Key Terms/Smṛtiḥ
Study details
Abhidharma (Indo-Tibetan): In the Abhidharma systems, smṛtiḥ (T. dran pa) is classified as a virtuous mental factor (kuśalacaitasika) within some contexts, though it is more broadly defined as a mental factor that prevents the mind from drifting away from its object. Its function is to provide clarity and stability, acting as an antidote to forgetfulness and mental wandering. It is particularly associated with the "four applications of mindfulness" (catuḥ-smṛtyupasthāna), which involve the close contemplation of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. Pramāṇa (Indo-Tibetan): Within the context of epistemology, mindfulness is analyzed as a necessary factor for the continuity of awareness. It is what allows a previous moment of perception to be retained and identified by a subsequent moment of conceptual thought. Without mindfulness, the function of recognition (saṃjñā) and the stabilization of a target object for valid cognition (pramāṇa) would not be possible. Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): In Mahāyāna literature, mindfulness is expanded to include the recollection of the Buddha's qualities, the aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicitta), and the continuous awareness of emptiness (śūnyatā). It is one of the five faculties (indriya) and five powers (bala) that a bodhisattva cultivates to achieve realization. It is often paired with "vigilance" or "alertness" (saṃprajanya) to guard the mind from afflictions (kleśa). Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the context of Secret Mantra, mindfulness is essential for maintaining the "divine pride" and clarity of the visualization during the generation stage. It is also used to sustain the continuity of the subtle winds and drops within the channels of the subtle body during the completion stage. Dzogchen/Mahāmudrā (Indo-Tibetan): Within these traditions, mindfulness often refers to "non-meditation" or "natural mindfulness," which is the effortless recognition of the primordial state (rigpa). Instead of a deliberate effort to focus on an object, it is the spontaneous presence of awareness that does not stray from the nature of the mind. Theravāda/Pāli Tradition Context: In the Pāli tradition, sati is the central pillar of the path to liberation. It is defined as the awareness that sees phenomena clearly as they arise and pass away, without judgment or grasping. It is the key factor in the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna meditation.
ཐ་དད་པ། སེམས་ལ་ཡང་ཡང་འཁོར་ནས་མི་བརྗེད་པ། དྲན་པས་མ་ཟིན། སྔོན་མའི་གནས་ཚུལ་དྲན་དུ་འཇུག་པ། སྔར་བྱུང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྣམས་ཡིད་ལ་དྲན་པ། ད་ལྟའི་བཀའ་དྲིན་དྲན་པ། འགྲུལ་པས་རང་གི་ཕ་ཡུལ་དྲན་པ། ཕ་མས་རང་གི་བུ་ཕྲུག་རྣམས་དྲན་པ། ཆང་གིས་ར་བཟི་ནས་དྲན་པ་མི་གསལ་བ། ཡུལ་ངེས་ལྔའི་ནང་གསེས། སྔར་འདྲིས་པའི་དངོས་པོ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་མི་བརྗེད་པའི་ཤེས་པ་བརྗེད་ངེས་ཀྱི་གཉེན་པོ་མི་གཡེང་བའི་བྱེད་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།
སེམས་མི་གཡེང་བར་བྱེད་ཅིང་རང་ཡུལ་འདྲིས་པའི་དངོས་པོ་ལ་དམིགས་ནས་རང་སྟོབས་ཀྱིས་མི་བརྗེད་པའི་རྣམ་པ་ཅན་གྱི་སེམས་བྱུང་ཞིག་ལ་བྱའོ།
