Bhavana Sati Sangha

The English term "meditation" does not capture the sense of the indigenous Buddhist technical term that it is meant to translate. The Buddhist term is bhavana. Bhavana comes from the verbal root bhu, which means "to be, to become." It comes to mean "development, application, cultivation." So, the question arises, "what is it that is being cultivated during meditation?" The answer is, in Pali, sati. Sati is derived from the Sanskrit term smriti, which means "to remember." The term thus points to the mental qualities of watchfulness, remembrance, recognition, presence of mind, intentness of mind, wakefulness, lucidity, attentiveness, self-possession, fluid consciousness. A good translation of sati, then, is "present-moment awareness." So, what are you doing when you are sitting on the meditation cushion? You are cultivating present-moment awareness!
It is crucial to keep in mind that you are not creating or somehow manufacturing sati. Sati is always already present. Sati is the elemental awareness attending all instances of your perception and cognition. So, really, it is somewhat paradoxical to cultivate sati.That would be like water cultivating transparency! Yet, what if that transparency were obscured by cloudy sedimentation? In such a case, is it correct to assert that the water is transparent? Not exactly. Yet, when the sedimentation settles or is removed, transparency results on its on accord. So, was the water transparent all along? This is something to examine as it applies to sati as an indigenous quality of your own experience.

Following is a clear explanation of sati, by the Sri Lankan Buddhist meditation master, Henepola Gunaratana. Bhante G. (as he is affectionately known in the West) translates sati as "mindfulness."

The Athens Insight Meditation Group emphasizes precisely the cultivation of just this sati. So, everyone is encouraged to study carefully the following essay.