The Merits and Benefits of Practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

By cultivating according to the Great Mindfulness Sūtra (Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sūtra), one's meditative concentration (samādhi) continuously strengthens, and one will feel increasingly benefited as one practices. By persistently observing the breath and observing the material body while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, the mind becomes ever more tranquil and ever more refined, until in the end one can observe all the phenomena of change in the material body from head to toe, from inside to outside; the mind becomes extremely keen and wise—all of this is due to meditative concentration. If one does not cultivate meditative concentration, the mind will be very coarse, and one will be unable to observe or discover anything of the conditions inside and outside the material body; in particular, one's own inner afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and the various kinds of ignorance—first, one cannot discover them, and second, one cannot subdue them. Therefore one must cultivate meditative concentration and cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness (catvāri smṛty-upasthānāni), in order to increase the wisdom of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), subdue afflictions, and refrain from creating or create fewer unwholesome karmic deeds.

In the course of cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness, the mind becomes ever more tranquil; when the tranquility reaches a certain degree and the conditions and proper season are complete, upon encountering a dharma or a condition, one can immediately introspect and investigate, instantly gaining inspiration, and thereby realizes the dharma. When meditative concentration is cultivated well, the mind becomes extremely sharp, with strong powers of concentration, able to abide in the present moment at all times, aware of one's body and mind, inside and outside. No matter what external states arise, although the mind is very clear about them, one can manage to pay them no heed and remain unmoved; when inner afflictions arise, the mind is also clear about them, yet can refrain from following the afflictions to create karmic actions. This is the merit of meditative concentration: the mind is tranquil (praśama) and able to subdue afflictions. When the afflictions become somewhat lighter, one's greed and attachment toward the world will decrease and lessen; one will no longer be willing to spend more time and energy on worldly enterprises, and many things will come to seem unimportant. With the mind single-pointedly directed toward the Path, the power of one's vows becomes vast, one's cultivation gets on the right track, and seeing the Path becomes merely a matter of time.