The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is a short, basic sutra. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, along with the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, etc., are the core of Buddhism, the minimum teachings that a Buddhist needs to equip himself with. Buddhists, regardless of which school or dharma they follow, need to understand, know, and grasp these basic things. Practitioners of Theravada or Southern Buddhism probably always stick closely to the Four Noble Truths and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. As for novice and beginner Buddhists of the Northern school, this issue is very vague, and many people do not even know. Partly because of themselves and partly because Northern temples rarely teach or preach on these topics.

A very clear reality is that Northern temples and Dharma teachers almost do not go into the basic teachings but preach very broadly and ramblingly, even preaching topics according to the tastes of the crowd. Since then, many Buddhists who go to the temple only know how to be vegetarian, do charity, burn incense, pray, or recite a few sutras, but still do not know what Buddhism teaches or says. If the core is not known, then the flowers and leaves cannot save. People often say "life is a sea of suffering", but what kind of suffering? Why is it suffering? How to escape suffering?... they do not know, so the flowers and leaves cannot help us escape suffering, and we cannot talk about liberation from afar.

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is not only a dharma study but more importantly, a dharma practice, study to know the theory but must practice. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are four places that need to be remembered and contemplated. Although the sutra is short, once explained, it is very broad and when practiced, it is extremely effective. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness summarizes a part of the Buddhist philosophy and outlook on life about the body, mind, inner feelings, and external issues.

First of all, talking about the body, the human body is not an independently existing entity. It is a combination of countless cells. It is the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire combined together. Why did Buddha say this body is dirty and impure? Just observe a little and you will know right away. Every day the eyes secrete mucus, the nose has snot, the ears have wax, the tongue has phlegm, the pores have sweat, the lower body has feces and urine; inside is all blood and pus, if one farts a little, no one can stand it. The truth is that it is dirty and stinks. Every day we see beautiful people and find them attractive, with hot bodies, pretty eyes and noses... that is the superficial view, the false appearance, not the true appearance. Even if they are as beautiful as Miss Universe or an international male king, their dirtiness and stink are no different from those of people with ugly appearances. The body is a stinking bag of skin, born from a combination of causes and conditions, once the causes and conditions are gone, it returns to the four elements. Buddha taught us to look at the true nature to know that this body is impure so that we do not cling to the body. Because people cling to the body, thinking it is us, is ours, they suffer and create bad karma and then reincarnate forever. This is only talking about bodies that are relatively good, healthy, and have complete senses. As for bodies that lack senses, are sick, damaged, chipped... the impurity is even more terrible, revealing so much dirt and stench. The body is the first thing to contemplate, we must always remember and contemplate to know that our body is impure like that, only when we know it is impure can we let go, not cling to the body. This body is impure, it is not ours, it is not us.

Next to the body is feeling, this is a matter of the spirit, feeling, receiving feelings of sadness, joy, happiness, suffering, fear, anxiety, peace... It is both a subjective feeling and is influenced and controlled from the outside. We humans are like magnets with iron filings, all day, all our lives grabbing and grasping the external worldly scenes. The six senses contact the six objects and give rise to six consciousnesses, from which all kinds of feelings are born, but in the end, they still lead to suffering, suffering. How strange! Suffering is suffering, of course, but why is happiness and pleasure also suffering? That's right! When we feel, any feeling leads to suffering. For example, when we feel something beautiful, we develop a liking for it, leading to the desire to possess it, to keep it as our own, but if we want to get it, we have to fight, to compete... once we get it, we can become bored, or if the beauty is no longer as we wish, we become dissatisfied... that's suffering! Suffering comes from liking to fighting, suffering of having to preserve and maintain it, suffering of losing what we like, suffering of the feeling of love and pleasure no longer as we wish. The world is inherently impermanent, and happy feelings will eventually fade, so suffering is natural. Buddha taught that feeling is suffering, all feelings are suffering, people and things in this world are inherently in the state of suffering, suffering, destruction and suffering, so even if there is happiness, it will also lead to suffering! Buddha taught that feeling suffering is to let go, letting go of feeling is not easy but must always remember and practice, whatever you can do is good. Letting go of feeling depends on the ability, capacity and practice of each person. People who can let go of feeling will live leisurely in this life!

The third problem is the mind, we humans consist of two parts: body and mind, missing one is not complete, body without mind is no different from plant life, mind without body where to rely on? Buddhist philosophy and viewpoint highly respect the mind, considering the mind as the master, the creator, the mind leading all dharmas, everything is created by the mind... The human mind is very impermanent, sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon, love today, hate tomorrow, happy one minute, sad the next, it even changes in every moment from subtle thoughts that we do not notice. The mind changes according to the impact of external circumstances and changes according to one's own subjective feelings. When we get what we like, we are happy; when we encounter something we don't like, we are sad, even dissatisfied or hateful... For example, when we meet a beautiful person, when we are close to them, we feel proud and excited. If that beautiful person looks at us, is friendly or intimate with us, then our mind feels like it is flying in the clouds, our mind is so happy that it is ready to do all the beautiful person's requests. On the contrary, if the beautiful person is arrogant or bullies us, immediately dissatisfaction arises, even anger arises, immediately we react violently, saying rude or insulting words to the person that we liked just a moment ago. It is the same mind, but sadness, happiness, love, hate... it changes constantly. It is the same object, but depending on the way it is affected, it makes our mind agitated and change very unpredictably. The world is impermanent, all things change and die in every moment, so it is natural for the mind to change too. In this world, impermanence is permanence, everything changes and transforms without stopping. The human mind is very miraculous, it goes through the six senses, contacts the six objects and gives birth to six consciousnesses, the six consciousnesses in turn affect the mind, and are absorbed into the alaya-vijnana. Once the body dies, the karma and the good and evil seeds in the alaya-vijnana will be activated, leading to another body. Suppose we receive a human body, the mind will be activated through the six senses, but if we receive an animal body, the mind cannot be activated, although animals have senses, they do not have a mind! And the senses of animals only operate according to survival instinct! The human body is temporary, a combination of the four elements, so the impermanent mind is also reasonable.

The final issue is dharma, this is a specialized term and is also very popular in Buddhism. Dharma is a term that refers to all phenomena, things, and events from material to psychological, the meaning of the word dharma is very broad, humans, society, mountains and rivers, the universe... are also dharmas. The dharmas in this world are inherently egoless. Buddhism says that everything is formed by the combination of causes and conditions (science says this is a necessary and sufficient condition). When the conditions are sufficient, they come together to be born; when the conditions are exhausted, they disintegrate. Everything is a combination of causes and conditions; nothing can be said to exist independently or on its own. For example, the human body, in order to have a human body, in addition to the father's sperm and mother's blood, it must also have all the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire; and then there must be enough days and months, and there must also be a consciousness to be called a human. Another example is a car, for example, it consists of a body, doors, floor, wheels, seats... and each part is made of iron, aluminum, glass, rubber, plastic; and each of those materials is the crystallization of countless tiny elements; and there is also fire, water, and labor; It must have the imagination of an engineer to design it… In general, it is a collection of countless necessary and sufficient conditions to have what is called a car. Once it falls apart, there is nothing to call a car. That is egolessness. All things are inherently egoless. There is no self that exists independently. Everything is created by causes and conditions, and destroyed by causes and conditions. Expanding a little further, like the earth we live on, it is a planet formed by earth, water, wind, fire and countless other elements and factors. It cannot exist alone but is subject to mutual attraction and repulsion between planets. It rotates continuously and once it is formed, it will eventually disintegrate. There are countless new planets forming and countless stars dying or being merged into other galaxies… The Buddhists have concluded in one sentence: “Everything is born by causes and conditions, so everything is destroyed by causes and conditions.” All things are egoless! Everything is just a gathering, there is nothing that can be called independent existence.

The practice of Buddhism by Vietnamese Buddhists often has two main methods: reciting Buddha's name and chanting sutras and practicing meditation (including both Southern and Northern Zen). Buddhists who practice Pure Land Buddhism are often very vague about the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the basic teachings of Buddhism, this is a very regrettable truth. To practice, we must know what Buddha taught and said. We must understand why we suffer, the cause of suffering, and how to escape suffering. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are the basic core, we must remember, must contemplate, must practice to let go, to release, to know impermanence, to reduce suffering, to escape suffering... Practice must have learning, learning must have practice, if we only know the theory alone, it will not work, and if we close our eyes and practice without knowing the theory, it will also not work! Therefore, whatever we practice, we need to grasp and understand the basics that Buddha taught, the methods that Buddha showed.

We, beginner Buddhists, need to look back at ourselves, we must study and practice to be effective, learn the basics of the teachings, the core of Buddhism, and after studying, practice. For beginner Buddhists like us, practicing does not need anything profound or profound, just remember and contemplate the four foundations of mindfulness, the four noble truths, and the eightfold path. And then reciting Buddha's name or meditating is fine; if we still do not know the basics and only know how to recite Buddha's name and meditate vaguely, then the effectiveness will not be very good. The four foundations of mindfulness are not only a method of study but also a method of practice, an important method of practice for Buddhists.