13th Issue (Sept, 2009)

Buddhist Key Development and Self-cultivation of Four Establishments of Mindfulness

K.S.Chow

Right Mindfulness is penetrating  awareness
of  intuitive comprehension of Anattᾱ
Attending to  the body, feelings, mind and mental objects
 Abiding in  penetrating  Mindfulness of Anattᾱ
Annihilating the self-centric ego
Cessation of grasping upon the five aggregates
This is not I
This is not mine
This does not belong to me

Penetrating into the Oneness of Being
Realizing the supreme Emptiness
Immediate tasting of Nibbᾱna
Direct experience of Liberation
The  four establishments of mindfulness

The paradigm shift from empirical self to Universal Self
Safeguarding the six sense gates well
Protecting oneself, protecting others
The Noble Eight Fold Path is consummated
The taints of greed-hatred-delusion obliterated

The presence of mindfulness
Freedom from greed, hatred and delusion
Knowing things as the unity of process becoming
The perceiver is conditioned phenomenon
The perceived is also conditioned phenomenon
Integrating both into a single process becoming
A single process becoming is Anattᾱ
A dynamic unity of contigent causes and conditions
Discerning the oneness of process becoming
The entrance into  the supramunane path of Non-duality

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When Gotama Buddha expounds that Satipaṭṭhᾱna (presence of mindfulness) is the sole way (ekayᾱna) to Nibbᾱna, he conceives that right mindfulness is the only noble Path to attain liberation (vimutti). Right Mindfulness supported by clear awareness of Anattᾱ annihilates the self-centric ego. Human reasoning directed and empowered by self-centric ego veils us from discerning the Absolute Reality of the Buddha-nature. The Monotheistic equivalent of Satipaṭṭhᾱna  is Dhikr (Rememberance of God). Dhikr is the annihilation (al-fanᾱ’) of self-centric ego. Dhikr which is right mindfulness  of God as Tawhῑd (Unity of God) removes the veil of the multiplicity and makes a saved believer see God. Thus, we witness both Buddhism and Monotheism advocate the same path to see the Absolute Reality. The communal Path is obliteration of self-centric ego by Satipaṭṭhᾱna  or Dhikr. Gotama Buddha’s concept of Ekayᾱna should be thus interpreted.