Satipatthana - Adhisthana

Discover the radical brilliance of the Satipatthana Sutta as a guide to Insight and freedom. Through meditating on the four gateways to mindfulness: the body, sensations and feeling-tone, thoughts and emotions, and Reality, we can experience this seminal text on mindfulness as a map of consciousness, a drama of awakening and a cosmic invitation.

This page contains recordings from three events on the Satipatthana sutta: a seminar series, guided meditations, and a retreat at Adhishthana in August 2021. Click below to expand the relevant event and access the recordings.

Retreat Resources at bottom of page.

Satipatthana: Mindfulness as a Direct Path of Awakening | Click Here

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Day 1

welcome And dedication

The online and in-person teams introduce themselves and offer an overview of the retreat, before ritually opening with a dedication ceremony.

Day 2

overview of the sutta

Vidyamala gives an overview of the sutta, followed by Sona leading a body scan.

the definition verse

Following Tai Chi with Hridayagita, Dhammarati leads study on the definition verse and presents a quote and questions for discussion.

Meditation

This session is a mantra led by Hridayagita followed by an open meditation sit

Day 2 study group questions | Click here

‘you can sometimes find a clear thread running through your life, revealing all your disparate experience as the manifestation of a single developing individuality … You might not realize the path your life is taking until you look back on it, but when you do become aware of your purpose, it might seem uncannily as though your life has had a direction of its own, independent of your conscious volition. As that direction emerges into consciousness, with the arising of some degree of clear comprehension, it is intensified and you can pursue it even more vigorously …’

Bhante, Living with Awareness

Ask someone in the group to volunteer as timekeeper.

1 / reflection / 5 minutes

Spend the first 5 minutes in the group, silently bringing to mind some of the most significant experiences in your own spiritual life. You don’t need to be too thorough about it: what naturally comes to mind?

Choose one event that you think expresses the ‘thread running through your life’, that expresses what’s most deeply important to you.

What is important and significant about that event for you?

2 / tell the story / 10 minutes each person

Share the event, and its significance for you.

Day 3

the breathing boDY

Two teaching and meditation sessions lead by Vidyamala and Sona, offering ways into meditating on the breath.

studying the breath

Tai Chi lead by Hridayagita is followed by a session with Dhammarati spanning study, a Q&A and a closing meditation.

Meditation

Refuges and precepts followed by an unled meditation

Day 4

exploring vedana

A morning of talks and meditations unpacking the sutta’s instructions on mindfulness of vedana.

study on vedana

Another session of Tai Chi followed by an unpacking of the sutta through study, Q&A and meditation.

amitabha mantra & meditation

Hridayagita ritually closes the day with the Amitabha mantra followed by an open meditation sit.

Day 5

citta

Progressing on to the plane of the heart-mind and identifying and working with our mental states.

Notice and transform

A session of Tai Chi, study and meditation.

Padmasambhava mantra

A chant of the Padmasambhava mantra folowed by an open sit.

Day 6

Dhammas and bodhiyangas

Two rounds of teaching and meditation on the dhammas and bodhiyangas by Vidyamala and Dhammarati.

STUDY On DHAMMAS

Following the usual program, Hridayagita guides us through movement, and then Dhammarati through the sutta and meditation.

Refuges and precepts

Refuges and precepts followed by an open sit.

Day 7

Sesshin

A series of meditations led by Vidyamala to begin to round off the retreat.

Movement and Meditation

The last session of Tai Chi with Hridayagita, and then a meditation with Dhammarati.

Thanks and farewell

The retreat finishes with thanks to the teams for making it happen followed by a sevenfold puja.

Path of Awakening: Exploring the Satipatthana Sutta | Click here

This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha and discontent, for acquiring the true method, for the realization of Nibbana, namely, the four satipatthanas’.

If you have found the Path of Awakening seminars helpful, please consider donating using the button below.

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1. Introducing the Satipatthana Sutta

Dhammarati begins this seminar series with an overview of the sutta, elucidating its many beautiful aspects.

2. Sensations

Dhammarati explores the vedana section of the Satipatthana group and how this can help us upon the direct path to awakening.

3. Kleshas

How can we bring a quality of awareness that attends but isn’t shaped by our experience, even when in the grip of the kleshas?

4. The awakening factors

How can we work to quieten the hinderances and instead put our energy into strengthening our direct experience of ‘the currents within us of that lead to liberation’.

Laying the Foundations: Meditating with the Satipatthana Sutta | Click here

By learning how to direct an active, intelligent awareness towards our breathing, bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts we become able to see into the constantly changing nature of reality and free ourselves from clinging.

If you have found the Laying the Foundations guided meditations helpful, please consider donating using the button below.

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