Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
47. Sati-Paṭṭhāna Saṃyutta
4. Anussuta Vagga

Sutta 35

Sata Suttaṃ

Minding

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

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[1][pts][bodh][than] I Hear Tell:

Once upon a time Bhagava, Sāvatthi-town revisiting, Anāthapiṇḍika's Jeta-forest park.

"Recollected, beggars,
self-aware,
this is how a beggar should live.

This is my advice to you.

And how, beggars, is a beggar recollected?

Here, beggars, a beggar,
lives in the body over-seeing the body,
ardent,
self-aware,
minding,
removing worldly wants and disappointments.

Here, beggars, a beggar,
lives in sense-experience over-seeing sense-experience,
ardent,
self-aware,
minding,
removing worldly wants and disappointments.

Here, beggars, a beggar,
lives in the heart over-seeing mental states,
ardent,
self-aware,
minding,
removing worldly wants and disappointments.

Here, beggars, a beggar,
lives in the Dhamma^[1] over-seeing the Dhamma,
ardent,
self-aware,
minding,
removing worldly wants and disappointments.

■

And how, beggars,
does a beggar live self-aware?

Here beggars, a beggar
sees sense-experiences as they arise,
sees their manifestation,
sees their settling down.

Here beggars, a beggar
sees thoughts as they arise,
sees their manifestation,
sees their settling down.

Here beggars, a beggar
sees perceptions as they arise,
sees their manifestation,
sees their settling down.

Recollected, beggars,
self-aware,
this is how a beggar should live.

This is my advice to you."

 

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Pāḷi	Olds	Woodward	Bhk. Thanissaro	Bhk. Bodhi
sato	recollected	mindful	mindful	mindful
sampajāno	self-aware	composed	alert	clearly comprehending
kāye kāyānupassī viharati	lives in the body over-seeing the body	abides in body contemplating body	remains focused on the body in and of itself	dwells contemplating the body in the body
vedanā	sense-experience	feelings	feelings	feelings
cittā	heart/mental states	mind	mind	mind
dhamma	Dhamma	mind-states	mental qualities	phenomena
vitakkā	thoughts	train of thought	thoughts	thoughts

 

^[1]Dhamma. This must either be 'things' or 'The Dhamma'. The term, as used in this connection, is defined clearly in terms of knowing the presence or absence in one and the arising, manifestation, and going home of several 'Dhammas' — categories of the Teaching: The Five Involvements, The Five Stockpiles, The Six Sense Realms, The Seven Dimensions of Awakening, The Four Aristocratic Truths. So this instruction is either to live in 'things' viewing 'things' through the medium of these 'things', or, more satisfactorily, living in the Dhamma, one oversees the Dhamma through these Dhammas.

Some people live completely absorbed in forms. They live in the body. Some people live completely absorbed in what they feel. They live in sensation. Some people live completely absorbed by their mental state. They live in the heart. Some people live completely absorbed by the Dhamma. They live in the Dhamma. In any case, that's how I see it. As for defining 'Dhamma' as 'The Buddha's Teaching' it might be better to think: 'The Objects of the Awakened Mind.'