What follows is part book recommendation, part invitation. The Satipatthana sutta is the most detailed guide we have from the historical Buddha on establishing mindfulness and developing a meditation practice. On reading the sutta, however, it’s easy to be left with more questions than answers and with little clarity as to how such teachings can translate to the ‘direct path to liberation’ referred to in its introductory passage. Bhikku Analayo’s book Satipatthana: A Practical Guide goes a long way to address this gap. Having taught himself Pali, Chinese and Tibetan in order to get as close as possible to the version originally expounded by the Buddha and having practiced in great depth with the sutta over much of his life as a monk, Analayo is as trustworthy a guide as we could hope for in exploring what the thrust of this discourse is all about. He sets out a highly practical, step by step guide to establishing mindfulness in a way that stays faithful to the sutta itself and provides seven guided meditations to follow.
Analayo’s writing brings a clear sense of direction to the seven practices he lays out, and include: using mindfulness to see the body in radically different ways; establishing embodied awareness; recognising clearly how feeling tones lead on to craving; how to shift focus from experience to see how our minds are relating to what happens to us, and then becoming much more conscious about working with what hinders and what supports our awakening.
Having worked with this book over the last two months, it is probably the single book or teaching that has contributed most to a sense of purpose and directionality in my meditation practice for quite some time. I feel fairly sure I will be working with this way of approaching the Satipatthanas for a long time to come, as it’s become clear that there is a huge amount to explore here and a lot it can contribute to my practice.
The thing I’ve increasingly wondered about as I’ve worked with the material is how it would be to practice with others, to discuss the insights and discoveries that arise from it, to enquire together as to what it can lead to. So this is in part a recommendation to get the book and practice with it. It is also an invitation: to form an online virtual practice group to work through the seven practices over seven weeks, and in so doing to bring the Satipatthanas to life. Anyone interested can email me on alastairwakely@gmail.com.