What is Right Mindfulness? 

Thank you, Doug!

Although this video is 5y old, the contents are invaluable to our practice. Thanks Doug for this excellent video. Sadhu sadhu sadhu 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you for this lesson. It has already proved to be useful.

Thank you 🙏 Be sure I appreciate greatly this synthesis of so many texts summarized for people like me.

Good summary. Thanks Doug

Thank you for your guidance.

Great teaching, Doug.

Hi Doug, you mentioned something to the effect that Mindfulness of the Four Noble truths is a pretty advanced practice. I think that it is gradual development of mindfulness which happens after having a few years under ones belt and practicing for a little bit of time. I'm speaking strictly as an old man. I'm 65. My body tells me every day that the four Noble truths are indeed truth. For me, just the simple experience of being a living being who is aging is pretty good evidence of that fact and and it helps the practice of being mindful of the four Noble truths. Getting old is an excellent reminder. Keep up the good work, Doug. I really enjoy your teaching.

Thank you so much for your videos, they help a lot.

Amazing video. Beautiful souls below are gathering in the comments below to help each other.

Awesome well pleased without delight !

keep up the good work

Good educational video. Hits home for everyone when it comes to the subject of inevitable death. Thanks, Mr. Smith. You have covered mostly everything on the topic. However, I just want to add that the Buddhist monks must spend their first 5 years practicing the Buddhist moralities before jumping into the 4 precepts and the eightfold paths. The main keys of the Buddhist moralities are the threefold training which I refer it to as a "Tripod of moralities", when one violated one of the tripod's leg, the entire tripod is useless. The tripod of moralities include: Wisdom (Prajna), Sila (Morality or the brakes if it's a car) and Samathi ( Concentration/ Balance). I hope I don't make you feel like I'm being intrusive. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Keep up the good work. I love it.

Hi Doug, at one point in the video you talk about 'awareness of our own ignorance'. Well, I am currently reading 'Zen Keys' by Thich Nhat Hanh and I am acutely aware that I have no clue as to how Koans are meant to bring on 'awareness'. I have read what he says about Kung-ans (Koans) but cannot get my head around it. Perhaps I am not ready to understand at this point. Zen seems to be rather tricky so I should perhaps stick to attempting Mindfulness day to day and in Meditation. Thanks for producing this series of videos. This one, in particular, has demonstrated just little I know. I thought I had a handle on 'Mindfulness'; but it appears it is a much broader subject than I first anticipated. BTW you may want to reference the books you mentioned in the description. Thanks again.

Hi Doug. I don't know if it is right place to write but I just recognized something very weird and I thought you might have some ideas about this. I was practicing Metta for a whole year, and I started to get these head tensions for this whole year but I thought it was some purification or something else. And I wasn't trying too hard with Metta by the way. I also practiced during the day because everyone was preaching Metta and I thought I need something like that and I loved the idea of Metta. Anyway, I never felt that good and joy while doing so, I always felt weird, dissociated, like unable to think clearly, cognitevely declined after it. It is weird I know but it was the case really, after reciting each phrase my mind would clench like a fist in the head. My native language is Turkish, and that experiences all happened when I tried Metta in English. So I switch to Turkish, and in 5 minutes I experience joy and happiness I never had before and my cognitive abilities are smoother than ever before. But with English Metta I was like unable to think anything because I was so foggy. And it was for a whole year. Do you have any idea what is going on? Or was there a rule to practice one's own native in first place? Thanks. !

Hi Doug :) Thanx for the wonderful video. Do you practice contemplation of the elements? And if you do what do you think of changing the elements of earth, water, fire, air with the chemical elements? You gave me a great hint with this and i have started this conceptual contemplation of the different chemical elements that consist the body and that are also part of the whole material existence. Looking for the self in the body parts and their constituent elements, thinking if i control them as being mine. Then thinking of these same elements on a universal level, how they merge into a different bonds that sooner or later are broken down to form new bonds, new forms, ect. The the constant flow of the universal rivers with the different types of wave, rising and falling. And from that point continue with the nex observation of the boy in decay and this continues change in the form (body) as mentioned above, from the conceit to the death and after, the different animals and bacteria eating this body, the elements entering in them, the final decomposition of this body into dust full of different chemical elements. I have started practicing the four satipathanas according Analayo writings but the body contemplation of the traditional elements is very difficult for me to grasp, and so decided to try it a more different look. What do you think about changing a bit the objects but keeping the core approach? Greetings and Metta

What are your thoughts on The Mind Illuminated, by Culadasa? I have found that one to be incredibly approachable as it provides explanations of what's going on through brain science.

Situational awareness

I think right mindfulness isn’t a unique path of noble eightfold path,it is alertness of other seven paths,even ordinary people must use it for happy living.

What is the difference between right mindfulness of Noble eightfold path & mindfulness in seven factors of awakening?

Doug, since traditional meditation (following the breath) is mindfulness of the body, would it be accurate to say that all forms of meditation are essentially forms of mindfulness? Also, just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, is mindfulness of death/decay done conceptually as well as while following the breath? That’s to say, I conceptualize about my decay (such as in the 3rd person view) while also following the breath at the same time ?

Brilliant video! Thanks a lot! 🙏 But I'd like to disagree with you about "unworldly pleasant feelings". You say that unworldly pleasant feelings are not something - from a Buddhist standpoint - that we really can become attached to. Or that we could, but it's more difficult. Or that it's certainly much, much less of a problem. Well, in my humble opinion unworldly pleasant feelings can become the biggest hindrance at all on the path... There's a relatively new book on mindfulness. An introductory historical approach: "Mindfulness - Where It Comes From and What It Means" by Sarah Shaw. Maybe someone here is interested...

Closed casket

Based on the satipatthana instructions, seems to me that "attentiveness" might be a better word than "mindfulness." My sense of "mindfulness" is holding something in mind, applying some idea to one's behavior: e.g. "being mindful of one's responsibilities." And even then it's a pretty obscure word in it's original sense nowadays, which has made it susceptible to being interpreted as something specifically Buddhist. As it is, Doug, you repeatedly talk about "paying attention to..." in the video. Or maybe, now that I think of it, less academically, "noticing." For example, noticing the arising of sensations and their disappearance.

Shadu Shadu Shadu You are a buddha.