Observations placeholder
Mahasatipatthana Sutta
Identifier
010192
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10) (Sanskrit: Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra स्मृत्युपस्थान सूत्र, Chinese: 念處經; The Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness) and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22) (The Great Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness) are two of the most important and widely studied discourses in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, acting as the foundation for Buddhist mindfulness meditation practice. A similar parallel sutra is found in the Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvastivadin school, and has been embraced by contemporary Mahayana practitioners such as Thich Nhat Hanh
A description of the experience
Mahasatipatthana Sutta
...Just as if a skilled butcher or his assistant, having slaughtered a cow, were to sit at a crossroads with the carcass divided into portions, so a monk reviews this very body ... in terms of the elements: 'There are in this body the earth-element, the water-element, the fire-element, the air-element.' So he abides contemplating body as body internally....