which is like a map of standard stages through which diligent insight meditators pass in cycles. This connection is a fairly advanced topic that will be explored later.

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment might be regarded as a

pyramid with mindfulness as the base and each factor supporting and helping create the other. However, every factor is also important at every stage as well, so we will look into each of these and see what they can tell us.

MINDFULNESS

Mindful nes s has already been covered above, but in terms of practice I will say that mindfulness can be really useful in sorting out what is mind and what is body, as mentioned on the section on impermanence in the Three Characteristics. You might want to read that one again, as it is really relevant to practically applying these first two factors of enlightenment. Basically, we need to know the basic sensations that make up our world. This is the crucial foundation of insight practices. Not surprisingly, the first classic insight that leads to the others is called “Knowledge of Mind and Body” and arises when we learn to clearly distinguish between the two as they occur.

So with mindfulness we sort out what is physical, what is visual, what is mental, what is pleasant, what is unpleasant, what is neutral, and all of that. We can know what is a mental sensation and what is a related physical feeling. We can know what specific sensations make up our emotions. We can know each thing and the mental impression of it that follows it. We can know the intentions that precede actions and thoughts. We can know where sensations are in relation to each other.

We can know exactly when they occur and how they change during their very brief stay. We can and should sort these out as best we can.

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment

Be patient and precise. Become fluent in the sensations that make up your reality.

While I have tried to avoid advocating one specific insight tradition or technique over any other, there is an exercise that you might find helpful when trying to do this. It is commonly called “Noting,” and it has its origins in the Pali Canon in Sutta #111, One by One as They Occurred, of The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (very worthwhile reading). It is used primarily in the Mahasi Sayadaw insight tradition from Burma, though related exercises are found in various Zen traditions, notably Soto Zen and Korean Chan, and probably in Tibetan Hinayana traditions as well.

Noting is the practice that got me the most breaks and insights in my early practice, particularly when coupled with retreats, and my enthusiasm for it is understandably extreme. I still consider it the foundation of my practice, the technique that I fall back on when things get difficult or when I really want to push deep into new insight territory.

Thus, of all the techniques and emphases I mention in this book, take this one the most seriously and give it the most attention. Its simplicity belies its astonishing power.

The practice is this: make a quiet, mental one-word note of whatever you experience in each moment. Try to stay with the sensations of breathing, noting these quickly as “rising” (as many times as the sensations of the breath rising are experienced) and then “falling” in the same way. This could also be considered fundamental insight practice instructions. When the mind wanders, notes might include “thinking,”