Mindfulness of the Body

Here a Monk, gone to the forest or to the foot of a tree, or to an empty hut, sits down; having folded his legs crosswise, set his body erect, and established mindfulness in front of him, ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out:

Breathing in long, he understands: I breathe in long; or breathing out long, he understands: I breathe out long.

Breathing in short, he understands: I breathe in short; or breathing out short, he understands: I breathe out short.

He trains thus: I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body; he trains thus: I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.

He trains thus: I shall breathe in calming the bodily sensations; he trains thus: I shall breathe out calming the bodily sensations.

As he resides thus diligent, dedicated, and determined, his memories and thoughts based on the household life are abandoned; with their abandoning, his mind becomes steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness, and concentrated.

That is how a Monk develops mindfulness of the body.

(Reference: MN 119)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares another Teaching guiding a Practitioner to develop Right Mindfulness of bodily sensations as part of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

“Experiencing the whole body” is guiding a Practitioner to have awareness of the bodily sensations that arise, exist, and then fade away during meditation which then becomes helpful in daily life. The mind can observe the impermanent nature of these bodily sensations to develop the mind to understand impermanence while cultivating awareness of mind.

“As he resides thus diligent, dedicated, and determined” is encouraging a Practitioner to remain dedicated to the practice of Breathing Mindfulness Meditation.

“His memories and thoughts based on the household life are abandoned” guides a Practitioner to let go of the past focusing the mind on the breath, the present moment, during meditation. This trains the mind to reside only in the present moment, not longing for the past or the future. His guidance was for the Ordained Practitioners who left the household life. For a Household Practitioner, you can use this guidance to train the mind to let go of pleasant or painful experiences in the past, rooting the mind into the present moment.

“With their abandoning his mind becomes steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness, and concentrated” helps a Practitioner understand what they need to accomplish during Breathing Mindfulness Meditation sessions. The Practitioner will need to focus the mind on the breath to eliminate craving/desire/attachment while cultivating mindfulness (awareness of mind) and developing concentration or singleness of mind while quieting the thoughts.

A mind trained in this way will then be able to perform optimally in daily life through the elimination of craving/desire/attachment and having cultivated mindfulness (i.e. awareness of mind) and concentration (i.e. singleness of mind) by focusing on only one task at a time.

The Buddha explains the purpose of this Teaching through explaining “that is how a Monk develops mindfulness of the body”.