Mindfulness-Based Interventions and the Four Satipaṭṭhānas

This article explores to what degree mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can be considered to fulfill the cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness, satipaṭṭhāna/smṛtyupasthāna, in the way these are described in early Buddhist discourse. A comparative survey of the core elements of such practice, described in the Pāli Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta and its two Chinese Āgama parallels, shows that current employment of mindfulness in health care and education, in spite of some degree of affinity, does not really qualify as an implementation of the four establishments of mindfulness. Better precedents for MBIs could be found in early Buddhist instructions on mindful eating and on how to face physical pain with mindfulness.