MAHASATIPATTHANA SUTTA

The Discourse On The Establishing Of Awareness – VRI

Note: Pāli references are from the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana edition of the Tipiṭaka, published by the Vipassana Research Institute (VRI), giving book and paragraph number, followed by the Pali Text Society (PTS) edition, giving book and page number.

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Enlightened One was staying among the Kurus at Kammāsadhamma, a market town of the Kuru people. There the Enlightened One addressed the monks thus: “Monks,”₁ and they replied, “Venerable Sir!” Then the Enlightened One spoke as follows:

This is the one and only way, monks, 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 realisation of nibbāna: that is to say, the fourfold establishing of awareness.

Which four? Here, monks, a monk dwells ardent with awareness and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, ₃observing body in body, having removed craving and aversion towards the world [of mind and matter]; he dwells ardent with awareness and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, observing sensations in sensations, having removed craving and aversion towards the world [of mind and matter]; he dwells ardent with awareness and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, observing mind in mind, having removed craving and aversion towards the world [of mind and matter]; he dwells ardent with awareness and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, observing mental contents in mental contents, having removed craving and aversion towards the world [of mind and matter]