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| Muddled Mindfulness (Muttha Sati) |
글 | Hye Wol Sunim
Mindfulness is a concept that we are very familiar with as meditators. We know that it is very important to develop mindfulness in our everyday life. Mindfulness is a very important aspect of Buddhist practice. Though there is a lot of information on mindfulness available, we rarely hear about muddled mindfulness (muttha sati). Buddha has provided clear descriptions for us to recognize muddled mindfulness. In Majjima Nikaya #118, and in several other discourses, Buddha states that there is no mindfulness of in-breathing and out-breathing for one who has muddled mindfulness and lack of awareness.
Often, when muddled mindfulness is mentioned in the suttas, it is translated as “forgetfulness.” If one takes mindfulness to be memory, using “forgetfulness” as the opposite of mindfulness is fine. But when we look deeply into the meaning of “sati,” we find that it is much more than just memory. Though many people seem to have taken mindfulness to be doing things slowly, it is not that. Mindfulness is a mental state of minimizing the habitual biases that affect every area of our life. When mindfulness is stable, it does not encourage any thoughts of past, future, or present to arise – thoughts that might contaminate the mind with negative and positive responses. Mindfulness closes the gates when covetousness and agitation begin to flood in.
Therefore, muddled mindfulness (muttha sati), the opposite of mindfulness, cannot be simply forgetfulness. In fact, some meditation teachers and practitioners may have well-developed mindfulness yet, at times, they are forgetful – leaving behind their keys or meditation cushion. Forgetfulness is not what the Buddha means by muttha sati. Neither does muttha sati mean the inability to consistently stay with in-breathing and out-breathing as a meditation object.
Muddled mindfulness is deeply rooted in our six senses. In our everyday life, if we are not mindful, muddled mindfulness is in charge. Muddled mindfulness is like my badly behaved best friend. On one hand, he is my best friend and, on the other hand, he causes me unhappiness. Muddled mindfulness goes with asampajjana (unawareness), just as mindfulness goes with sampajana (awareness). Muddled mindfulness ties us down to appetency and frustration and leads to the accumulation of suffering. These conditions gradually take over the mind and one begins to personalize suffering as me and mine. This personalizing is what unawareness (asampajjana) means.
In our daily sense experience, if we remember things and pursue them with the expectation of happiness, then our mind attaches to them. Gradually this attachment develops and we experience various forms of pain, sorrow and anxiety when our expectations are not met. Then appetency and frustration begin to strike us hard. This shows that our way of existing is making us weary, and the conditions for suffering are accumulating. When we experience this pain, it is the result of muddled mindfulness.
The main characteristic of muddled mindfulness is chasing objects without presence of mind, thinking that what we are reaching for will actually bring us happiness. This reaching is described as “piya nimitta manasikara” (“dwelling on desirable objects”) - it's like fantasizing about winning the lottery. Muddled mindfulness always makes us live far away from ourselves. It makes us “leave our dwelling behind” and yet makes us feel very uncomfortable as if we are eagerly looking for that very dwelling.
Muddled mindfulness is a form of mindfulness, a way of paying attention. But it is a way of paying attention that is muddled by thoughts of desirable objects and by expectations of personal gratification. True mindfulness observes all things dispassionately and without expectations.
In Zen, many incidents are related where, when the Zen master and student meet, the master is compassionately trying to keep the student away from this muddled mindfulness. “I come here to seek the truth of Buddhism,” a disciple tells the master. “Why do you seek such a thing here?” asks the master, “why do you wander about, neglecting your own precious treasure at home? I have nothing to give you. What truth of Buddhism do you desire to find in my monastery? There is nothing, absolutely nothing, here.”
In Zen, muddled mindfulness is not tolerated even for a moment. The Zen master has no patience to explain it by means of words. There is nothing to pass on as holy doctrine. “Thirty blows whether you affirm or negate.” “Do not remain silent; do not be talkative, either.” When you are fettered by the objective world, you are led by muddled mindfulness; when you are disturbed by the stuff in your own mind, muddled mindfulness rules the mind.
The incomparable truths of life can be comprehended only after long and hard discipline. We must be ready to endure what is most difficult to endure and to practice what is most difficult to practice. The inferior discipline and muddled mindfulness of those who are frivolous and full of conceit is not even able to set its eyes on the truths of life. With muddled mindfulness, all of our labor merely brings misery to our life and pushes us further into darkness.
