The Satipaṭṭhāna SuttaM.i.56ff. (Majjhima Nikaya 10: The Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness), and the subsequently created Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna SuttaD.ii.290ff (Dīgha Nikāya 22: The Great Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness), are two of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism, acting as the foundation for contemporary vipassanā meditation practice. The Pāli texts of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta are largely similar in content; the main difference being a section about the Four Noble Truths (Catu Ariya Sacca) in the Observation of Phenomena (dhammānupassana), which is greatly expanded in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta. These suttas (discourses) stress the practice of sati (mindfulness) "for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of truth, for the realization of nibbāna."
Sources
Dating The Saṃyutta Nikāya (and the Saṃyukta Āgama) have a section dedicated to the topic of satipaṭṭhāna, which belong to the oldest strata of the Buddhist suttas, the elaborate Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta exists only in the Theravāda Dīgha Nikāya. Bhante Sujato postulates that the sutta was compiled from elements from other suttas as late as 20 BCE.
Title translation and related literature is a compound of sati, mindfulness; and either , "foundation," or , "presence." The compound term can be interpreted as ("foundation of mindfulness") or , "presence of mindfulness". According to Bhikkhu Anālayo, the analysis of the term as , "presence of mindfulness," is a more etymologically correct derivation as appears both throughout the Pali Canon and in the Sanskrit translation of this sutta; whereas the is only found in the Abhidhamma and post-nikaya Pali commentary.
English translations of the title, "," include: "The Arousing of Mindfulness Discourse" (Soma, 1999) "The Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse" (Nyanasatta, 1994) "The Establishing of Mindfulness Discourse" (Thanissaro, 1995)
In regard to the prefix "Maha-" in the Pāli title of DN 22, this simply means "great," or "larger" and likely refers to DN 22's expanded section on mindfulness of the Four Noble Truths.
Various recensions and canonical placement In the Pali Canon, the is the tenth discourse in the Majjhima Nikaya (MN 10). In the Pali Text Society (PTS) edition of the Canon, this text begins on the 55th page of the first volume of its three-volume Majjhima Nikaya (M i 55).
As for the , this is the 22nd discourse in the Digha Nikaya (DN 22). In the PTS edition of the Canon, the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta begins on the 289th page of the second volume of the PTS' three-volume Digha Nikaya (D ii 289).
In the Chinese Canon, the Nian Chu Jing (念處經, Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra), based on a Sarvastivadin source, is found on page 582 of the Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 1, Madhyama gama No. 26.The full text of this sutra in Chinese is at http://w3.cbeta.org/cgi-bin/goto.pl?linehead=T01n0026_p0582b07. An English translation (Nhat Hanh & Laity, 1990) is at http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebsut039.htm . Another similar sutra is in the Ekottara Agama (EA 12.1) and it is called the Ekayāna sutra, Direct Path sūtra.The full text of this sutra in Chinese is at https://suttacentral.net/lzh/ea12.1. An English translation (Nhat Hanh & Laity, 1990) is at https://suttacentral.net/en/ea12.1.
An early Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra version also survives inside some of the large Prajñāpāramitā sutras (Tibetan and Chinese), one of which has been translated into English by Edward Conze. These passages on mindfulness are treated as the first element in the 37 wings to awakening.A History of Mindfulness: How Insight Worsted Tranquillity in the Satipatthana Sutta by Bhikkhu Sujato, p. 164 According to Bhante Sujato, "This version of the satipaṭṭhāna material displays a refreshing simplicity that may indicate that it lies close to the early sources."Sujato. A History of Mindfulness: How Insight Worsted Tranquillity in the Satipatthana Sutta , page 273.
There does exist in Tibetan translation a "Saddharma Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra" (dam pa'i chos dran pa nye bar bzhag pa'i mdo//dampé chödren panyé barzhak pé do) but this is a very large early Mahayana sutra and is an entirely different text.The "dhyāna" chapter of the "Bodhisattvapiṭaka-sūtra" dissertation by Kusumita Priscilla Pedersen. Columbia University 1976 pg 64 Bhante Sujato completed an extensive comparative survey of the various recensions of Sutta, entitled A History of Mindfulness.A History of Mindfulness: How Insight Worsted Tranquillity in the Satipatthana Sutta by Bhante Sujato
Later sources The Satipaṭṭhāna material, including the various meditation objects and practices, is treated in various later Abhidharma works such as the Theravada Vibhanga and Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Sarvastivada Dharmaskandha, the Jñānapraṣṭhāna, the Śāriputrābhidharma and the Arthaviniscaya Sutra.Sujato. A History of Mindfulness: How Insight Worsted Tranquillity in the Satipatthana Sutta
In post-canonical Pali commentaries, the classic commentary on the (as well as for the entire Majjhima Nikaya) is found in Buddhaghosa's Papañcasudani (Bullitt, 2002; Soma, 2003).
Later works, such as the Abhidharmakośakārikā of Vasubandhu, and Asanga's Yogacarabhumi and Abhidharma-samuccaya, also comment on the four satipatthanas.
Contents
Contents of the Pali version
In the Satipatthana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 10, the Buddha identifies four "foundations of mindfulness"Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness, translation by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi or "frames of reference,"Satipatthana Sutta: Frames of Reference, translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu on which he contemplates or focusses after leaving behind the worldly life: kāyā (body), vedanā (sensations/feelings aroused by perception), cittā (mind/consciousness), and dhammas (elements of the Buddhist teachings). The sutta then gives an overview of Buddhist practices, under these four headings:
Kāyā (body): mindfulness of breathing, calming the bodily formations (see also the Anapanasati Sutta); clear comprehension of all postures and actions; reflections on the repulsiveness of the body-parts; reflections on the elements which are in the body: earth, water, fire, and air; charnel ground contemplations; in these ways, remaining focussed on the body itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to the body; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of the body. Vedanā (sensations/feelings aroused by perception): understanding feelings as pleasant, unpleasant, or neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant (neutral) feelings; in this way, remaining focussed on feelings in themselves; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to feelings; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of feelings. Cittā (mind/consciousness), awareness of the presence and absence of the unwholesome states of the three poisons (lust, hate, delusion); and the presence or absence of the wholesome states related to dhyana: Three poisons: lust (sarāga) or without lust (vītarāga) hate (sadosa) or without hate (vītadosa) delusion (samoha) or without delusion (vītamoha) Dhyana-related factors: contracted (sakhitta) or scattered (vikkhitta) lofty (mahaggata) or not lofty (amahaggata) surpassable (sa-uttara) or unsurpassed (anuttara) quieted (samāhita) or not quieted (asamāhita) released (vimutta) or not released (avimutta) In this way, remaining focussed on the mind itself; or clear comprehension of arising and vanishing with regard to mind; or sustained mindfulness of the presence of mind Dhammā (elements of the Buddhist teachings): the five hindrances: awareness of the presence or absence, arising and abandoning, and no future arising, of sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and uncertainty; the five skandhas, the aggregates of clinging: the discernment of the existence, the origination, and the disappearance, of form, feeling, perception, formations (mental dispositions), and consciousness; the six sense-bases, and the fetters that arise in dependence on them: discerning the internal sense-media (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, intellect), the external sense-media (forms, sounds, odours, tangibles), the arising of fetters in dependence on the six-sense bases, the abandonment of the arisen fetters, and the future non-arising of these fetters; the Seven factors of awakening: awareness of the presence or absence, the arising, and the culmination, of sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (investigation of dhammas), viriya (energy, effort, persistence, determination), pīti (rapture), passaddhi (tranquility, relaxation (of body and mind)), samadhi (clear awareness, concentration), upekkha (equanimity); the Four Noble Truths.
Comparison of the content in other sources The Sarvāstivāda Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra differs in some ways from the Theravada version, including postures as the first contemplation instead of breathing for example. According to Bhante Sujato, it seems to emphasize samatha or calm abiding, while the Theravadin version emphasizes Vipassana or insight.Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005. The text also often refers to 'bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs' instead of just male bhikkhus.
A section on Smṛtyupasthāna is found in various Tibetan and Chinese recensions of large Prajñāpāramitā sutras, such as the 25,000 line version translated by Edward Conze. This skeletal version of the Smṛtyupasthāna is incorporated into the larger sutra and thus appears as part of the Buddha's discourse to Subhuti. It only outlines specific practices for the contemplation of the body, the other three satipatthanas are simply enumerated.
Various scholars have attempted to use the numerous early sources to trace an "ur-text" i.e. the original satipaṭṭhāna formula or the earliest sutta. Bronkhorst (1985) argues that, in the earliest form of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, mindfulness of feelings and mindfulness of mind were transmitted in a relatively stable form across the sources, whereas mindfulness of the body contained only the observation of the impure constituents of the body, and mindfulness of dhammas originally referred only to the observation of the seven awakening factors. Sujato's reconstruction similarly only retains the contemplation of the impure under mindfulness of the body, while including only the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors under mindfulness of dhammas. According to Bhikkhu Anālayo, mindfulness of breathing was probably absent from the original scheme, noting that one can easily contemplate the body's decay taking an external object, that is, someone else's body, but not be externally mindfull of the breath, that is, someone else's breath.