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Book Review
Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana
The Work of Seeing Clearly: Reflections on Mindfulness and the Path
Reflections by Rebecca Fox
The Simplicity That Cuts Deep
Mindfulness is often misunderstood as a neutral awareness, a psychological tool, or a method for calming the mind. But in the early Buddhist tradition, sati is never neutral. It is selective, discerning, ethically grounded, and aimed at liberation. The kind of mindfulness Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, (“Bhante G” as he is often called) teaches is not meant to soothe, but to clarify—to see with precision what is unfolding, and how suffering is constructed.
In its most radical form, mindfulness is not therapeutic. It is diagnostic. It shows the mind to itself.
This simplicity is powerful. Watching the breath. Naming the hindrances. Noticing clinging. The plainness of these acts belies their force. Repeated gently, they begin to dismantle the unconscious movements of grasping, becoming, and aversion. But the work is subtle, and requires more than attention—it requires commitment.
Mindfulness Cannot Stand Alone
The modern tendency to extract mindfulness from its ethical and philosophical context leaves it inert. In early Buddhism, sati depends on sīla, and is shaped by sammādiṭṭhi—right view. Without right view, mindfulness can become precise but aimless. Without ethical integrity, it loses stability. As Bhante Gunaratana makes clear, meditation divorced from precepts is fragile. The mind cannot settle if it is still bound by regret, agitation, or deception.
Right mindfulness is never isolated. It arises in relationship—with effort, with view, with intention. It serves wisdom. It reveals not just what is happening, but what fuels it.
The Hindrances as Teachers
Early in the path, meditators often meet the Five Hindrances: sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. These are not flaws to be eliminated, but conditions to be known. Each one teaches us about the architecture of suffering.
The brilliance of the early tradition lies in its realism. Rather than seeking purity, it invites us to become familiar with the unwholesome. Not to indulge it, nor to suppress it, but to understand it.
Bhante Gunaratana’s instructions are unwavering: name what is present. Know it. Watch how it arises and ceases. In time, the hindrances begin to lose their grip—not through force, but through knowing.
The Ordinary as the Vehicle of Liberation
There is no exalted state to attain here. No special access. Just posture, breath, and return. This is the path: quiet, repetitive, honest. The Dhamma unfolds not in mystical flashes, but in the rhythm of returning. Sit. Observe. Let go.
It is through this ordinariness that insight becomes possible. Not insight as an event, but as a cumulative seeing—gradual, deconstructive, and liberating. This is not the insight of concepts, but the insight that shifts perception. Seeing conditioned phenomena as impermanent. Seeing pleasure as unsatisfactory. Seeing all experience as not-self.
The practice is not grand, but it is profound.
Returning the Path to Wholeness
Mindfulness has, in many contexts, been stripped from its framework and repurposed. But the early teachings insist on the integrity of the Eightfold Path. Right mindfulness arises with right effort. It is clarified by right view. It matures in right concentration. This path is not a list—it is a structure.
When Bhante Gunaratana teaches mindfulness, he does so within this structure. He does not present sati as a fix. He presents it as a way of walking the path—clearly, gently, persistently—toward the cessation of suffering.
Reflections and Possible Practices
Daily Practice You Might Establish
- Sit daily, even for short periods. Let regularity be the teacher, rather than duration or intensity.
- Reflect on the Five Hindrances. Bring awareness to how they arise and pass in your own experience.
- Reestablish the precepts. Begin each day with an intention to act with integrity and care.
Foundational Shifts to Deepen Practice
- Let go of striving for results. Insight arises through stillness, not through ambition.
- Move from passive observation to discernment. Notice not just what is happening, but how it arises and passes.
- View mindfulness as part of a whole. Allow it to be nourished by right view, right effort, and ethical conduct.
Questions for Contemplation
- Am I practicing to feel better—or to see more clearly?
- In what ways do I resist the ordinary in search of the extraordinary?
- Can I meet discomfort with the same mindfulness I bring to pleasant states?
Challenges to Practice (With Reflections)
Are you cultivating mindfulness to be more comfortable within saṃsāra—or to be free of it? Comfort is not the aim. Let each breath be a reminder of the deeper purpose: liberation.
Have you mistaken calm for wisdom? Peace can be pleasant—and deluding. Look not for stillness alone, but for clear seeing in the midst of all conditions.
Are you clinging to progress, purity, or special experiences in meditation? Watch the one who wants to become. Even the desire to awaken is still becoming—until it is known and released.
Do you turn away from discomfort too soon? The fire of dukkha is where insight is forged. Can you stay long enough to see its true nature?
Is your mindfulness rooted in ethics—or only attention? Without sīla, mindfulness becomes cleverness without conscience. Let restraint and care be the foundation.
Are you using the practice to construct a better version of self? The Dhamma points toward disidentification. Let even the "mindful person" dissolve.
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