Bhante @sujato
In your opinion where does fit the Four Noble Truths in the Eightfold Path?
In Right View.
I know, right? But it’s not all that bad! They got some things wrong; but that doesn’t mean that they got nothing right. It just means that, at the end of the day, we have to maintain an independence and a sense of inquiry, rather than believing wholesale what is said by one school or lineage.
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Right view is the forerunner of Noble Eightfold Path hence Four Noble Truths are part of Satipathana.
Thanks for the reply Bhante.
I am not that knowledgeable on the Suttas yet, so it is really difficult to knows whats what. I am still learning and there is from what I have learned so far a major emphasis put on this Sutta. I always keep an open mind, at least a I try to. Can you please recommend some books on mediation?
Luis R
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Just as forgery is a bit strong, I feel that original doesn’t quite apply either. When we read the suttas we have access to printed versions of texts that were copied multiple times by hand after they had been handed down by oral recitation during hundreds of years. Pali is as close as we can get to the language the Buddha spoke, but chances are that there are differences between his way of speaking and the language we see. Of course, translating into English and other modern languages produces another layer of subtle changes.
Key passages in one sutta turn up in lots of other suttas, identically or lengthened or summarised; this can be because the Buddha repeated his message over and over to differs groups of people or because later followers accidentally ‘moved things around a bit’. For example, even if the 4NTs were not originally part of the Satipatthana Sutta they are the foundation of the Buddha’s message and we don’t need to think of them as forgeries. Ven Sujato’s and Bhikkhu Anālayo’s work give us the best up-to-date accounts of the historical development of the sutta. Possibly the fact that the Satipatthana underwent so much ‘development’ can be taken as a sign that it was valued and shared more than other suttas; perhaps this can lead us to appreciate it even more.
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Following video in Sinhalese language, Ven. Kumara Kasspa clearly explain that Stipatthana is about the Magga and Magga Satya.
Which means that Satipathana is more deeper than it semms and cover both Samatha and Vipassana aspect of the teaching.
Ven. Kumara Kassap is a learnard experienced monk and deliver his Dhamma talk based on his personal experince as well.
Fair enough. In my book, I emphasized that the issue is not that any of the specific parts were later inventions, but that the inclusion and arrangement of them in this form was late.
This kind of thing happens all the time, of course, and normally it is not a problem. But in this specific instance, the choice of things to include, and the way they were included, allowed or encouraged a manner of interpretation which grew more pronounced over the years, until eventually it was essentially only the latest and least authentic parts that were taught and practised, while the rest—the specific meditations and their meanings—was mostly ignored.
Just to clarify, the 4NTs are part of the shorter (MN 10) version, and may have been original (although I suspect not). But what is clear is that the extended analysis of them found in DN 22 was added later.
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That is what I was trying to get at. Thank you for your comments Bhante. Your book, and your final paragraph here, have given me a deeper understanding of what it means for a set of teachings to be expressed through a whole tradition rather than in a single sacred text. Perhaps it’s only an affective response, but to me this adds more value to the teachings.
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I like “satipatthanering”, so I’m going to continue. 
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I may be oversimplifying things, but I believe that Buddhism is the Eightfold Path and the rest is commentary of various degrees of quality. If a sutta helps me understand or practice it than I value it more. Your time on retreats was well spent since mindfulness is the seventh step of the eight.
It doesn’t matter if we want to distinguish between Satipatthana and Satipatthanasutta. Satipatthana itself is the basic practice foundation for the perfection of attainment of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Please continue the study of the suttas dealing with Satipatthana. What we have to catch is the framework. Debating the text word for word may be interesting academically, but in practice it will be more to feel directly, experience it directly so that insight arises in our hearts.
Satipatthana as a framework is to recognize the four bases (physical body, bodily and mental sensations, mind and dhamma), penetrate and see the original reality as it really is. As to how it is practiced on each of the bases of contemplation, you can explore also from the other suttas. For example, while other suttas talk about contemplation of the physical body, meaning that it is part of Kayanupassana in Satipatthana, it doesn’t matter whether the word-for-word description is exactly as it is in Satipatthanasutta or not. So it is with the bases of bodily/mental sensations (vedana), mind (citta) and dhammas.
The aim of the contemplation of the four bases is to truly understand what it really is and then look at it with the perspective of boredom and let it go.
Reading the results of the Pali studies of the masters is certainly very useful too. But masters who are so good at understanding language may not necessarily have reached the stage of being able to “taste the dhamma”. Yet the words in the suttas are a semantic representation of “the experience of tasting the dhamma”.
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Forgery or not? Try it. Practice it. Then we shall know it is real or not.
Maybe it is another forgery, Ehipassiko … but it worth a try. Anyway, we are living in a world of delusions. Those who hold the power can edit the history as they like.
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