Sati
Sati, the Pali word rendered 'mindfulness', derives from the root √sar, 'to remember': it is the power of keeping the present object in mind without losing it.
Read the full sutta: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10) — The Four Establishments of Mindfulness: full text →Related: Satipatthana · Anapanasati · How to Stop Angry or Negative Thoughts: the Buddha's Five Steps
The Word Sati: From 'Memory' to 'Mindfulness'
Sati comes from the verb sarati (root √sar), 'to remember', and is cognate with Sanskrit smṛti, 'memory'. Yet in the suttas sati is not recollection of the past. It is non-forgetting in the present: keeping what should be attended to continuously before the mind, not letting it slip away. 'Mindfulness' — a rendering coined by the Pali scholar T. W. Rhys Davids — captures this 'keeping in mind' better than 'memory' would.
The verbs that accompany sati in the Satipaṭṭhānasutta (MN 10) show this usage plainly. The practitioner sits down and first 'establishes mindfulness in front' (parimukhaṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhapetvā), then 'just mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out' (satova assasati satova passasati). Sati is something set up (upaṭṭhapeti) and kept present (paccupaṭṭhitā) — a sentry taking post, not a passing mood.
The refrain that closes each exercise describes what established sati looks like: mindfulness that 'there is a body' is present 'just to the extent of knowledge and continuous mindfulness', and the practitioner dwells independent, clinging to nothing in the world. Sati is the sustaining power that lets experience stand present to the mind as it is — neither blanking out nor mere relaxation.
Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu araññagato vā rukkhamūlagato vā suññāgāragato vā nisīdati pallaṅkaṁ ābhujitvā ujuṁ kāyaṁ paṇidhāya parimukhaṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhapetvā
於此，諸比丘，比丘往林中，[或]至樹下，[或]往空閑處，坐下，盤折[就座]，端正[身體]，[令念]朝向當前，安立[念]。
So satova assasati satova passasati
彼[具念]入息，[具念]出息。
Atthi kāyo ti vā panassa sati paccupaṭṭhitā hoti Yāvadeva ñāṇamattāya paṭissatimattāya anissito ca viharati na ca kiñci loke upādiyati
「有身」的念現前，僅為了知與念而建立。他不依附而安住，對世間任何事物不執取。
How the Sutta Describes a Mindful Person
MN 10 defines the practice with a single formula: a monk 'dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful (ātāpī sampajāno satimā), having put away covetousness and displeasure with regard to the world' — and the same sentence recurs for feelings, mind, and dhammas. The formula reveals something often missed: in the source text, 'mindful' (satimā) never appears alone. It always stands alongside ardor (ātāpī, wholehearted effort) and clear comprehension (sampajāno, knowing clearly what one is doing), and it carries a built-in direction — the abandoning of craving and distress toward the world.
Clear comprehension gets its own section in the sutta: the mindful person acts 'with clear comprehension' in every ordinary movement — going out and returning, looking ahead and looking around, bending and stretching, wearing robes and carrying the bowl, eating and drinking, defecating and urinating, walking, standing, sitting, sleeping, waking, speaking, keeping silent. Mindfulness is not a special state on the cushion but continuous awareness through all postures.
The verb that runs through the entire discourse is pajānāti, 'one knows': breathing in long, one knows 'long'; breathing in short, one knows 'short'; a mind with lust one knows as 'a mind with lust', a mind without lust as 'a mind without lust'. The basic mental act of a mindful person is this sustained, accurate knowing — nothing added, nothing subtracted.
Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ
於此，比丘們！比丘隨觀身於身而住，精勤、正知、具念，捨除世間的貪憂。
Puna caparaṁ bhikkhave bhikkhu abhikkante paṭikkante sampajānakārī hoti ālokite vilokite sampajānakārī hoti samiñjite pasārite sampajānakārī hoti saṅghāṭipattacīvaradhāraṇe sampajānakārī hoti asite pīte khāyite sāyite sampajānakārī hoti uccārapassāvakamme sampajānakārī hoti gate ṭhite nisinne sutte jāgarite bhāsite tuṇhībhāve sampajānakārī hoti
再者，諸比丘，比丘前進時、返回時，以正知行事；向前看時、環顧時，以正知行事；（肢體）彎曲時、伸展時，以正知行事；持執大衣、缽及衣時，以正知行事；食、飲、嚼、嚐時，以正知行事；大小便時，以正知行事；行走、站立、坐著、睡眠、醒寤、說話、保持沉默時，以正知行事。
The Content of Mindfulness Is the Four Satipaṭṭhānas
If one asks 'mindful of what, exactly?', the opening of MN 10 is the Buddha's complete answer. The first statement of the discourse declares: this is the path for the purification of beings, for surmounting sorrow and lamentation, for the realization of nibbāna — 'namely, the four foundations of mindfulness'. The content of mindfulness is not left blank for each practitioner to fill in; it is four specified domains: body, feelings, mind, and dhammas.
Each foundation comes with concrete procedures: contemplating the body (breathing, postures, activities, anatomical parts, elements, charnel-ground contemplations), feelings (pleasant, painful, neutral, worldly and unworldly), mind (with and without lust, hate, delusion; contracted or distracted; concentrated or not), and dhammas (the five hindrances, five aggregates, six sense bases, seven awakening factors, four noble truths). Every domain shares the same deepening steps: internally, externally, both; observing arising, vanishing, both.
In the source text, then, 'mindfulness' is not a detachable attention technique but the name of a complete path with specified objects, methods, and purpose — abandoning craving and distress, clinging to nothing, culminating in nibbāna. The sutta even closes with timeframes for the practice and the fruits to be expected, framing it as a road to liberation rather than an aid to daily coping.
Ekāyano ayaṁ bhikkhave maggo sattānaṁ visuddhiyā sokaparidevānaṁ samatikkamāya dukkhadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya ñāyassa adhigamāya nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya yadidaṁ cattāro satipaṭṭhānā
「比丘們！這是眾生清淨、超越愁悲、消滅苦憂、證得正理、親證涅槃的唯一道路，亦即四念處。」
vedanāsu vedanānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ
（比丘）隨觀受於受而住，精勤、正知、具念，捨除世間的貪憂。
citte cittānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ
（比丘）隨觀心於心而住，精勤、正知、具念，捨除世間的貪憂。
dhammesu dhammānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ
（比丘）隨觀法於諸法而住，精勤、正知、具念，捨除世間的貪憂。
Sati and Modern Mindfulness (MBSR): Same and Different
Modern 'mindfulness' usually refers to the MBSR family of practices: paying attention, on purpose, non-judgmentally, to present experience. The overlap with the source text is real. The contemplation of feelings in MN 10 is the prototype of non-judgmental awareness: feeling a pleasant feeling, one knows 'I feel a pleasant feeling'; likewise for painful and neutral feelings — first know, without rushing to change anything. The body scan and breath awareness of modern courses descend directly from contemplation of the body and mindfulness of breathing.
The first difference is context and purpose. In the source texts sati is one factor of the noble eightfold path (sammāsati, right mindfulness), supported by right view, right effort, and the rest, and it serves dispassion, non-clinging, and the realization of nibbāna. MBSR lifts the practice out of that framework and applies it to stress reduction, chronic pain, and mental health — a different aim, measured by different outcomes.
The second difference is semantic center of gravity. Sati carries the sense of 'keeping in mind, not forgetting', always paired with clear comprehension and ardor and tied to the specified objects of the four satipaṭṭhānas. The operational definition of modern mindfulness centers on present-moment, non-judgmental attention: the 'memory' dimension recedes, the 'non-judgmental' dimension comes forward. The two overlap without being identical. Naming these differences is not a ranking — secular mindfulness has demonstrated value within its own aims; distinguishing the two simply lets each context be understood accurately.
Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu sukhaṁ vā vedanaṁ vedayamāno sukhaṁ vedanaṁ vedayāmī ti pajānāti
諸比丘，於此，比丘感受樂受時，了知『我感受樂受』。
Dukkhaṁ vā vedanaṁ vedayamāno dukkhaṁ vedanaṁ vedayāmī ti pajānāti
感受苦受時，了知『我感受苦受』。
Adukkhamasukhaṁ vā vedanaṁ vedayamāno adukkhamasukhaṁ vedanaṁ vedayāmī ti pajānāti
感受不苦不樂受時，了知『我感受不苦不樂受』。
Ekāyano ayaṁ bhikkhave maggo sattānaṁ visuddhiyā sokaparidevānaṁ samatikkamāya dukkhadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya ñāyassa adhigamāya nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya yadidaṁ cattāro satipaṭṭhānā ti
比丘們，此乃直接之道，為（眾生）清淨、超越憂與悲、消滅苦與憂惱、獲得正道、親證涅槃——即四念住。
Relation to Mahāyāna interpretation
In 1979 Jon Kabat-Zinn founded Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, adapting awareness practices drawn from Buddhist meditation — chiefly Theravada insight traditions, with influences from Zen — for chronic pain and stress care, stripped of religious vocabulary; Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and related programs followed. Rendering sati as 'mindfulness' goes back to the Pali scholar T. W. Rhys Davids in 1881. In the course of secularization, the original sense of 'memory, non-forgetting' receded and the semantic weight shifted to 'non-judgmental awareness of present experience'; the objects shifted from the specified list of the four satipaṭṭhānas to open-ended attention training; and the aim shifted from dispassion and nibbāna to stress reduction and well-being. This is a traceable change of meaning and context, and each usage has its own domain of application and value.
Is mindfulness just 'living in the present moment'?
Only partly. Sati is indeed established on the present (the sutta says to set mindfulness up 'in front'), but its root meaning is 'keeping in mind, not forgetting' — a sustaining power, not simply a mood of presence. And in MN 10, being mindful always goes together with ardor and clear comprehension, with specified objects (body, feelings, mind, dhammas) and a specified purpose (abandoning craving and distress, not clinging). 'Living in the present' describes the starting point of sati, not its content or direction.
Do MBSR and Buddhist mindfulness conflict?
No — but they are not identical either. Both share the core method of knowing present bodily and mental experience as it is, without judgment, and MBSR's breath awareness and body scan descend from Buddhist meditation. The difference lies in context and purpose: in the source texts mindfulness is one factor of the eightfold path, aimed at dispassion, non-clinging, and nibbāna; MBSR serves stress reduction and health. Each works well within its own aims; distinguishing them is a matter of accuracy, not ranking.
What is the Pali word for mindfulness?
Sati, from the verb sarati (root √sar, 'to remember'), originally 'memory, keeping in mind'. As a factor of the noble eightfold path it is sammāsati, 'right mindfulness'. The 'four foundations of mindfulness' are the satipaṭṭhānas — the establishings (paṭṭhāna/upaṭṭhāna) of sati. The English rendering 'mindfulness' dates to late nineteenth-century Pali scholarship and was later adopted by the modern mindfulness movement.
How do I practice mindfulness the way the Buddha taught it?
According to MN 10, practicing mindfulness means practicing the four satipaṭṭhānas. The sutta's entry point is concrete: go to a quiet place (a forest, the root of a tree, or an empty hut), sit down with body erect, establish mindfulness in front, and breathe in and out mindfully, knowing the breath as long or short; then extend the same knowing to postures and activities, feelings, states of mind, and dhammas, observing their arising and passing. For the full sequence, see this site's satipatthana topic page and the complete MN 10 with Pali and translation side by side.