Unfortunately, sati itself isn't described in Satipatthana sutta, which describes only the four sati-upatthana, the ways of establishing sati.dhamma follower wrote:While I totally agree with all of the above, I still think that "to remember to abandon the unskillful and remain in skillful" is only one aspect of sati. Otherwise, how would you make sense of the way sati is described in sati patthana?
Would you please give a reference?Sati as attending to the working of the five khandas is clearly also as important.
Why the skillful and unskillful don't apply anymore? The ability to distinguish them is the essence of dhamma-vicaya factor of Awakening. And the fourfold Right Effort is based on abandoning the unskillful and developing the skillful.Also, in vipassana stages, skillful and unskillful don't apply anymore, as there is only perception of paramatha, rise and fall, the three marks etc..., what is the role of sati then ?
Over and over again Buddha calls for shedding unskillful and developing the skillful. This is the essence of his teaching.
"When a disciple of the noble ones discerns what is unskillful in this way, discerns the root of what is unskillful in this way, discerns what is skillful in this way, and discerns the root of what is skillful in this way, when — having entirely abandoned passion-obsession, having abolished aversion-obsession, having uprooted the view-&-conceit obsession 'I am'; having abandoned ignorance & given rise to clear knowing — he has put an end to suffering & stress right in the here-&-now, it is to this extent that a disciple of the noble ones is a person of right view, one whose view is made straight, who is endowed with verified confidence in the Dhamma, and who has arrived at this true Dhamma."
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Best wishes, Dmytro