Do you invoke the metaphors for sati to help you in your practice?
There are several key metaphors for sati: 1) Gatekeeper (AN7.67 and SN35.245); 2) Ploughshare and goad (SN7.11); 3) Bowl of oil filled to the brim (SN47.20); 4) Chariot upholstery (SN1.46); 5) Cowherd (MN19); 6) Stake/post (SN35.247). I find that these metaphors serve as cognitive tools (retrieval cues that leverage the primacy of visualization in cognition, a.k.a., the pictorial superiority effect). They allow me to invoke the spiritual faculty of sati throughout daily life. Indeed, this aligns with one component of sati, which is “one who remembers and recollects”, in this case, recollecting the teachings around application of sati. For example, I find the gatekeeper metaphor helpful when meditating. At the beginning of meditation, when I am settling down, calling to mind the stake/post metaphor is helpful. Later on, as I am sitting still and thoughts may assail me, the image of being a gatekeeper is a useful mental tool. On the other hand, when I am walking, such as to work, the image of the bowl of oil is helpful since that aligns with what is happening in the metaphor (a person is walking through a village trying not to spill a bowl of oil), and it emphasizes the importance of continuous, unbroken attention. As I am working, such as on a powerpoint slide deck or something, the metaphor of a ploughshare is helpful because I am actively moving through material and documents, like a ploughshare slicing through the soil and I need to direct my mind skillfully, like a goad in the hands of a cowherd. When confronted with stressful news, calling to mind the chariot upholstery metaphor as a way to mentally invoke sati could be useful since, from my limited understanding, the upholstery is a cushion against the rattling of the chariot (this one is not as powerful viscerally since I don’t ride in rattling chariots often…).
Have you found any of these metaphors useful as cognitive tools to support your practice of sati?
In general, I find using metaphors helpful if not essential for communicating with people.
“It’s like Sysiphus rolling that big rock up the hill all over again.”
Ha ha, that’s a good one for some recent work experiences.
I find them useful to convey the truth about something with some diffusion so the edges don’t seem so hard or unpleasant. Or to correlate a complex idea to a visual that everyone is familiar with. (It also may reflect in part my cultural upbringing.)
All that being said, I love the sati metaphors – all the metaphors throughout the sutas, for that matter.
The sati metaphor I bring to mind frequently, while establishing sati during a sitting practice, is the carpenter working the wood with the lathe – long and short turns. Perhaps because I like working with wood.
I also visit the cowheard metaphor from time to time, probably because Ven. Anālayo uses it to good effect in his book on sati practice. That goes for the bowl-on-top-of-head metaphor as well.
While I am actually doing something – that is, not in a dedicated sati position – I tend to bring to awareness the breath.
SN47.8 (the Cook), SN47.6 (the Hawk), SN47.19 (Sedaka, the Acrobats), SN47.7 (the Monkey), SN47.20 (the most beautiful girl) are all useful. They contain the similes and parables that explain satipatthana as a safe place, a refuge.
I remember a metaphor of a skillful chariot driver. I wonder if it is in a particular sutta probably not from sn1.46. It comes to my mind when trying to observe it without giving in to chains-of-thoughts.
Thanks–I find this metaphor helpful too. Mindfulness is referred to here as “upholstery” of the chariot which I gather is intended to reduce the jolts/shocks of everyday life.
I found a great simile recently by Ven. Nanamoli of hillside hermitage. “The hunter who starts following you from the first breath untill it finds you one day or who fails to find you when you finish the training” (wording is my own, feel free to adapt as you fit)
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