Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

“satiñca khvāhaṃ, bhikkhave, sabbatthikaṃ vadāmi” –
“mindfulness is always useful.” Not understanding this
distinction can be a problem for people with a knowledge of
the classification of character types discussed in Buddhist
texts; they may say that mindfulness meditation just isn’t
suitable for their character type. According to the Buddhist
texts, however, the practice of mindfulness is outside of such
a classification, since it deals with ultimate realities; it is not
meant to adjust one’s particular addictions or aversions, nor
is it a creation-based meditation where one focuses on a
concept or entity. In mindfulness meditation, one focuses on
what is truly real.
Even from a superficial study of the Buddha’s teaching, it’s
clear that this is the sort of practice the Buddha had in mind
even when not referring to meditation practice directly.
What he taught most often by far was one form or another of
the objects of mindfulness – what we call the four
foundations or establishments of mindfulness. In some
teachings he referred to them as the five aggregates; in
others, the six senses; sometimes he referring to them
simply as “body and mind”. In all such cases, the emphasis
is clearly on being mindful of what is verifiable real in terms
of phenomenological experience. The more one studies the
Buddha’s teaching and commentarial texts, the more one
comes to see that mindfulness of reality is by far the most
commonly taught and widely applied form of meditation
found in early Buddhism. For this reason, mindfulness is the
most reliable method of practice a meditation teacher can
prescribe in order to lead the majority of their students to
the core of the Buddha’s teaching; whereas one need be
careful prescribing other more subjective meditation
practices and aware of the potential harm that can come
from prescribing the wrong method for certain meditators,
prescribing objective mindfulness of experiential reality
presents no such danger. It has objective benefits for pretty
much everyone who undertakes it and, if practised correctly,
has the potential to lead all being out of their individual
addictions and aversions without exception.
Once we accept the benefits of mindfulness as a meditation
practice, we still need to answer the question “what exactly
do we mean by mindfulness?” An answer is made difficult by
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