Ep. 213 – The Four Elements, Satipatthana Sutta Series Pt. 10

Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Be Here Now Network

Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness, Vipassana, Buddhism, Insightmeditation, Meditation, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Refining our knowledge of the four elements, Joseph Goldstein explains how our bodily dispositions relate to earth, water, fire, and air.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth 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 now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

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In this episode, Joseph Goldstein examines:

The four basic qualities of matter
Solidity and the earth element
Fluidity, cohesion, and the water element
Heat and light as the function of the fire element
Air and the experience of expanding and extending
Bringing the elements into our practice
Contemplating our bodily disposition in terms of the four elements
Noticing all sensations as the play of a given element
Moving away from the conceptual and into direct experiences
Psychic abilities and transforming an element into another one
How labeling and objectifying can lead to desire and aversion
Not grieving for what is non-existent
The unification of relative and ultimate reality

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmas eed

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“On the experimental level, we can see that the various sensations that we feel, however the body is disposed, is really just the play of the elements.” – Joseph Goldstein

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The different sensations we feel are an expression of these elements at play.
0:10.0	With different sensations, different of these four elements become predominant. Welcome to the Joseph Goldstein Inside Hour.
0:35.0	This podcast is an expression of our shared interest in self-discovery.
0:40.0	Join Joseph as he shares his deep knowledge of the path of mindfulness.
0:46.0	If you are interested in supporting this podcast,
0:49.0	please go to Be Here Now network dot com slash Joseph.
0:59.4	Tonight and continue with the series of talks on the Saty Pitanasuta.
1:05.0	Two weeks ago, we talked about the section dealing with clear comprehension and the contemplation of the
1:17.2	a suba or non-beautiful aspects of the body. The next instructions that the Buddha gives in the
1:26.4	suitor for contemplating the body, mindfulness of the body, draws the mind down to a further level of subtlety and
1:37.2	refinement. So this is the instruction.
1:43.0	Again, monks, he reviews this same body,
1:46.8	however it is placed, however disposed,
1:51.4	as consisting of elements thus in this body there are the earth element, the water
1:58.4	element, the fire element, and the air element.
2:06.5	So here the Buddha is using the ancient Indian
2:10.6	scheme of the four basic qualities of matter.
2:15.0	It's clear that our scientific understanding has progressed considerably since those days.
2:26.6	But these elements still provide a useful framework for understanding our felt sense or subjective experience of the body and the physical world.
2:41.0	We'll just explore a little bit how that is. The Earth element refers to the
2:50.8	experience we have of the solidity of things, the qualities of stiffness, of hardness,
2:57.0	of softness. So when we touch something, we feel the hardness, that's the expression of the manifestation
	...

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