Sati (; smṛti), literally "memory" or "retention", commonly translated as mindfulness, "to remember to observe", is an essential part of Buddhist practice. It has the related meanings of calling to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight, and the actual practice of maintaining a lucid awareness of the dhammas of bodily and mental phenomena, in order to counter the arising of unwholesome states, and to develop wholesome states. It is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: sammā-sati, Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Definition The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness," "to remember to observe," originates in the Pali term sati and in its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. According to Robert Sharf, the meaning of these terms has been the topic of extensive debate and discussion. Smṛti originally meant "to remember", "to recollect", "to bear in mind", as in the Vedic tradition of remembering sacred texts. The term sati also means "to remember" the teachings of scriptures. In the Satipațțhāna-sutta the term sati means to maintain awareness of reality, where sense-perceptions are understood to be illusions and thus the true nature of phenomena can be seen. Sharf refers to the Milindapanha, which explained that the arising of sati calls to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight.. "Even so, your Majesty, sati, when it arises, calls to mind dhammas that are skillful and unskillful, with faults and faultless, inferior and refined, dark and pure, together with their counterparts: these are the four establishings of mindfulness, these are the four right endeavors, these are the four bases of success, these are the five faculties, these are the five powers, these are the seven awakening-factors, this is the noble eight-factored path, this is calm, this is insight, this is knowledge, this is freedom. Thus the one who practices yoga resorts to dhammas that should be resorted to and does not resort to dhammas that should not be resorted to; he embraces dhammas that should be embraced and does not embrace dhammas that should not be embraced." According to Rupert Gethin,
Sharf further notes that this has little to do with "bare attention", the popular contemporary interpretation of sati, "since it entails, among other things, the proper discrimination of the moral valence of phenomena as they arise". According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
Etymology
It originates from the Pali term sati and its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. From Sanskrit it was translated into trenpa in Tibetan (transliteration: dran pa) and nian in Chinese.
Pali In 1881, Thomas William Rhys Davids first translated sati into English mindfulness in sammā-sati "Right Mindfulness; the active, watchful mind".T. W. Rhys Davids, tr., 1881, Buddhist Suttas, Clarendon Press, p. 107. Noting that Daniel John Gogerly (1845) initially rendered sammā-sati as "Correct meditation",D. J. Gogerly, "On Buddhism", Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1845, pp. 7-28 and 90-112. Davids explained,
Henry Alabaster, in The Wheel of the Law: Buddhism Illustrated From Siamese Sources by the Modern Buddhist, A Life of Buddha, and an Account of the Phrabat (1871), had earlier defined "Satipatthan/Smrityupasthana" as "The act of keeping one's self mindful."The Wheel of the Law: Buddhism Illustrated From Siamese Sources by the Modern Buddhist, A Life of Buddha, and an Account of the Phrabat by Henry Alabaster, Trubner & Co., London: 1871 pg 197
The English term mindfulness already existed before it came to be used in a (western) Buddhist context. It was first recorded as mindfulness in 1530 (John Palsgrave translates French pensee), as mindfulnesse in 1561, and mindfulness in 1817. Morphologically earlier terms include mindful (first recorded in 1340), mindfully (1382), and the obsolete (ca. 1200).Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 2002
John D. Dunne, an associate professor at University of Madison-Wisconsin whose current research focuses especially on the concept of "mindfulness" in both theoretical and practical contexts, asserts that the translation of sati and smṛti as mindfulness is confusing and that a number of Buddhist scholars have started trying to establish "retention" as the preferred alternative.Lecture, Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, c 18:03
Bhikkhu Bodhi also points to the meaning of "sati" as "memory":
In What Does Mindfulness Really Mean? A Canonical Perspective (2011), Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that sati is not only "memory", but also a "lucid awareness of present happenings". Also, he quoted the below-mentioned comment by Thomas William Rhys Davids as "remarkable acumen":
Sanskrit
The Sanskrit word smṛti (also transliterated variously as smriti, smRti, or sm'Rti) literally means "that which is remembered", and refers both to "mindfulness" in Buddhism and "a category of metrical texts" in Hinduism, considered second in authority to the Śruti scriptures.
Monier Monier-Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary differentiates eight meanings of smṛti , "remembrance, reminiscence, thinking of or upon, calling to mind, memory", including:Monier-Williams Online Dictionary . N.B.: these definitions are simplified and wikified. memory as one of the Vyabhicāri-bhāvas [transient feelings]; Memory (personified either as the daughter of Daksha and wife of Aṅgiras or as the daughter of Dharma and Medhā); the whole body of sacred tradition or what is remembered by human teachers (in contradistinction to Śruti or what is directly heard or revealed to the Rishis; in its widest acceptation this use of the term Smṛti includes the 6 Vedangas, the Sūtras both Śrauta and Grhya, the Manusmṛti, the Itihāsas (e.g., the Mahābhārata and Ramayana), the Puranas and the Nītiśāstras, "according to such and such a traditional precept or legal text"; the whole body of codes of law as handed down memoriter or by tradition (esp. the codes of Manusmṛti, Yājñavalkya Smṛti and the 16 succeeding inspired lawgivers) … all these lawgivers being held to be inspired and to have based their precepts on the Vedas;
Chinese
Buddhist scholars translated smṛti with the Chinese word "study; read aloud; think of; remember; remind". Nian is commonly used in Modern Standard Chinese words such as () "concept; idea", () "cherish the memory of; think of", () "read; study", and () "thought; idea; intention". Two specialized Buddhist terms are "chant the name of Buddha; pray to Buddha" and () "chant/recite sutras".
This Chinese character nian is composed of jin "now; this" and xin "heart; mind". Bernhard Karlgren graphically explains nian meaning "reflect, think; to study, learn by heart, remember; recite, read – to have present to the mind".Bernhard Karlgren, 1923, Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese, Paul Geunther, p. 207. Dover reprint. The Chinese character nian or nien is pronounced as Korean yeom or yŏm , Japanese or nen, and Vietnamese .
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms gives basic translations of nian: "Recollection, memory; to think on, reflect; repeat, intone; a thought; a moment."
The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism gives more detailed translations of nian "mindfulness, memory": Recollection (Skt. smṛti; Tib. dran pa). To recall, remember. That which is remembered. The function of remembering. The operation of the mind of not forgetting an object. Awareness, concentration. Mindfulness of the Buddha, as in Pure Land practice. In Abhidharma-kośa theory, one of the ten omnipresent factors . In Yogâcāra, one of the five 'object-dependent' mental factors ; Settled recollection; (Skt. sthāpana; Tib. gnas pa). To ascertain one's thoughts; To think within one's mind (without expressing in speech). To contemplate; meditative wisdom; Mind, consciousness; A thought; a thought-moment; an instant of thought. (Skt. kṣana); Patience, forbearance.
Alternate translations
The terms sati/smriti have been translated as: Attention (Jack Kornfield) Awareness Concentrated attention (Mahasi Sayadaw) Inspection (Herbert Guenther) Mindful attention Mindfulness Recollecting mindfulness (Alexander Berzin) Recollection (Erik Pema Kunsang, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu) Reflective awareness (Buddhadasa Bhikkhu) Remindfulness (James H. Austin)James H. Austin (2014), Zen-Brain Horizons: Toward a Living Zen, MIT Press, p.83 Retention Self-recollection (Jack Kornfield)
Practice Originally, mindfulness provided the way to liberation, by paying attention to sensory experience, preventing the arising of disturbing thoughts and emotions which cause the further chain of reactions leading to rebirth.Buddhadasa, Heartwood of the Bodhi-tree In the later tradition, especially Theravada, mindfulness is an antidote to delusion (Pali: Moha), and is considered as such one of the 'powers' (Pali: bala) that contribute to the attainment of nirvana, in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place. Nirvana is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion (Pali: moha) have been overcome and abandoned, and are absent from the mind.
Satipaṭṭhāna - guarding the senses
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Sanskrit: Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra) is an early text dealing with mindfulness. The Theravada Nikayas prescribe that one should establish mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) in one's day-to-day life, maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of the four upassanā: one's body, feelings, mind, and dharmas.
According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations, but to the awareness of four different aspects of raising mindfulness: the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā); contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (vedanānupassanā); the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā); the development from the five hindrances to the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).
Rupert Gethin notes that the contemporary Vipassana movement interprets the Satipatthana Sutta as "describing a pure form of insight (vipassanā) meditation" for which samatha (calm) and jhāna are not necessary. Yet, in pre-sectarian Buddhism, the establishment of mindfulness was placed before the practice of the jhanas, and associated with the abandonment of the five hindrances and the entry into the first jhana.
According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner, mindfulness provided the way to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." Buddhadasa also argued that mindfulness provides the means to prevent the arising of disturbing thought and emotions, which cause the further chain of reactions leading to rebirth of the ego and selfish thought and behavior.
According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
Samprajaña, apramāda and atappa