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The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Online)
April 6, 2020 @ 7:30 pm - May 3, 2020 @ 9:00 pm UTC-6
US$100
Four Foundations of Mindfulness: The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
A Four Week Online Course | Starts April 6, 2020
What are the four foundations of mindfulness that provide a platform for insight, and ‘clear seeing’? Discover indispensable tools for crafting a powerful meditation practice.
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While we believe any undertaking can be a vehicle for awakening, there’s no substitute for the power of one’s own profound experience of truth, gained through meditation. This is why meditation is one of the four foundational practices of our teaching.
In this four-week online course, we take a deep dive to explore the Theravadin tradition of vipassana or insight meditation. We’ll focus on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, or discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which has been described as the most profound discourse the Buddha ever gave on mental development.
This simple yet powerful framework will help you extend your meditation experience to everything from subatomic particles to the vastness of space, and all that’s between.
Recommended Reading
To prepare, please read Namgyal Rinpoche’s short and pithy Breath of Awakening, a commentary on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta or Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
The book is available at the Clear Sky Center shop, or through our friends at Bodhi Publishing (recommend ordering well in advance, as delivery times vary). Order Online
Course Schedule
Starts April 6, 2020
PLEASE NOTE to deepen and integrate your experience, we are offering three optional weekly Master Classes during the course and an at-home Flash Retreat at the end. See below for more details.
Class 1 – Monday, April 6
Mindfulness of Kaya. Explore awareness of the body, form, and the transitions between physical sensations.
As with all forms, the body comes into being, remains present for a time, and then passes away. With this practice we can directly experience that the body (and everything else) is impermanent.
What happens when one acknowledges this impermance? Join us and find out.
Class 2 – Monday, April 13
Mindfulness of Vedana. The second foundation of mindfulness includes cultivating awareness of feelings or evaluations, and the transitions between them.
In this tradition, there are only three feelings: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. No story!
What does this dramatic simplification do to our interaction with feelings? As we note a feeling arising, being present, and passing away, how then do we relate to our feelings?
Class 3 – Monday, April 20
Mindfulness of Citta. As we cultivate awareness of mind or states of consciousness, we learn to watch as they arise and pass away.
What then, is mind? Does it make sense for us to link our wellbeing to our fluctuating states of mind? What choices do we have? We learn the answers through mindfulness of mind.
Class 4 – Monday April 27
Mindfulness of Dhammas. As we cultivate ever-greater awareness of phenomena, we develop awareness of the nature of consciousness (dhammas).
Are we conscious? How can we become more conscious? Is the universe conscious? How does the consciousness “I” experience relate to greater consciousness?
In this online class we explore the contemplation of dhamma for these keys to spiritual awakening.
Master Classes
Three Sundays
There are weekly Master Classes (akin to online Q&A Office Hours) during this online course to support your deepening learning and practice, on the following dates at 3pm MST:
- Sun. April 12
- Sun. April 19
- Sun. April 26
You can elect to attend all three or individual dates.
Registration & Dana links for Master Classes will be accessible to you when you register for the course.
Flash Retreat
May 1-3, 2020
Elect to deepen your practice via a Flash Retreat during the last weekend of this course. The retreat provides practitioners a valuable opportunity to integrate and seal the learnings from the online course, in a format well suited for our contemporary lives.
The retreat will include instructions, online check ins, and a Master Class on Sunday, May. 3 at 3pm MST.
We encourage you to attend this weekend retreat at Clear Sky Centre, or together with your local sangha, or if those not available to you, in your home.
Registration and Dana links for the Flash Retreat will be accessible to you when you register for the course.
Sangha power – consider organizing or joining regional in-person or online sangha groups to support one another during the online courses and Flash Retreats.
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