Dear Friends,
The seventh factor is right (or wise) mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a buzzword nowadays. If you use your favorite internet search engine for “mindful ___”, where you fill the blank with practically any subject, you’ll probably find an array of articles related to it.
But what is right mindfulness? In one of the discourses, Sariputta describes it this way:
Here a practitioner abides focused on the body in itself, on feeling tones in themselves, on mental states in themselves, and on mental processes in themselves, ardent, clearly comprehending, and mindful, having put away greed and distress for the world.
MN 141, see e.g. https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN141.html
We practice mindfulness with a particular qualities: ardency, clear comprehension, and the relinquishment of greed and distress. And we direct this attention to four progressively refined areas: the body, the feeling tone (vedana – pleasant, unpleasant, or neither), mental states, and mental processes.
Joseph Goldstein describes the quality of ardency as follows: “Ardent implies a balanced and sustained application of effort. But ardent also suggests warmth of feeling, a passionate and strong enthusiasm or devotion because we realize the value and importance of something.” (Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (2016), page 4) This is a willingness to engage even when things are difficult or boring.
Clear comprehension implies knowing what we’re doing and why. (“I’m eating cookies because I’m stressed.”) Joseph says, “Clearly knowing what we’re doing allows us the opportunity to be living lovingkindness, rather than just practicing it on the meditation cushion.” (page 12)
For most of us, “putting away greed and distress for the world” is more of an aspiration than an actualization. Our mindfulness practice will be a way to reveal the many ways we do get caught in grasping and pushing away – and give us the opportunity to try doing something different.
The four areas where we can pay attention start with the body. This body, sitting, breathing. As we pay attention to the body, we’ll start to notice the way we are affected by an experience – and then we notice how we by default respond – pleasantness conditions wanting more; unpleasantness conditions pushing away; and if it’s not anything noteworthy, we may tend to zone out. Then we can start to notice these mind states with interest – how is the mind right now? Is it grasping or not? Is it pushing away or not? Is it concentrated or not? And so on. Then as we continue to practice, we will become more familiar with the processes of the mind – what causes more difficulty (e.g. hindrances) and what brings about more peace and well-being. We can then apply our wise effort to prevent and let go of the less helpful processes and cultivate and sustain the more helpful ones.
This mindful attention can be directed internally (what is being experienced in this body) and externally (what we perceive others may be experiencing).
This is a rich and vast topic. There are books (like Joseph’s Mindfulness) and courses and numerous dharma talks (including a series that Jeanne has been doing) that parse this apart in more detail.
Without getting into all the details, we can remember this: as a factor on the eightfold path, we are practicing with the intention to avoid causing harm and to engage in what’s beneficial for ourselves and others. When we bring this lens to our mindfulness practice, that attitude of care can spark our ardency towards “living lovingkindness”.
With good wishes,
Andrea