Mindfulness is calm awareness of one's body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself. Mindfulness (Pali: sati; Sanskrit: smṛti स्मृति) plays a central role in the teaching of the Buddha where it is affirmed that "correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali:sammā-sati; Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the critical factor in the path to liberation and subsequent enlightenment. It is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the practice of which supports analysis resulting in the development of wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā). The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the foremost early texts dealing with mindfulness. A key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative absorption should be combined with the practice of vipassana. For more on the concept in early Buddhism, also see sampajañña.

Mindfulness techniques are increasingly being employed in Western psychology to help alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions: see Mindfulness (psychology).

Terminology

The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness" originates in the Pali term sati and its Sanskrit variant smṛti. The latter was translated into Tibetan as trenpa (wylie: dran pa) and Chinese as nian 念.