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I’m having trouble finding a more detailed description of how to practice sampajañña.
I’ve heard it variously defined as clear comprehension or clear apperception (perception with recognition), and that it is not just bare awareness since it has a knowing quality with the ña root.
Can anyone elaborate more?
The book “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation” by Ven: Nyanaponika Thera will be a good starting point in this respect.
To give you an idea the book says that according to commentaries four kinds of Sampajanna (clear comprehension) are discussed.
The above four should be considered in relation to Sati ( mindfulness) then the practice becomes a unitary whole rather than an incomplete process or an endeavor.
Hope this will help
With Metta
Thanks! Is the concept of the 4 kinds of sampajañña from the abhidhamma?
According to Satipatthana Sutta (DN 22/MN 10), sampajañña (from the word sampajāna = clearly know) is the practice of clearly knowing our body postures when doing daily activities.
However, in the SN 47.35 and AN 8.9, sampajañña (often mentioned with sati as sati-sampajañña) is defined as clearly knowing or understanding the feeling, thought, and perception when they are arising, remaining present, and passing away.
Thanks, this is more what I was looking for, sutta references.
AN8.9 is curious, combining guarding the sense faculties, clear knowing, and… the ten directions? Speaking almost as if the direction one is facing has something to do with the influx of unwholesome states.
Regarding clearly knowing body postures I guess we could say in modern terms this is the proprioceptive sense?
I think it’s a later addition because the Chinese parallel in SA-2.6 don’t mention ten directions when speaking about guarding sense. It has more simple instruction of non-attachment to sense-objects, which are more make sense and more common in the early suttas.
Perhaps yes, we use proprioceptive sense to know our position and movement.
Very good topic!
I came across the 4 kinds of sampajanna few years ago and they have proved very useful. Most especially the one around suitability, sappaya.
It allowed me to make life decisions around where I live, what I eat, with whom I interact with and even how I break down my day in terms of posture and bodily activities.
Another interesting remark is that the word sappaya is the root for the word sabai in Thai, which is very well known by those who speak the language as being the way you ask and answer how someone or you are doing (sabai dee mai krap? … sabai dee. ) 
No fears people, the sole source for this is not the ugly and so much disliked Abhidhamma … 
In his Pali-Thai dictionary (available in four parts here), Ven. Payutto lists the commentaries Dighanikaya Atthakatha (DA.I.183) by Sumangalavilasina and Vibhanga Atthakatha (VbhA.347) by Sammohavinodana as the references/sources for the 4 kinds of sampajañña.
Of these only the latter is related to the ugly, bad Abhidhamma… 
No. It is not from Abhidhamma but it is from the commentaries to Satipattana Sutta according to the book quoted above.
The nutriment of non-restraint is shown to be lack of mindfulness and of complete awareness (asati asampajañña). In the context of nutriment, the drifting away of the object (dhamma) — the lapsing, from the mind, of the knowledge of the lakkhanas or characteristics of existence (impermanence, suffering and voidness of self), and forgetfulness of the true nature of things — is the reason for non-restraint. It is when one does not bear in mind the transience and the other characteristics of things that one allows oneself all kinds of liberties in speech and deed, and gives rein to full thought imagery of an unskillful kind. Lack of complete awareness is lack of these four: complete awareness of purpose (sattha sampajañña), of suitability (sappaya sampajañña), of resort (gocara sampajañña), and of non-delusion (asammoha sampajañña). When one does a thing without a right purpose; when one looks at things or does actions which do not help the growth of the good; when one does things inimical to improvement; when one forgets the dhamma, which is the true resort of one who strives; when one deludedly lays hold of things, believing them to be pleasant, beautiful, permanent, and substantial — when one behaves thus, then too non-restraint is nourished.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html
I haven’t seen any evidence in the SA or SN that this is a separate practice of any kind. Instead, it just seems to mean being clearly aware of something. That is the way it is translated in Chinese, and the way it is used in the saṃyukta on the Four Bases of Mindfulness.
Interesting, I’m not entirely sure how it is used in Thai language. It seems “sabai dee” is kind of an emphasis, since I’ve heard responses like “mai sabai” or simply “sabai”. It also seems to carry a different meaning than “quam suk” (obviously another pali loanword from sukkha). What’s the relation between the pali word meaning “suitability” and the way sabai is used in Thai language?
What about in suttas/āgamas on the gradual training ?
I risk saying it is a loan word relationship. Also, I risk saying suitability is not the appropriate translation. Ven. Payutto used the English term well being if I am not wrong.
I’d like to discuss a practice that may be related to sampajañña. That is, the practice of moving the awareness throughout the body (body scanning). Specifically, as a preliminary practice to awareness of the disposition of the body or bodily posture.
(Body scanning is practiced in the Goenka method, but also features in the yoga nidra technique of Satyānanda Saraswati. Yoga nidra is probably rooted in a more ancient tantric practice of nyasa (placement) where mantras were “placed” in different parts of the body (or subtle body). Tibetan Buddhism, being influenced by tantra and Kaśmir Śaivism, probably also has a few related practices as well.)
Basically, the idea is moving awareness throughout the body, part by part — right thumb, right index finger, right palm, etc. In technical terms this would be a somatosensory, particularly proprioceptive, awareness. Neurologists have mapped out the relative size of areas in the brain internally representing the somatosensory system, and it looks like this:
When this mapping of the relative size of somatosensory representation in the brain is put into a 3D model, the look of it is kind of shocking!
Handsome little guy, isn’t he?
As a quick aside, notice the amount of sensitivity in the mouth and hands. Does the amount of brain real-estate devoted to the hands have anything to do with the pleasant sensation in the hands some people are said to experience in jhāna? How about the area devoted the mouth, does this give any new consideration to the “around the mouth” interpretation of parimukhaṃ?
What I’d like to ask is if this practice of moving the awareness throughout the body — part by part — can be helpful to Dhamma practice. Many Buddhist teachers have taught “counting the breaths” and many other techniques which might be considered preliminary practices to the full awareness of the breath and the actual instructions of the ānāpānasati sutta; could this kind of segmented bodily awareness be considered a preliminary practice to the full awareness of the disposition/posture of the body?
On the other hand, could this actually be detrimental and antithetical to Dhamma practice. Could this lead to an increased sensitivity of the physical/sensual body and it’s pleasures? As opposed to seeing the unattractive nature of the body when contemplating it’s grosser parts, or the transiency of the body when contemplating a decomposing corpse.
Analayo’s two Satipatthana books go over this topic in some detail. The first book is available online, but not the second.
I recommend them. The trick is to make sure one’s body meditation conforms to that tetrad of satipatthana, it seems to me. I used to do body scanning & such when learning to walk & roll in Budo Taijutsu, but I wouldn’t call it satipatthana at all.
Thanks Dave! I haven’t read any Anālayo yet, definitely on my list.
I used to do Booj as well, haha
Interesting points! However, rusty as I am from my neuroscience days, I think proprioception is related to more than just somatosensory input. (there is conscious and unconscious proprioception and even phantom proprioception!)
Futhermore, the somatosensory homunculus is related to sense input and in the case of the sensations in the lips and hands during meditation, I’m not sure what input you could identify? (Or ‘contact’ to use Buddhist language). Unless you are focusing specifically on the contact of hands with the other hand or lips with each other/air? I feel that ‘pleasant’ feeling as something different to this though. Although the increased innervation in these areas perhaps has something to do with it…
I guess there’s two things we’re dealing with here. The feelings that we receive when our sense organs come in contact with sense objects outside of meditation, and the feelings we perceive in meditation which may not necessarily be related to clear cut stimuli.
In meditation we are focusing on feelings inside the body and withdrawing from external contacts, so the sense ‘inputs’ are different, in my mind. Furthermore we are honing that awareness to just one area of contact - with our chosen meditation subject in an effort to establish unity of mind. I don’t think it’s ‘antithetical’ to work from this point of view because we have to start somewhere and I guess it’s gotta be in the sense sphere
I personally find body scanning in the beginning of meditation very useful to bring the mind inside and detach from buzzing thoughts and what’s happening outside. It’s kind of a useful induction to focusing on the subject and calming the mind. But of course eventually bringing the mind in to focus on just one point would be the eventual aim, rather than constantly scanning or focusing on different sense inputs, I would think.
I may not have been very clear, and I can’t say I have a very good understanding of neurophysiology either. My mistake might have been that I did not make the distinction between positional perception and touch perception. According to this Khan Academy video at least, proprioception is a subcategory of general somatosensation.
…it just struck me you may be referring to phantom limb phenomena? Very freaky! I’m really not up on the science of these things, but some wiki’ing returns that the current hypothesis is that such phenomena somehow related to the somatosensory system and it’s cortical mapping. Something like that, I dunno ¯\(ツ)/¯
So apparently there are two kinds of touch receptors, fine and crude. The “fine touch” receptors are especially concentrated in the area of the lips and hands/fingers. Fine touch is also known as “discriminative touch” since it can localize (know where the touch occurs) and is contrasted with “crude touch” which cannot. The hair follicles are also very sensitive. So awareness of the touch sensation of the breath at either the upper lip area or the hairs at the rim of the nostrils would be very subtle/fine.
As a quick aside, I think awareness of the breath in the abdomen or chest would be more related to movement/stretch sensation than touch sensation.
Regarding the pleasant feeling in the hands, it’s just something I’ve heard, I’m not sure if that is a common phenomena or not for jhāna attainers? This is purely speculative, but in the suttas it is said that there bliss is felt in “the body”, this would probably not be the pleasure felt in ordinary crude sensuality but a more subtle sensation born of mind? The body here as a subtle awareness of the nervous system, a mental body (in a very real sense the nervous system is an extension of the brain). I’m not sure how else to interpret what bodily bliss ‘sukkhañca kāyena’ means in the jhāna formulas.
As far as moving awareness throughout the body, sensitive to position and touch sensation, I might do it a little differently than the Goenka method. What I’ve been doing is following that somatosensory map, with special attention to the tongue/mouth/lips, fingers/hands and feet (just as the map represents, these are disproportionately easier to become finely aware of), working my way through the rest of the body, then I become aware of the entirety of each limb, the torso, head, and lastly integrating to an awareness of the whole body. I find it to be a very grounding practice, it’s hard to drift away into thoughts/imagination with this kind of bodily awareness. This awareness would naturally include how the entire body is positioned in space. If this is at all close to what is being talked about in the suttas with sampajañña of the bodily postures, then perhaps the grounding effect is why it is taught relatively early on?
That’s my question too, and I don’t have any other apparent answer for it!
Agreed!
That makes sense to me. The Satipatthana sutta seems to go from the coarser to the finer, as outlined by Ven. Analayo in his paper. And ‘mindfulness’ of the physicality of the body (touch, sensation) is coarser compared to the subsequent bases, so is a good ‘stepping stone’ from our ordinary everyday experience into the meditative experience, and get us grounded, as you say.
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SCMatt
Aug 30
I’d like to discuss a practice that may be related to sampajañña. That is, the practice of moving the awareness throughout the body (body scanning). Specifically, as a preliminary practice to awareness of the disposition of the body or bodily posture.
(Body scanning is practiced in the Goenka method, but also features in the yoga nidra technique of Satyānanda Saraswati. Yoga nidra is probably rooted in a more ancient tantric practice of nyasa (placement) where mantras were “placed” in different parts of the body (or subtle body). Tibetan Buddhism, being influenced by tantra and Kaśmir Śaivism, probably also has a few related practices as well.)
Basically, the idea is moving awareness throughout the body, part by part — right thumb, right index finger, right palm, etc. In technical terms this would be a somatosensory, particularly proprioceptive, awareness. Neurologists have mapped out the relative size of areas in the brain internally representing the somatosensory system, and it looks like this:
When this mapping of the relative size of somatosensory representation in the brain is put into a 3D model, the look of it is kind of shocking!
1
Handsome little guy, isn’t he?
As a quick aside, notice the amount of sensitivity in the mouth and hands. Does the amount of brain real-estate devoted to the hands have anything to do with the pleasant sensation in the hands some people are said to experience in jhāna? How about the area devoted the mouth, does this give any new consideration to the “around the mouth” interpretation of parimukhaṃ?
What I’d like to ask is if this practice of moving the awareness throughout the body — part by part — can be helpful to Dhamma practice. Many Buddhist teachers have taught “counting the breaths” and many other techniques which might be considered preliminary practices to the full awareness of the breath and the actual instructions of the ānāpānasati sutta; could this kind of segmented bodily awareness be considered a preliminary practice to the full awareness of the disposition/posture of the body?
On the other hand, could this actually be detrimental and antithetical to Dhamma practice. Could this lead to an increased sensitivity of the physical/sensual body and it’s pleasures? As opposed to seeing the unattractive nature of the body when contemplating it’s grosser parts, or the transiency of the body when contemplating a decomposing corpse.
daverupa
Aug 30
Analayo’s two Satipatthana books go over this topic in some detail. The first book is available online5, but not the second.
I recommend them. The trick is to make sure one’s body meditation conforms to that tetrad of satipatthana, it seems to me. I used to do body scanning & such when learning to walk & roll in Budo Taijutsu, but I wouldn’t call it satipatthana at all.
SCMatt
Aug 30
Thanks Dave! I haven’t read any Anālayo yet, definitely on my list.
I used to do Booj as well, haha
Cara
Aug 30
Interesting points! However, rusty as I am from my neuroscience days, I think proprioception is related to more than just somatosensory input. (there is conscious and unconscious proprioception and even phantom proprioception!)
Futhermore, the somatosensory homunculus is related to sense input and in the case of the sensations in the lips and hands during meditation, I’m not sure what input you could identify? (Or ‘contact’ to use Buddhist language). Unless you are focusing specifically on the contact of hands with the other hand or lips with each other/air? I feel that ‘pleasant’ feeling as something different to this though. Although the increased innervation in these areas perhaps has something to do with it…
I guess there’s two things we’re dealing with here. The feelings that we receive when our sense organs come in contact with sense objects outside of meditation, and the feelings we perceive in meditation which may not necessarily be related to clear cut stimuli.
In meditation we are focusing on feelings inside the body and withdrawing from external contacts, so the sense ‘inputs’ are different, in my mind. Furthermore we are honing that awareness to just one area of contact - with our chosen meditation subject in an effort to establish unity of mind. I don’t think it’s ‘antithetical’ to work from this point of view because we have to start somewhere and I guess it’s gotta be in the sense sphere
“I personally find body scanning in the beginning of meditation very useful to bring the mind inside and detach from buzzing thoughts and what’s happening outside”- i think i have to agree this because i have personally experienced it as well
