Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

Mindfulness Explained
Mindfulness is an integral part of Buddhist meditation
practice and mental development. The Buddha taught
mindfulness more often than any other type of meditation
practice, and spoke of of it with the highest praise. In the
Buddha’s teaching, the practice of “sati” or “mindfulness” is
called the most direct path to the purification of beings; to
overcoming of sorrow, lamentation and despair; to becoming
free from mental and physical suffering; to attaining the right
path; and to realizing nirvana.
The question might arise, then, as to why the Buddha taught
other types of meditation practice at all if mindfulness is
really the best way. The answer is that the Buddha was able
to see with perfect insight as to what every student needed
to become enlightened, something ordinary meditation
teachers are not able to do. As great as a Buddhist
meditation teacher might be, they will never be able to
perfectly assess the maturity of a meditator’s faculties in the
way that the Buddha was able to do. There is a story in the
commentaries that tells how even the Buddha’s chief
disciple, Sariputta, once misjudged the attainment of an
arahant disciple and continued to exhort him even after he
had achieved the goal of the practice. It’s very difficult to
know how far a meditator has progressed in their practice
and what particular problems they will have to face; not just
their present life has to be taken into account – one has to
take into account all of the complexities that make up the
individual over all of their wanderings in the ocean of
samsara.
For example, in the Buddha’s time there was a monk named
Culapanthaka, whose elder brother, an arahant, tried to
teach him a basic meditation on the qualities of the Buddha,
thinking it would be useful to calm his mind. Culapanthaka,
however, was unable to memorize the mantra he was given,
since in a past life he had once made fun of a monk who was
unable to memorize the Buddha’s teaching. The result of his
mean behaviour was that he was unable to memorize even
the brief teaching given by his brother. As a result, his
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