The Principle of Proper Mindfulness

“Bhikkhus, this is the one-way path for the purification of beings, for the
surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and
grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realisation of Nibbāna—
namely, the four foundations of recollectedness.

“What are the four? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body
as a body, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and
grief for the world. He abides contemplating feelings as feelings, ardent, fully
aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. He
abides contemplating mind as mind, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having
put away covetousness and grief for the world. He abides contemplating mind-
objects as mind-objects, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away
covetousness and grief for the world.

—MN 10, Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta

"Body[1] within body[2]" means that you see your entire experience, the six
senses and their objects, as a body[2] that is accidental, less relevant, secondary
to body[1]. "Within" means just that: body[1] is at the "center" of body[2],
because it’s more primordial.
Body[1] can be anything that is a simultaneous foundation for the body[2], which
is that which you see, use, and are attached to, as well as anything you perceive
through it. Body[1] the material things that determine your body[2], such as your
organs, your posture, the Four Great Elements, your breathing, and mere
material form that is no more special than that of a corpse.
A simile to illustrate the relationship between these “two bodies” can be made by
borrowing from science for a moment. At the center of a galaxy, there is a black
hole which the other celestial bodies are orbiting around, owing to its
gravitational pull. But this black hole cannot be seen or measured directly.
Rather, the presence of the black hole is implied in the movement of the
surrounding stars and planets. But if unaware of the existence of black holes, one
will assume that there is some mysterious force orchestrating all that movement.
Similarly, when you don’t indirectly know the presence of the true center of
experience—of body[1] which equally cannot be perceived directly—then you will
automatically assume yourself to be that center. Your contemplation that “this is
impermanent” or “this is not mine” is just another star orbiting around you.
When that simultaneous relationship is seen correctly1,it becomes inconceivable
to exercise a sense of ownership over both body[1] and body[2], which together
constitute your entire being. You now see that you cannot possibly be that center
even if you wanted to, and body[1], which is clearly not yours, becomes the
“center” instead. Same principle applies to the other satipaṭṭhānas. They render
ownership not only inconceivable, but redundant.

1Not by focusing on one thing, which would only serve to sustain the sense of me being at the core
of the experience and looking at it.
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This “becoming inconceivable” point cannot be emphasized enough, given that
it’s possible for people to think that, because they can now supposedly overcome
the sense of self by “applying” an insight they got, they therefore have right
mindfulness —or worse, that they became sotāpannas. This is not it. It must be
entirely impossible for the assumption of self to ever arise again if the
enlightenment factor of mindfulness has been acquired—even if one doesn’t do
any meditation for the rest of one’s life and gets busy with worldly things and
complacent (which is what many enlightened laypeople back in the day did).2

“But, venerable sir, in what way can a bhikkhu be called skilled in what is
possible and what is impossible?”
“Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu understands: ‘It is impossible, it cannot happen that
a person possessing right view could view any formation as permanent—there
is no such possibility.’ And he understands: ‘It is possible that an ordinary
person might view some formation as permanent—there is such a possibility. ’
He understands: ‘It is impossible, it cannot happen that a person possessing
right view could view any formation as pleasurable—there is no such
possibility.’ And he understands: ‘It is possible that an ordinary person might
view some formation as pleasurable—there is such a possibility.’ He
understands: ‘It is impossible, it cannot happen that a person possessing
right view could view anything as self—there is no such possibility.’ And he
understands: ‘It is possible that an ordinary person might view something as
self—there is such a possibility.’
—MN 124, Bahudhātuka Sutta
Being able to see a body within the body, a feeling within feelings, a mind within
the mind, and a phenomenon within phenomena is what puts an end to the four
assumptions of which a puthujjana will inevitably have to be holding one.
“How, householder, is one afflicted in body and afflicted in mind? Here,
householder, the uninstructed worldling, who is not a seer of the noble ones and
is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who is not a seer of superior
persons and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, regards form as
self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form. He
lives stuck in the notions: ‘I am form, form is mine.’
As he lives stuck in these notions, that form of his changes and alters. With the
change and alteration of form, there arise in him sorrow, lamentation, pain,
displeasure, and despair. He regards feelings… perceptions… intentions…
consciousness…”
—SN 22.1, Nakulapitu Sutta
The imstructed noble disciple sees that what is “in” form[2] is form[1], and even
if they choose to embrace either of them and call it “my precious”, it would not
actually be assumed (upādāna) as such on the level that matters, because, even

2This is a good litmus test for the Right View: if you put aside everything you’ve learned about
the Dhamma and all the habits, practices and insights you’ve acquired, is there room to doubt that
the freedom will remain untouched? If yes, then whatever it is, it’s still not sammāsati, and it won’t
survive death. It’ll fail even before that if an event that’s distressing beyond your tolerance
threshold occurs. It’s because such things rarely happen that overestimating one’s development of
mindfulness is possible.
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in a mundane sense, assuming things is made possible only by the lack of
knowledge.

“Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: Within the seen, there will be
only the seen. Within the heard, only the heard. Within the sensed, only the
sensed. Within the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train
yourself. When for you there will be only the seen within the seen, only the
heard within the heard, only the sensed within the sensed, only the cognized
within the cognized, then, Bāhiya, you will not be “that by which” [the “center”].
When you are not “that by which”, there is no you there. When there is no you
there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This itself is the end
of suffering.”
Through hearing this brief explanation of the Dhamma from the Blessed One,
the mind of Bāhiya of the Bark-cloth right then and there was released from the
outflows through non-assumption.
—Udāna 1.10, Bāhiya Sutta

The well-known "in the seen just the seen"3 utilizes the same imagery of
something being "inside" of something else. One learns to see that that inner
"center", where the notion of self gets established, is actually nothing more than
subtler phenomena that pertain to—and thus could not have arisen without4—
what is seen (and the seen would not be intelligible without them). Namely, less
palpable/more ambiguous thoughts, intentions, feelings, notions, memories, etc.
If you actually discern that that "center" is also a thing, just much subtler and on
a different plane than the sense objects are, it becomes inconceivable to be the
master and controller of the seen, despite the fact that there are still feelings and
significances associated with it that arise as “closer”. See those as the center that
your sights orbit around instead of trying to achieve “bare perceptions’” or “mere
sense data”.

But the caveat to all this is that, unless a person has the Right View, they cannot
exercise these discernments on the right level5. Hence, before that point, one
must not forget that whatever one is contemplating is still on the level of theory,
and not think that one already understood right mindfulness.

Lastly, what allows one to obtain the Right View and really see those two
simultaneous planes, be it in terms of the four satipaṭṭhānas or “the seen within

3This has nothing to do with the fallacious idea of "bare perceptions", linked closely with the
practice of “noting”, which is underlain by the wrong view that Arahantship is when some of the
aggregates have been magically deleted.
4 All that’s explained here is synonymous with seeing paṭiccasamuppāda, the principle of
simultaneous dependence. It’s no coincidence that acquiring Right Mindfulness results in seeing
the Dhamma. “Whoever sees paṭiccasamuppāda sees the Dhamma; whoever sees the Dhamma
sees paṭiccasamuppāda”—MN 28.
5 Because if they did, the view of self wouldn't be there still—it can't survive when those two things

are seen simultaneously.

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the seen”, is seeing the "hint" of the mind6. And for that hint to be grasped, one
needs to have been practicing the Gradual Training—living virtuously, withdrawn
from sensuality and not delighting in the company of others—for a long time.
Unrestrained actions ("me here" seeking the pleasant objects "out there") and
unnecessary company ("me here" and other people "out there") automatically
abolish right perspective and further reinforce that wrong "center": the notion of
me being “here” in opposition to “yonder”, thus also fueling the pressure to act
out of that “yonder”.

>Bhikkhus, (1) it is impossible that a bhikkhu who delights in company, who is

delighted with company, who is devoted to delight in company; who delights in a
group, who is delighted with a group, who is devoted to delight in a group, will
find delight in solitude when he is alone. (2) It is impossible that one who does
not find delight in solitude when he is alone will acquire the hint of the mind. (3)
It is impossible that one who does not acquire the hint of the mind will fulfill the
Right View. (4) It is impossible that one who does not fulfill the Right View will
fulfill Right Composure. (5) It is impossible that one who does not fulfill Right
Composure will abandon the fetters. (6) Without having abandoned the fetters, it
is impossible that one will realize Nibbāna.
—AN 6.68

6 Cittassa nimittaṁ. See playlist:

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