Is mindfulness actually a power in its own right as claimed by the title of this essay?

Seen from the viewpoint of the ordinary pursuits of life, it does not seem so.

From that angle mindfulness, or attention, has a rather modest place among many other seemingly more important mental faculties serving the purpose of variegated wish-fulfilment.

Here, mindfulness means just "to watch one's steps" so that one may not stumble or miss a chance in the pursuit of one's aims.

Only in the case of specific tasks and skills is mindfulness sometimes cultivated more deliberately, but here too it is still regarded as a subservient function, and its wider scope and possibilities are not recognised.

So mindfulness is different from other mental factors, such as devotion, energy, imagination and intelligence.

Mindfulness is not brash or loud, not apologising for its presence, not delivered with hate or greed and is a quality which has to be cultivated to be appreciated.

Mindfulness is slow and deliberate and you may think it is boring in nature.

It is not boring, it is invigorating.

If you have mindfulness and a person tells you four things, you hear the four things and remember them.

If you have less mindfulness and a person tells you four things, you may actually only hear two or three of these things, because your attention wanders.

You then only remember what you heard.

To study anything, mindfulness is all-helpful.

Putting this in another way, all things can be mastered by mindfulness.

In ordinary life for most people mindfulness, or attention, is rarely sustained long enough for the purpose of careful and factual observation.

This is because when we hear things we do not like to hear, we follow our hearing with an emotional reaction and get lost in the emotions rather than in remembering what was being said.

In Buddha's teachings mindfulness is called by the Pali word "SATI" and is linked with clear comprehension of the right purpose or suitability of what we want to do or how we want to act.

If we have little "SATI" we cannot plan a useful day's work, pleasure or sleep.

Lack of "SATI" means we take the first thing that comes into our mind and act on it because we are too impatient to think the thing through to a better result.

It is irrelevant whether you use lateral thinking, convergent thinking, divergent thinking or matrix thinking if we cannot hold "SATI" on these sorts of thinking.

We will never resolve our problems with clear comprehension without "SATI".

We will remain vague and fragmented because everything we think about will lead to faulty perceptions and misjudgments.

By mis-judgment we mean poor financial management, poor job management, poor human relation management, poor family relation management, poor study management, poor taste in furnishings, architecture, art and culture in general.

When you fall under the spell of casual impressions too often, you will stumble over many harsh things, like stumbling over stoves in a road and not finding gem stones which are lying there.

There is much unfinished business in our minds when we have little "SATI".

It is through the daily little negligence in thoughts, words and deeds going on over many years of our lives that is cheaply responsible for the untidiness and confusion we find in our minds.

This negligence causes trouble and allows the bad ideas to stay in the mind.

If you had a house and you added a little dirt to the interior everyday and it went on for several years, the house would look like a vast heap of rubbish.

It is the same with your mind.

The dark untidy corners of the mind are the hide-outs of our worst enemies which takes the form of all sorts of unwise actions.

The way to stop this is to determine to increase our mindfulness, which is the same as removing dirt from our house.

If we cleaned everyday, we would end up with a nice house.

Mental taints muddy us up.

Mental clarity, which results from "SATI" purifies the mud off our minds.

Mental clarity comes to be by the way of mindfulness which is called in pali "SATIPATTHANA MAGGA".

The word "MAGGA" means "PATH".

Bare attention tidies up and regulates the mind by sorting out and identifying the various confused strands of mental process.

The power of mindfulness has been explained in many ways by Buddha.

To know the name of a force, a being or an object was for primitive man, identical with mastery over it.

That ancient belief in the magical potency of names appears in many fairy tales and myths where the power of the demon is broken just by facing him or her courageously and pronouncing his or her name.

When we can accurately label our fears we find lurking in our mind, the mere name generally sets the mind up to find an intelligent solution to overcome the imagined problem.

Many people have fear of wealth, this is incorrect.

Many people have fear of health, this is incorrect.

Many people have fear of responsibility, this is incorrect.

And so on.

After the first victory is won by using mindfulness on a problem, and the fear is identified, then it can be conquered and one's self esteem becomes better.

If thoughts are only shoved aside without being carefully examined, and are left unattended, the fears will grow more and more over time.

Often, through lack of mindfulness, we camouflage negative things in our mind with respect to the labels hoping to hide their true nature.

These procedures of mislabelling things and lacking honesty in self evaluation, because of fear of what the neighbours will say, are not good for you.

You must control your mental health and avoid the use of ignorance and camouflage on undesirable thoughts.

By this method, the detrimental consequences on the structure of the subconscious minds and interference with your mental efforts can be avoided.

Over time, by the power of mindfulness you can call your personal shortcomings by their right names and at that point you will start to improve remarkably because you will weaken the effects of your own negative minds.

You will not be inclined to keep up the lying camouflage of your negativities and you will develop the wholesome power of a sense of moral shame which is called in pali "HIRI-BALA".

"BALA" means "STRENGTH".

As you develop your "BALA" increases very much and you can conquer yourself without too much trouble.

This naming or bare registering seems to be indicated by formulating statements about yourself by way of direct speech.

Direct speech is the opposite to camouflage speech.

Examples of direct speech are of four types:

The first type is in respect of feelings of three types.

"When experiencing a pleasant feeling, he or she knows:

'I experience a pleasant feeling';

When experiencing an unpleasant feeling he or she knows:

" I experience an unpleasant feeling"

and the same knowing with ..........

"I experience a neither pleasant nor unpleasant feeling".

The second type is with respect to states of mind - wholesome or unwholesome -

"He or she knows of a lustful (state of) mind, 'Mind is lustful'," and so on......;

The third type is:

"If (the hindrance of) sense desire is present in him or her:

he or she knows, 'Sense desire is present in me', " etc."

Mindfulness is vital because it is one of the enlightenment or awakening factors.

So, when the practice is well developed he or she arrives at the fourth stage of this type.

"If the enlightenment factor mindfulness is present in him or her, he or she knows, "The enlightenment factor mindfulness is present in me".

Then, as things develop you become aware if the enlightenment factor of mindfulness is absent ....AND IF SO make merit and quickly generate causes to bring mindfulness to you mind.

This is the way you tidy-up and name mental processes which is preparation for the full understanding next stage of insight called vipassana in the Pali language

Functions discovered by bare attention can help dispel the illusion that mental processes are compact as if they were set in granite.

Over time, you can understand how your mental state can be improved and when it is improved you are ready to start the next stage of the Buddha Dhamma Path.

But it is not easy so be prepared to meet obstacles.

Both the world around us and the world of the uncultivated minds are full of hostile and conflicting forces.

This is understandable when you know you live in the human world.

We are not living in a heaven world.

Australia, and particularly Victoria, is fortunate when we make comparison with other countries.

At the moment, two thirds of Bangladesh is under water and by comparison of world standards is nothing like a heaven world.

We have been funding a Buddhist orphanage in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

Last Friday, after great effort, we sent some of the money we raised during our Convivium on the 9 September to the orphanage.

Last week, we received the following translation of a news item published in Dhaka.

How much of this human suffering, visible among the flood-affected people, can be written with one single pen? The story of each person is different and multifarious. Our suffering is rather more than that of others. The affected people who took shelter in Dhammarajika Buddhist Temple used to maintain their own livelihood somehow. With hard work for the whole day, they used to return home and after a meal used to go to bed with a tired physique. They are today driven from their own homestead. They have no fault. Even God will nowhere find their offence.

There are about 600 students in the Dhammarajika Orphanage and the high school. These are the two components of the Dhammarajika Buddhist Temple. All the students of this residential school are flood affected. The ground floor of the school, hostel, hospital, Pali and Sanskrit Education Board, and the main prayer hall are under water. The bank of the big pond is drowned with water. The kitchen and dining hall is under knee deep water. As the kitchen is low, the gas burner has been shifted onto the tables of the dining hall. Due to this shifting problem it was not possible to cook at all one night. Please think once on the problem of not cooking one meal for so many children. Kindly think how many sweet pumpkins it would require for these 600 children or if pulse is given as curry or pulse with dried fish.

Reverend Suddhananda Mahathero is the Chief of this institution and President of Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha. Besides this, he is a senior member of many international organisations. There are 31 monks and novices under his control. There are 30 staff members at Dhammarajika. The Government assistance is almost stopped for one year now. Has the Government and Secretariat deeply thought once for whose interest and instigation of such kind of negligence is shown by them?

Reverend Mahathero has given shelter to the flood-stricken people vacating the residential students. In the first floor of the shelter centre and long corridor, 76 families have taken shelter. These family members came from the areas of Rajaragh, Ahmedbagh, and Nandipara areas. When he asked rickshaw puller Jabba, he replied that he had come here eight or nine days earlier.

Relief assistance has come here three times. CARITAS has provided an amount of 5 KG rice, 1 KG pulse, 1 KG salt per family. 24 inmates of Dhammarajika have got rice, pulse with them. The Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Mohammed Hanif at the time of his visit to Sabujbagh Awami League Office has given two and a half KG of rice per refugee family.

On 26 August, Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury Hon'ble Deputy Minister for Shipping and Member of Parliament visited Dhammarajika and met Reverend Suddhananda Mathathero. He instructed the local Commissioner Mr. Manzu to inform the situation of Dhammarajika to the Mayor and to extend assistance. Commissioner once provided with flattened rice though this quantity is very negligible in comparison to the need.

The people of all the surrounding areas are getting the pure drinking water from the deep tube well of Dhammarajika as it has not yet been drowned. The people are carrying water by boat. The water is supplied by lifting directly from below. There is camp at Kamalapur High School besides Dhammarajika. Many people have made a roof and shelter on the footpath of Atisa Dipankar Road. The temp (three-wheeled van) and boat fare have been being raised. The shops beside this areas are not maintaining any hygienic rules. I don't know why the Health Ministry has no attention to this issue.

On 30 August, Nilufar Begum of Ahmedbagh gave birth to a female baby in the Dhammarajika Shelter Centre. The mid-wife Maleka Banu also has taken shelter here. This old lady wears a pair of full lance spectacle. The name of the newborn baby's father is Halim Mathbar. Mathbar was not available, probably he has gone to the roadside. On the seventh day the newborn baby will be named. In the meantime, the name has already been selected. The name will be 'Flood'. The long north side corridor was covered with clothes and the mother and newborn baby are asleep. On the other side, some curry is being cooked on the stove. Inside the room rice is being boiled in one's stove. It is six in the afternoon. One family as hung a duck in the cage of the window. This duck is kept for slaughtering in order to entertain a guest who will be coming.

They do not know that killing of lives in the Buddhist Temple is prohibited. The first precept of the Pancasila is to refrain from killing of living beings. Man cannot give life and therefore he has no right to kill lives. Lord Buddha, the son of Sakkya dynasty had extended the nursing task to the duck that was seriously wounded by the arrow of Deva Dutta, the relative brother and finally he let the duck fly away in the sky. Deva Dutta complained of this matter to the King of Sakkya. Goutam, the Prince, won the trial. All the followers of Buddhism remember this event with utmost regards and they never kill at the Buddhist Temple.

Refugee Jabbar, once upon a time, was my permanent rickshaw puller. He is quite happy to see me there. he used to take me in the office. He has a family of five members. He said, "I don't want to help. I wish the swift receding of water. I kept my house with lock. I am eager to return back home."

Reverend Suddhananda Mahathero has been supervising the construction of the bamboo bridges for internal passage of the temple. Water has receded about one inch. The face is gloomy with anxiety and he has caught a cold. Maybe he is thinking at this moment, "what curry will be served tomorrow?" "How will I meet the dues of my creditors?" "When will at last all the beings of this world be happy?"

We appeal for your help for the flood victims in that country.

Because of the crisis, cash only is needed.

The orphanage infrastructure cannot support the transport of goods.

Forward cash or cheques to the Buddhist Discussion centre (Upwey) Ltd 33 Brooking Street Upwey 3158 or call in at our Centre.

May you be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes and Leanne Eames.

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