Ep. 217 – External Mindfulness and Objective Experience, Satipatthana Sutta Series Pt. 14

Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Simplifying our daily practice into bare knowing, Joseph Goldstein instructs us on external mindfulness and noticing our reactions.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph Goldstein mindfully explains:

• The comprehensive nature of mindfulness practice
• Going beyond the division of self and other
• Insight from inference and inductive reasoning
• Contemplating the feelings and mind-states of others
• Being mindful of our reactions to other people's positive and negative feelings
• Keeping our lives in balance by not being overly self-absorbed
• Contemplating both internal and external mindfulness so that we can see phenomena objectively
• The impermanent nature of all feelings
• Thoughts as the trigger for emotions to arise
• Staying free in the flow of changing experience
• The storytelling the mind does versus the Buddha's instruction on bare knowledge
• The mantra 'it's already here' for awareness of bare knowing

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Contemplating externally not only keeps us in balance so we don’t have this total self-absorption, but we’re paying attention in some way, we’re enlarging the context of our practice. It also helps keep us attuned to how our actions are affecting others so we aren’t just lost in what we’re doing. We’re mindful of the feelings and mind states externally so we see, we’re attuned, we’re aware, in a mindful, non-reactive, non-judgmental way of these states as they arise in other people. We’re paying attention.” – Joseph Goldstein

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