
4-fold Definition of Right Awareness:
1:
Awareness of the
Body merely as a transient and compounded Form..
2:
Awareness of
Feelings just as
conditioned emotional Responses..
3:
Awareness of
Mind
only as habituated
and temporary Moods..
4:
Awareness of
Phenomena
only as constructed Mental States..
Right
Awareness is of these 4, while being alert, & clearly comprehending,
will put away longing towards and aversion against anything in this
world!
The Characterization of Right Awareness:
Awareness of wrong view
or right view present now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong motivation
or right motivation, is Right
Awareness!
Awareness of wrong speech or right speech now, is Right Awareness!
Awareness
of wrong action
or right action, is Right Awareness!
Awareness of wrong livelihood
or right livelihood, is Right
Awareness!
Awareness of wrong effort or right effort, is Right Awareness!
Awareness
of wrong awareness or right awareness, is Right
Awareness!
Awareness of wrong or right concentration now, is Right
Awareness!
The Explanation of Acute Awareness and Clear Comprehension:
When inhaling & exhaling long, one notices and is fully aware of just
that..
When inhaling & exhaling short, one notices & is fully aware of just
that..
One trains: I will breathe in-&-out clearly comprehending the entire
body.
One trains: I will breathe
in-&-out
calming the breath & all bodily activity.
When walking, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is
walking.
When standing, one notices and clearly comprehends, that one is
standing.
When sitting, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one is
sitting down.
When lying down, one notices & clearly comprehends, that one
is lying.
Going forward one notices & clearly comprehends, this
going forward.
When returning one notices and clearly comprehends, this
returning.
When looking in front or back, one notices, & is clearly
aware of that.
When bending or stretching, when lifting or carrying, when
eating or
drinking, chewing or tasting, one is aware of and comprehends
just that.
When passing excrement or urine one clearly comprehends
exactly that.
While falling asleep and waking up, when speaking or keeping silence,
one
notices, knows and understands exactly that & clearly comprehends,
that this is, what one
is doing just right here and exactly now...
Continuous awareness of purpose, suitability, domain and nature of one's
current behaviour, whether mental, verbal or bodily is Right
Awareness
and clear
comprehension...
The Function of Right Awareness and its associates:
Knowing right/wrong awareness as right/wrong awareness, is right
view.
Exchanging wrong awareness with right
awareness is right effort.
Right
awareness has the function of observing, noticing, remembering &
knowing the reality that neither any body, nor any form, nor any feeling,
nor any
mentality, nor any phenomena, nor any mental state is happiness,
truly attractive, lasting,
satisfying or even personal, something keepable...
All phenomena are momentary: They pass away right after the moment of
their arising and occurrence! Nothing is permanent, everything is in a state
of flux: Arising
and
ceasing, emerging and vanishing, coming and going,
again and again and again
and again and ever
again...!!! Anicca = Change...
The Blessed Buddha once said:
Friends, this is the only direct way to the mental purification of beings,
to the overcoming & elimination of sorrow, frustration, pain
and
misery,
to gaining the right method, to the realization of Nibbāna, that
is:
This establishing of the 4 Foundations of Awareness...
The 4 frames of reference...
Awareness is therefore a Mountain of Advantage!
Take Home: The 4
Foundations of Right Awareness are:
1: Being aware of the BODY as a mere transient form.
2: Being aware of the FEELING as a mere reactive response.
3: Being aware of the MIND as a mere passing set of moods.
4: Being aware of the PHENOMENON as a mere mental state.
Further study of
Buddhist
Right Awareness (Sammā-Sati):
Root texts by the Buddha:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/index.html#satipatthana
Studies, anthologies and commentaries:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-sati.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/wayof.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel370.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel019.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/part2.html#part2-a
Complete reference on Satipatthana:
The Direct Path to Realization:
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=209540
For
further study on the illuminating presence of Awareness:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Sati_Studies.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Causes_of_sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Sati_Summary.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_in_Solitude.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Clear_Comprehension.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Noble_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/One_and_only_Way.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Analysis.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_a_la_Anuruddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Careful_and_Rational_Attention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Clear_and_Aware_Comprehension.htm
Right Awareness!
Updated:
25 October 2010 http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Awareness.htm