Priming the pump of mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein explains rapture, the joyous fourth factor of awakening.
The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the 30th part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, CLICK HERE to start at the first episode.
This week, Joseph brings to our attention:
- Rapture, aka joy, delight, and pleasurable interest
- The arousing, anticipatory energy of rapture
- The positive feedback loop of the factors of awakening
Five grades of rapture according to the Buddha - Luminosity of mind and the sensory experiences of joy
- Bringing in right view and investigative wisdom
- Recalling the impermanence of all delightful states
- Putting teachings into practice and putting full effort into each moment
- Not overly concerning ourselves with progress
- Boredom as a lack of attention and arousing interest in our current state
- What the Buddha, dharma, sangha means for each of us
Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE
“The energy that arises from continual mindfulness and investigation leads to rapture. We could call it a dharma joy or a dharma happiness. This happiness inspires us to investigate further and as we investigate further the mindfulness and the energy gets stronger and there’s more rapture. It’s just a wonderful spiral leading towards awakening, leading towards liberation.” – Joseph Goldstein