The Four Arisings of Mindfulness

[Mark Foote]

"What are their names, and on what streets do they live, I'd like to ride, ride over..."--David Crosby

 

A thing that is unique in all the religious literature of the world is Gautama's characterization of mindfulness as a function of the four arisings of mindfulness:  mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of the states of mind in the states of mind.

 

How is Zen that?--such a fundamental aspect of Gautama's teaching!

Don't mistake me, I believe Zen is that, just wondering if anyone else does.

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 10:52 PM by Mark Foote

[Lairg]

5 minutes ago, Mark Foote said:

mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of the states of mind in the states of mind.

 

Often I was left to mind the children.

 

In my view Gautama is saying:

 

- mind (manage) the body and its desires

- mind the emotional desires

- mind the mental processes

- stand above the minding 

 

 

[Mark Foote]

On 12/8/2025 at 4:25 PM, Lairg said:

 

Often I was left to mind the children.

 

In my view Gautama is saying:

 

- mind (manage) the body and its desires

- mind the emotional desires

- mind the mental processes

- stand above the minding 

 

 

 

 

My summary of the mindfulness he described as his own, both before and after enlightenment, would be:

 

1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation;

2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation;

3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation;

4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation.

(Applying the Pali Instructions)

 

That last is similar to your "stand above the minding".

 

Edited Wednesday at 10:57 PM by Mark Foote

[Tommy]

Wow, I got the idea of mindfulness all wrong. To me, it meant that one should be aware of the present moment. As the same in meditation, one is aware of the breath and/or body. All the while, making actions with an awareness that keeps memory of actions made. That was difficult. In other words, being aware of where one has left their umbrella and sandals at the door. Knowing where the car keys hang. I know it isn't possible to remember every little thing (it is that way for me). But, when I make actions, I should have the awareness of what I am doing while I am doing it.

 

So, one has to be mindful of the body. And be mindful of the emotions. And, be mindful of the mind. And be mindful of the state of mind. I can barely keep it together while I just sit. And when I watch a movies, I lose myself in the story. All this mindfulness is more than I can handle at this moment. Maybe I can just quit talking and try to make things a little simpler for myself. My simple mind has reached it limit of confusing stuff.

 

I do not know how others cope with this information overload. Me, my head shuts down. Maybe that is why I like the quiet while I just sit.

[stirling]

On 12/8/2025 at 4:15 PM, Mark Foote said:

mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of the states of mind in the states of mind

 

Yes! What arises is just that, has no deeper meaning or conceptual stratification. This brings to mind Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, possibly the first non-dual Buddhist document:

 

Quote

"Herein, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: 'In the seen will be merely what is seen; in the heard will be merely what is heard; in the sensed will be merely what is sensed; in the cognized will be merely what is cognized.' In this way you should train yourself, Bahiya.

"When, Bahiya, for you in the seen is merely what is seen... in the cognized is merely what is cognized, then, Bahiya, you will not be 'with that.' When, Bahiya, you are not 'with that,' then, Bahiya, you will not be 'in that.' When, Bahiya, you are not 'in that,' then, Bahiya, you will be neither here nor beyond nor in between the two. Just this is the end of suffering." - Buddha, Bahiya Sutta

 

 

On 12/8/2025 at 4:15 PM, Mark Foote said:

How is Zen that?--such a fundamental aspect of Gautama's teaching!

 

It IS Zen! Absolutely! Zen is:

 

Quote

This is IT! - Shuryu Suzuki

 

What does that mean? Reality (as it NOW is), without your ideas and concepts about how it should be, IS reality. So, yes, there is just awareness of body, feelings, and mind and the coming and going of its states... but ALSO realization that "I" is NONE OF THESE. Nowhere in all of these does "self" hide. 

 

On 12/8/2025 at 4:15 PM, Mark Foote said:

Don't mistake me, I believe Zen is that, just wondering if anyone else does.

 

Do I "believe" it? Absolutely not. A belief is something we hold in the mind when we don't have the experience to PROVE it. I would entreat anyone doing this practice NOT to settle for beliefs... INSIST on actual experience! 

 

Quote

The trouble with students these days is that they seize on words and form their understanding on that basis. In a big notebook they copy down the sayings of some worthless old fellow, wrapping it up in three layers, five layers of carrying cloth, not letting anyone else see it, calling it the 'Dark Meaning' and guarding it as something precious. What a mistake! Blind fools, what sort of juice do they expect to get out of old dried bones?"- Lin-Chi, Ch'an Master, 7th Ct.

 

Theories, ideas, and interpretations are ultimately useless. The Buddha entreated us to try the teachings and use our experience to see the truth of his teachings. What we are looking for is not our cobbled together ideas but our EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE. _/\_

[stirling]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

To me, it meant that one should be aware of the present moment. As the same in meditation, one is aware of the breath and/or body.

 

Yes, just this.

 

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

In other words, being aware of where one has left their umbrella and sandals at the door. Knowing where the car keys hang. I know it isn't possible to remember every little thing (it is that way for me). But, when I make actions, I should have the awareness of what I am doing while I am doing it.

 

BE awareness. Don't worry where memory goes, what you need to remember will arise when needed.

 

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

So, one has to be mindful of the body. And be mindful of the emotions. And, be mindful of the mind. And be mindful of the state of mind.

 

Just notice what arises. Don't feel you have to keep track. 

 

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Maybe that is why I like the quiet while I just sit.

 

_/\_ Just this.

[Krenx]

On 12/8/2025 at 4:15 PM, Mark Foote said:

"What are their names, and on what streets do they live, I'd like to ride, ride over..."--David Crosby

 

A thing that is unique in all the religious literature of the world is Gautama's characterization of mindfulness as a function of the four arisings of mindfulness:  mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of the states of mind in the states of mind.

 

How is Zen that?--such a fundamental aspect of Gautama's teaching!

Don't mistake me, I believe Zen is that, just wondering if anyone else does.

 

 

 

 

That teaching by the Buddha is an extremely key part of the practice for contemplation, connected to the teachings of dependent origination. 

 

To gradually develop the insight that the 12 links are phenomena that arises on this own, and passes away independently. It is our ignorance that connects and links the chain up creating samsara. 

 

So observing body in body, feeling in feeling, we start to be mindful and apply skillful action and habits to see things as they are and weaken this chain. 

 

An example would be feelings of anger. We see this anger arise,  We restraint it from rolling into action. And we watch the feeling change on its own. 

 

And eventually your heart will realize that no amount of pressure of feelings can EVER be enough to automatically turn into action. It is in fact impossible. It is our choice to make that assumption to allow anger to turn into harmful actions for example. We made that assumption and choice, the feelings could never do it on its own. 

 

Our feelings are not responsible, what caused the feelings are not responsible. We are responsible for that habitual action based on an assumption, that chain of assumption to be form and bind ourselves in samsara.  

 

Very important and unique teaching from the Buddha.

[Mark Foote]

On 12/12/2025 at 6:14 PM, stirling said:

 

Do I "believe" it? Absolutely not. A belief is something we hold in the mind when we don't have the experience to PROVE it. I would entreat anyone doing this practice NOT to settle for beliefs... INSIST on actual experience! 

 

You may not  believe this, Stirling, but in my experience my heart-felt beliefs become my actions. When I relinquish volition in action!

 

The moral for me is that I need to be very careful to take in as many view points as I can trust.

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

On 12/12/2025 at 5:14 PM, Tommy said:

Wow, I got the idea of mindfulness all wrong. To me, it meant that one should be aware of the present moment. As the same in meditation, one is aware of the breath and/or body. All the while, making actions with an awareness that keeps memory of actions made. That was difficult. In other words, being aware of where one has left their umbrella and sandals at the door. Knowing where the car keys hang. I know it isn't possible to remember every little thing (it is that way for me). But, when I make actions, I should have the awareness of what I am doing while I am doing it.

 

So, one has to be mindful of the body. And be mindful of the emotions. And, be mindful of the mind. And be mindful of the state of mind. I can barely keep it together while I just sit. And when I watch a movies, I lose myself in the story. All this mindfulness is more than I can handle at this moment. Maybe I can just quit talking and try to make things a little simpler for myself. My simple mind has reached it limit of confusing stuff.

 

I do not know how others cope with this information overload. Me, my head shuts down. Maybe that is why I like the quiet while I just sit.
 

The question is, how do you remain aware of what's happening in the present moment? The impression (and limited experience) that I have is that steady mindfulness depends on a return to "one-pointedness of mind" and a readiness to experience mindfulness in each of the four arisings of mindfulness.

The trick is that a return to "one-pointedness of mind" is a physical experience, and I would say an experience that not everybody involved in teaching mindfulness has had. The return depends on the fifteenth element of Gautama's own mindfulness, the fifteenth element of his way of living "especially in the rainy season":

 

 I will breathe in observing stopping, I will breathe out observing stopping.” 

(MN 118, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III p 124)

 

That to me involves a witness of the cessation of will or intention in the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, the mark of the fourth concentration, recalled through an overview of the body taken after the fourth concentration (the "survey-sign").

 

We have:

 

When a Tathagata is teaching dharma [the natural law] to others it is for the sake of general instruction. And I… at the close of such a talk, steady, calm, make one-pointed and concentrate my mind subjectively in that first characteristic of concentration in which I ever constantly abide.

 

(tr. Pali Text Society MN 36 p 303; emphasis added)
 

 

That says that Gautama returned to "one-pointedness" after he spoke, and abided in "one-pointedness". 

He set up a return to "one-pointedness" in seated meditation, beginning with the first concentration (and proceeding through the fourth and the sign, the "five limbs of concentration"):
 

Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness.  (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought initial and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein.  

(SN 48.10, © Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parentheticals para­phrase original; Horner’s “initial” (MN 119) substituted for Woodward’s “di­rected”; emphasis added)

 

 

Gautama never states exactly what the "thought initial and sustained" of the "first trance" is, but he  does explicitly state the thoughts that made up his own mindfulness, the mindfulness that he said was his way of living before and after enlightenment.

Surprise! They were four thoughts each, mindfulness of the body, of the feelings, of the mind, and of the state of mind.

What I'm saying here is, "no return to one-pointedness--no ability to sustain mindfulness".

 

 

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

On 12/13/2025 at 10:54 AM, Krenx said:

 

That teaching by the Buddha is an extremely key part of the practice for contemplation, connected to the teachings of dependent origination. 

 

To gradually develop the insight that the 12 links are phenomena that arises on this own, and passes away independently. It is our ignorance that connects and links the chain up creating samsara. 

 

So observing body in body, feeling in feeling, we start to be mindful and apply skillful action and habits to see things as they are and weaken this chain. 

 

An example would be feelings of anger. We see this anger arise,  We restraint it from rolling into action. And we watch the feeling change on its own. 

 

And eventually your heart will realize that no amount of pressure of feelings can EVER be enough to automatically turn into action. It is in fact impossible. It is our choice to make that assumption to allow anger to turn into harmful actions for example. We made that assumption and choice, the feelings could never do it on its own. 

 

Our feelings are not responsible, what caused the feelings are not responsible. We are responsible for that habitual action based on an assumption, that chain of assumption to be form and bind ourselves in samsara.  

 

Very important and unique teaching from the Buddha.
 

 

…I know not of any other single thing of such power to cause the arising of malevolence, if not already arisen, or if arisen, to cause its more-becoming and increase, as the repulsive feature (of things).
 

In (one) who pays not systematic attention to the repulsive feature, malevolence, if not already arisen, arises: or, if arisen, it is liable to more-becoming and increase. …I know not of any other single thing of such power to prevent the arising of malevolence, if not already arisen: or, if arisen, to cause its abandonment, as the heart’s release through amity. In (one) who gives systematic attention to amity which releases the heart, malevolence, if not already arisen, arises not: or, if arisen, it is abandoned.
 

(AN 1.11–20; tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 2-4)
 

 

Nothing about dependent causation there.

Gautama did not gradually develop insight into the four truths of suffering, including dependent origination. It came to him as he exercised various psychic powers in the fourth concentration (DN 2). The "intuitive wisdom" that was his enlightenment appears to have arrived suddenly--that's my reading.

Regarding skill--from my Making Sense of the Pali Canon:
 

Certain things “on the side of skill” were specified; these were the ten components of the “perfected one’s” course (right view through right freedom), and also “ … those various skilled things conditioned by [the ten components]”. Each of the ten components had one associated set of “various skilled things”; thus, said Gautama:
 

 … there are twenty (components) on the side of skill ….
 

(MN 117; tr. Pali Text Society, vol III p 120)

 

An example of the complexity of the skilled things--right purpose:

 

As to this… right view comes first. And how… does right view come first? If one comprehends that wrong purpose is wrong purpose and comprehends that right purpose is right purpose, that is… right view. And what… is wrong purpose? Purpose for sense-pleasures, purpose for ill-will, purpose for harming. This… is wrong purpose. And what… is right purpose? Now I… say that right purpose is twofold. There is… the right purpose that has cankers, is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving (to new birth). There is… the right purpose which is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a factor of the Way. And what… is the purpose which is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving? Purpose for renunciation, purpose for non-ill-will, purpose for non-harming. This… is right purpose that… ripens unto cleaving. And what… is the right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way? Whatever… is reasoning, initial thought, purpose, an activity of speech through the complete focussing and application of the mind in one who, by developing the [noble] Way, is of [noble] thought, of cankerless thought, and is conversant with the [noble] Way–this… is right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way.

(ibid, p 113-121)

 

 

The more we try to do right, the more we do wrong, IMHO. "Making self-surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness"--that, I believe, is the only way to the "supermundane" components of the way.

Something directed at the "how" that does return to the four arisings of mindfulness, yet as I wrote previously, good luck with the four arisings without "one-pointedness of mind":

 

…after the meal, [sit] down cross-legged, holding the back erect, [and make] mindfulness rise up… getting rid of coveting for the world, [dwell] with a mind devoid of coveting, [purify] the mind of coveting. By getting rid of the taint of ill-will, [dwell] benevolent in mind, compassionate for the welfare of all creatures and beings, [purify] the mind of ill-will. By getting rid of sloth and torpor, [dwell] devoid of sloth and torpor; perceiving the light, mindful, clearly conscious, [purify] the mind of sloth and torpor. By getting rid of restlessness and worry, [dwell] calmly; the mind subjectively tranquillised, [purify] the mind of restlessness and worry. By getting rid of doubt, [dwell] doubt-crossed, unperplexed as to the states that are skilled, [purify] the mind of doubt…by getting rid of these five hindrances which are defilements of the mind and weakening to intuitive wisdom, [dwell] contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly conscious (of it), mindful (of it) so as to control the covetousness and dejection in the world. [As with the body, fare] along contemplating the feelings … the mind… the mental states in the mental states, ardent, clearly conscious (of them), mindful (of them) so as to control the covetousness and dejection in the world.”
 

(ibid)

 

[Lairg]

On 12/13/2025 at 11:14 AM, Tommy said:

So, one has to be mindful of the body. And be mindful of the emotions. And, be mindful of the mind. And be mindful of the state of mind. I can barely keep it together while I just sit.

 

My own experience is of progression.  Once the bodily desires are properly managed, most of that management becomes subconscious.  Similarly management of emotions and thoughts is increasingly subconscious.

 

An obvious example is a mother physically and emotionally comforting a distressed child while having a rational conversation with her partner.

 

Eventually the initiate has most of its attention in relationships and intent, with the internal matters largely delegated to internal intelligences

Edited 12 hours ago by Lairg

[Lairg]

10 minutes ago, Mark Foote said:

The "intuitive wisdom" that was his enlightenment appears to have arrived suddenly

 

One of the attributes of the heart is direct knowing without mental process.

 

Direct knowing mostly develops after first stage enlightenment.  To be fully functional requires control of the fifth sub-plane of the heart plane

 

 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Lairg