Recently, we’ve been exploring the first two Foundations of Mindfulness - Mindfulness of the Body and Mindfulness of Feeling Tone (Vedana). This every day, on-going miracle of our body has always been how we know our world so it’s not surprising we take it for granted. Much of what we expect from our bodies is not what’s happening in the present moment.
So mindfulness of the body allows us a deeper exploration of what is true in our bodies and what our experience is actually like. But when we sit in meditation, we regard and explore this body with our minds - something much more amorphous than our bodies. And our mental experience is different from our bodies. It doesn’t conform to the shape of our bodies, it is not bound by form or shape, it doesn’t restrict itself to bodily sensations, it layers on thoughts, images, emotions, mind states, wanting and not wanting.
So when we place our awareness on our bodies, we are observing our bodies through the lens of our minds - a lens we also take for granted and merge with what we’re observing but which has completely different characteristics and yet still allows us to experience our bodies.
As our mindfulness deepens and we become aware of more and more subtle experiences, we begin to notice that along with a physical sensation or a thought arises an immediate liking, disliking or overlooking. We like this, we don’t like that. This smells or tastes good, that doesn’t. The vast majority of sensations are relatively neutral so we don’t pay attention to them.
These subtle feelings tones are the heart of the Second Foundation of Mindfulness - Mindfulness of Feelings.
Bhikkus Bodhi points outs in The Noble Eight Fold Path that “Feeling acquires special importance as an object of contemplation because it is feeling that usually triggers the latent defilements into activity. The feelings may not be clearly registered, but in subtle ways they nourish and sustain the dispositions to unwholesome states. Thus when a pleasant feeling arises, we fall under the influence of the defilement greed and cling to it. When a painful feeling occurs, we respond with displeasure, hate, and fear, which are aspects of aversion. And when a neutral feeling occurs, we generally do not notice it, or let it lull us into a false sense of security - states of mind governed by delusion. From this it can be seen that each of the root defilements is conditioned by a particular kind of feeling: greed by pleasant feeling, aversion by painful feeling, delusion by natural feeling.”
To be clear, these feeling tones lead to or trigger the wanting, the rejecting or the over-looking but are not the same as the feeling tones. Those are separate mental events - subtle but separate - and can be discerned when mindfulness is strong. Thus, when held in awareness, these feeling tones don’t have to lead to unwholesome events.
Since this all occurs in nano second time frames, it takes a bit of sitting in stillness and letting the mind settle to become aware of these more subtle movements of the mind. And this investigation is critical because this is the chain of cause and effect that can lead us to one action versus another, toward suffering or liberation in this very moment.
Below are the first two tetrads of the the Sixteen Steps of Mindfulness of Breathing contained in two separate teachings of the Buddha. The first tetrad corresponds to Mindfulness of the Body, the second to Mindfulness of Feelings (or Vedana).
The Sixteen Steps of Mindfulness of Breathing
1. Breathing in a long breath, I know I am breathing in a long breath. Breathing out a long breath, I know I am breathing out a long breath.
2. Breathing in a short breath, I know I am breathing in a short breath. Breathing out a short breath, I know I am breathing out a short breath.
3. Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I am aware of my whole body.
4. Breathing in, I calm my whole body. Breathing out, I calm my whole body...
5. Breathing in, I feel joyful. Breathing out, I feel joyful.
6. Breathing in, I feel happy. Breathing out, I feel happy.
7. Breathing in, I am aware of my mental formations. Breathing out, I am aware of my mental formations.
8. Breathing in, I calm my mental formations. Breathing out, I calm my mental formations.
https://stillwatersanghamn.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/the-16-steps-to-mindfulness-of-breath/
"As the Buddha declared in the Anapanasati Sutta, 'When mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness. When the four foundations of mindfulness are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment. When the seven factors of enlightenment are developed and cultivated, they fulfill true knowledge and deliverance.’” ~~ Shaila Catherine, Lion’s Roar, Aug. 2022. https://www.lionsroar.com/all-you-need-is-breath/