The Power of Mindfulness

Book excerpt: The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate and explain the efficacy of the method of mindfulness (satipatthana), that is, to show the actual power of mindfulness. Those who do not yet know the Buddha's teaching well enough to accept it as a reliable guide, may hesitate to take up, without good reasons, a practice that just on account of its radical simplicity may appear strange to them. In this essay a number of such “good reasons” are therefore proffered for the reader's scrutiny. They are also meant as an introduction to the general spirit of mindfulness and as pointers to its wide and significant perspectives. Those who have already taken up the practice of mindfulness will recognize in this essay features of their own practice, and be encouraged to cultivate them deliberately.