Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a vast, crystalline lake at dawn. The surface appears solid, unchanging — a perfect mirror reflecting the world above. Dip your hand into the water, and ripples spread outward, revealing the illusion of solidity. This is much like our experience of self. What we perceive as fixed, singular, and independent dissolves when we look more closely.
This same principle applies to our mental states and emotional landscape. There is a current epidemic of stress and anxiety in the world. Many accept this as a permanent way of being. With meditation practice, however, it’s possible to watch what appears to be a solid state of mind fragment into fleeting physical sensations, thought patterns, and emotional responses — none of which are truly fixed. This transformative journey beneath the surface of our experience is precisely what the four foundations of mindfulness invite us to explore.
Within the four foundations of mindfulness lie the roots of the entire Buddhist path, across all traditions. These profound practices taught by the Buddha guide us to awakening and the alleviation of suffering. They serve as the practical way to experience the deeply analytical insights found in the Abhidharma — the systematic analysis of the Buddha’s teachings that focuses on the core ideas of the Buddhist sutras in a technical and philosophical manner.
“The four foundations of mindfulness offer innumerable skillful methods to examine our experience, providing conditions for our mind to become more open, pliable, workable, happy, and creative.”
Where the Abhidharma takes an analytical approach, breaking down each moment of experience into smaller components, the four foundations of mindfulness take a more direct approach by guiding us toward awareness of these experiences as they actually occur. They bring the practices of shamatha and vipashyana together, emphasizing the process of awareness itself, rather than focusing on any particular object. This deeply experiential approach allows us to observe every aspect of our lived experience. It provides us with the tools for examining our inner world and the causal relationship between body and mind.
Through this step-by-step process of cultivating a present-moment awareness of the four foundations of mindfulness — form, feeling, mind, and phenomena — we begin to nurture a quality of receptivity that allows us to see clearly, particularly from a causal perspective. We see how we create our own suffering! This gives us agency to choose to perpetuate our misunderstanding of how things truly are, or we can decide to systematically uproot and transform the very causes of the suffering of samsara.
So, how do we create our own suffering? The Buddha taught that we do this through attachment and aversion rooted in ignorance. Our ignorance comes from fixating on an unhealthy, karmic, habitual sense of self that pervades our reality due to three misconceptions: permanence, independence, and singularity. The Abhidharma provides a map to explore and understand how we identify with the contents of our mind, and how to let go of this habit. The focus is on an awareness of how we experience our bodies, feelings, mind, and phenomena, using them as the objects of our practice.
When we begin to examine our experiences, what we discover is multiplicity. We see that everything is made up of pieces. There is no singularity. We see that everything is interdependent rather than independent and that everything is constantly changing. Nothing is permanent; everything is impermanent. When we begin to perceive ourselves, others, and the world around us with this clarity, we can observe habitual thoughts, perceptions, and sensations without being carried away by them. Their controlling power fades, and we experience their coming and going as nothing more than the natural function of the mind, in the same way that waves naturally ripple across the surface of a lake or ocean.
Let’s begin by looking at these four foundations one by one and exploring how these practices can transform an unhealthy sense of self into a healthy one. We start with the gross level of the body (form), moving to feelings, the mind, and finally phenomena. For example, when observing the breath, we can begin with an anatomical understanding of the lungs and air, progress to feeling the energy, and finally to a deeper understanding of the subtle body. The benefits of these practices come over time and require effort and repetition, much like learning a new language. Gradually, we begin to inhabit them. These are not intellectual exercises but rather deeply experiential ones. By exploring and embodying these truths, we allow them to transform us from within.
Form
Most of us live with an unhealthy sense of self, based on ignorance, identifying the body and bodily experiences as the core part of “me” and who “I am.” From this perspective, which observes mostly from an external viewpoint, we perceive the sense of “me” as singular, permanent, and independent. When we examine the breath, however, it is composed of many elements, each made up of multiple pieces. These pieces are constantly changing, revealing impermanence. We can also see that these pieces are interconnected, revealing interdependence rather than independence.
Cultivating sustained awareness of this first foundation of mindfulness of form invites us to experience our body by bringing awareness to physical sensations and then shifting to explore our experience from within. As we do this, we start to see the impermanent nature of all things and the singular, independent self as an illusion.
Try these exercises
Sit on your cushion and turn your attention inward to all the psychophysical phenomena that are taking place. What do we experience while exploring the body’s form? For this practice, we can look to the four elements and how they are all present in our breath:
Earth – SOLIDITY: Explore and recognize the hardness, softness, and the firm and supportive qualities of your body: teeth, bones, fingernails. Notice the earth element’s solidity while standing, sitting, or walking. How does it feel sitting on your cushion? The touch of the ground. Where does your body feel solid and supported? Practices like mindful walking, sitting, and yoga can help cultivate this awareness.
Looking at the breath: When breathing out forcefully, notice the firmness of your breath and the supportive quality of the lungs as they expand and contract.
Water – FLUIDITY: See how his element is wet and flowing: present in our saliva, blood, and eyes. Observe the binding or cohesive quality of the water element, like perspiration that sticks to your skin.
Looking at our breath: Notice the moist and flowing quality. If you breathe on glass, you can see the moisture. Observe the breath flowing down in the body from your nose to your toes. How does it feel as it moves farther and farther down in your body?
Fire – RIPENING: Search for the heat and movement in your body. Hot, burning, combustion. The fire element has the quality to bring things into being. Examples include passion, anger, embarrassment, or blushing. What does it feel like when you’re angry? Nervous?
Looking at the breath: The breath is imbued with a quality of warmth. Hold your hand to your mouth and breathe. Feel the warmth. In cold weather, breathe out to see the vapor of warmth.
Wind – MOVEMENT: Observe the expanding and contracting movements of your breath. The wind element gives you the power and ability to move your lungs outward and inward.
This exploration through the elements can show us that the body consists of multiple pieces and processes that are constantly changing and interconnected, yet without any substantial basis for these notions of “I” or belonging to “me” that we all too often cling to.
Feeling
As discussed with form, mindfulness of the body is primarily tactile, centered on the direct physical sensations like heaviness, lightness, or body temperature. In contrast, mindfulness of feelings is concerned with how we respond to these physical sensations, as well as to our thoughts and emotions.
We experience a range of feelings throughout our day, even when we are not fully aware of them. We are completely identified with our thoughts and feelings, and we think, “This is me.” This is who I am. I am angry. I am happy. And sometimes it is completely illogical. For example, many people have an aversion to extremely warm weather and humidity, seeking relief with air conditioning, yet they willingly enjoy sitting in a sauna and actually pay money for the opportunity. When we experience strong feelings, we can use them to embrace our awareness of that feeling. In other words, we can use feelings as support for awareness itself.
Awareness of feelings involves observing the range of emotions that arise within us, including joy, sadness, anger, fear, and others. The practice is not to suppress or avoid these feelings but to observe and be with them with curiosity. It is natural to grasp at positive feelings and push away negative ones, but there are also neutral feelings, called dukkha in Sanskrit. These neutral feelings include a general sense of dissatisfaction or a feeling of incompleteness. Dukkha can manifest in many different ways, but at its most fundamental level, it is characterized by constant change. We feel unstable — that is the neutral sensation. These feelings are all part of our ignorance and confusion. When we allow them to drive our experience, they perpetuate suffering.
The practice itself remains simple: notice feeling tones as they arise without analyzing, judging, or trying to understand why the experience is the way it is. When encountering something pleasant or unpleasant, give yourself a moment to appreciate the difference between being lost in reactivity and being mindful of the sensation that is arising. Even in the midst of reactivity, we can choose to observe what unfolds moment by moment, and in doing so, discover the healing and liberating power of mindfulness. In this way, we purify our negativity and illuminate our ignorance.
It is through the mind that we perceive, interpret, and respond to the world around us. In essence, all of the Buddha’s teachings direct us toward working with our minds to transcend suffering and recognize our innate wisdom. This brings us to the third foundation of mindfulness: mindfulness of the mind.
Mind
In Buddhism, the mind is understood as the source of all experiences, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. When we explore the mind, we not only learn about its content — the thoughts, emotions, and mental states that shape our reality — we also uncover the intricate ways in which the mind functions. Abhidharma defines the mind as “that which takes an object.” Just as with the body and feelings, the mind has both unique and general characteristics that we can observe. The practice of mindfulness of the mind illuminates the transient nature of thoughts and emotions and empowers us to cultivate a more skillful relationship with them. This involves observing the flow of thoughts – the constant stream of ideas, judgments, and memories that arise in the mind. The practice here is to gently bring the attention back to the present moment whenever the mind wanders.
In essence, all the teachings of the Buddha come back to the mind, turning our attention inward to connect with our own awareness. It’s like the experience of looking into a clock and seeing all the delicate, intricate mechanisms moving in perfect harmony. Similarly, mindfulness of the mind invites us to turn inward and observe the dynamic interactions that create our complex inner world, and how that reinforces the felt sense of “me.” It helps us to get in touch with reality as it is, by exploring our senses, thoughts, and emotions. When we directly experience and know that the thoughts and emotions that control our lives are not so solid, we notice that beneath the surface level of thoughts and emotions lies a deeper, more expansive knowing — a wisdom that transcends the identification of “me” and “mine.”
Phenomena
This fourth foundation of mindfulness brings us to fruition and, essentially, freedom from suffering. Here we observe all five aggregates that constitute a person (form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness) together with the experience of the four foundations — all the things that are related with the concept of “me” — any sound, smell, taste, sensation, shape, color, or object related to the body and the mind.
The practice does not distinguish whether experiences come from the mind, body, or feelings; all phenomena are included. This also involves awareness of the impermanent, multiplicity, and interconnected nature of all things. Whatever arises, the invitation is to just watch. Let them come, let them go. It’s about recognizing the arising and passing away of all experiences, from fleeting thoughts to the changing seasons. In observing thoughts, perceptions, and the aggregates, there is the potential to access a deeper, calmer mind that simply knows. We may begin to experience more and more gaps in the flow of our experience — moments when our mind just comes to rest, what we call “open awareness” or the true nature of mind.
In Buddhism, particularly in the Abhidharma, discussions of “letting go” can create the perception that the practice is passive. But rather than “letting go,” think of it as “opening up”. These skillful means enable us to question the nature of our experience (shamatha) and how the mind relates to experience (vipashyana). Once we understand this, by examining our mind’s relationship to our experience and seeing this dynamic, we can actively uproot the causes of suffering. We’re no longer trapped in the delusion that perpetuates our suffering. We can open up and acknowledge our hopes and fears without letting them control us or our experience.
We begin to see that beneath the surface level of thoughts and emotions lies a deeper, more expansive knowing — a wisdom that transcends the identification of “me” and “mine.” Investigating the nature of our experience provides us with the precision to recognize the various factors that shape our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Through practice, we can shift our deep-seated need for permanence, independence, and singularity, without having to force it. Over time, these concepts evolve on their own, almost without our realizing it, in the same way that waves naturally ripple out across the surface of a lake or ocean. We gain insight into the true nature of reality — the inherently empty nature of all phenomena — and ultimately, non-abiding nirvana.
The four foundations of mindfulness offer innumerable skillful methods to examine our experience, providing conditions for our mind to become more open, pliable, workable, happy, and creative. Through the steady practice of being with our experience directly, we deepen our understanding of the true nature of reality and the nature of our own minds. As we do so, the three poisons transform: aversion becomes loving-kindness and compassion, craving becomes awareness, and ignorance becomes wisdom. The distorted view of clinging to things as permanent, independent, and singular loosens its grip, and our view expands to see reality as it is: impermanent, interdependent, and multiple.
The fruition of this path begins to unfold, empowering us with the capacity to see and act differently. We see how our suffering is created and the mental habits that keep us stuck. We can also witness the transformative process of moving from suffering to freedom by understanding what real freedom looks like. The good news is that the four foundations of mindfulness provide a path for training and ultimately liberating the mind. It’s a path that we have the ability to follow to realize this freedom for ourselves. In doing so, we can be of benefit to countless beings in the future.
