Mental noting

Mental noting means silently naming what is happening as it happens: "rising" and "falling" as the abdomen moves with the breath, "thinking" when a thought appears, "hearing" when a sound does. It is the core of the method taught by Mahasi Sayadaw (1904–1982) of Burma and his successors, and through them of much of the Western Insight Meditation movement. Spirit Rock Meditation Center describes the Mahasi method as one that "uses continuous mental noting as a support for 'momentary concentration'" (khaṇika samādhi).

Where noting comes from

The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10) asks the meditator to know each posture as it is ("when walking they know: 'I am walking'") and each feeling as it arises ("I feel a pleasant feeling"). Mahasi's method turns that knowing into a continuous, silent note.

Mahasi studied the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta and then practised under the Mingun Jetavan Sayadaw at Thaton. Within four months, his biography says, he could teach, and in 1938 he taught his first three students at Seikkhun. The Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha in Rangoon (now Yangon) opened on 4 December 1949 and became the centre from which the method spread across Burma, to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and later to the West.

Noting the abdomen was controversial. The biography records that Mahasi was "severely criticised in certain quarters" for the "allegedly unorthodox" practice of noting its rise and fall. It replies that the Mingun Jetavan Sayadaw had approved the method years before Mahasi adopted it, and that Mahasi preferred it because the average meditator finds this movement of the element of motion (vāyodhātu) easier to note. It was not imposed: a meditator could practise mindfulness of breathing instead. Chanmyay Sayadaw's biography adds that when a Sri Lankan monk wrote in World Buddhism magazine that the method did not agree with the scriptures, Burmese teachers answered in print for nearly 15 months.

How Mahasi described the method

Mahasi's short manual Satipatthana Vipassana is freely published, and Panditarama Lumbini in Nepal includes his basic exercises in the instructions it publishes for meditators. In outline:

• The home object. The meditator keeps the mind on the abdomen and makes a mental note of "rising" for its upward movement and "falling" for its downward movement. The breath is not changed: slow, quick or deep breathing, Mahasi says, soon tires the meditator.
• Silent notes. The notes are not spoken aloud. "In vipassana meditation, it is more important to know the object than to know it by a term or name."
• Whatever is prominent. When something else takes over, it is noted instead: "wandering" for a wandering mind, "imagining", "planning", "stiff" or "hot" for pain, "wanting" for the wish to swallow. Then the meditator returns to rising and falling.
• Every movement. An intention is noted before each movement ("intending"), and movements are made slowly and noted as they happen. Walking meditation uses the same method, step by step.

Mahasi asks the meditator to behave "like a blind person" during training, restraining the eyes, so that noting can continue without a break. The method is learned on retreat, with regular interviews in which the meditator reports to the teacher what was noted.

What noting is for

The note is a support, not the goal. Mahasi writes that by continual practice concentration grows, and when it is keen enough the ceaseless arising and passing away of body and mind become vividly clear. Spirit Rock describes this as insight built on momentary concentration, without first attaining the deep absorptions (jhāna) that some other traditions teach first; see samatha and vipassana.

Noting is meant to continue outside formal sittings. Panditarama Lumbini's instructions extend mindfulness to everyday activities, from waking until falling asleep, and its yogi guidelines expect 12 to 14 hours of formal practice a day, with four to six hours of sleep.

A modern form: Shinzen Young's See Hear Feel

The teacher Shinzen Young calls his See Hear Feel technique "a form of noting" and names "the classical Mahasi system" as its original inspiration. Instead of many labels, it uses three: see (including mental images), hear (including mental talk) and feel (including emotional sensations in the body).

Labels may be spoken aloud or thought, in what Young calls an "equanimity voice": low, gentle and "almost matter of fact". His suggested pace is about one label every second to one every four or five seconds, "neither racy (too fast) nor spacey (too slow)". Spoken labels help when concentration is difficult, and a chapter titled "Labels are not necessary" treats them as optional once the skill is established.

Critics and limits

Several teachers in the Burmese traditions avoid labels, and say why:

• Sunlun: the Sunlun tradition asks meditators to "avoid name-calling; do not conceptualize reality". Mindfulness, it says, catches the fact of an ache directly, without forming the concept "aching, aching" and then returning to the ache. See the Sunlun method.
• Goenka: S. N. Goenka's courses observe the breath without adding "any word, shape, or form", so that the object stays universal and the practice starts from reality rather than imagination. See Goenka's Vipassana.
• U Tejaniya: Sayadaw U Tejaniya, a student of the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, teaches relaxed awareness rather than focusing on an object. Excerpts from his talks carry titles such as "Awareness Means Just Knowing, Not Focusing" and "Focusing Will Lead to Paying Attention on Concepts". See Shwe Oo Min awareness.

Mahasi's own manual shares part of this caution: knowing the object comes before naming it. Shinzen Young's warning about labels that are too fast or too slow points the same way. The intensity of traditional Mahasi retreats is another consideration; anyone with health concerns should ask the centre before booking, and read difficult experiences on meditation retreats.

Where noting is taught

Mahasi centres teach noting on retreats, with regular interviews with a teacher. In Nepal there are two: Panditarama Lumbini, open from September to March for stays from seven days to several months, and the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu. In Myanmar the method's home is the Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha in Yangon. Western Insight Meditation centres such as the Insight Meditation Society teach Mahasi-derived noting alongside other practices; see Mahasi noting and Insight Meditation in the West.