Sati · Pāli: sati; Skt: smṛti

In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10) the Buddha sets out four foundations of mindfulness — awareness of the body, feelings, the mind, and mental qualities — and calls their cultivation “the direct path for the purification of beings”. As right mindfulness (sammā-sati), sati is the seventh factor of the Noble Eightfold Path; SN 45.8 defines it precisely as these same four foundations. In the threefold training, sati belongs to the division of concentration (samādhi), alongside right effort and right concentration (MN 44).

What the discourses describe is a particular way of attending rather than a general calm. SN 45.8 repeats one formula for each foundation: a practitioner “remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world”, and then the same for feelings, for the mind, and for mental qualities. MN 10 says what the practice is for: it is the direct path “for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding”.

The Pali word also carries an older sense that the English translation tends to lose. Access to Insight’s glossary renders sati as “Mindfulness, self-collectedness, powers of reference and retention”, keeping the note of memory and recollection alive in it. Its placement in the training matters too: MN 44 groups sati with right effort and right concentration under the aggregate of concentration, not with right view and right resolve under the aggregate of discernment. Our guide to the four foundations takes each in turn.