Recounting his early days studying with Geshe Ngawang Wangyal, Robert Thurman in this episode gives a teaching on practicing meditation and the Buddhist perspective on mindfulness through a close line reading of the The Mahāsatipatthāna Sutta. The four focuses of mindfulness in the sutta are the body, the sensations, the mind, and the mental objects, among which the last is the longest and most elaborated. In addition to meditating as directed, many of the elements used by the Buddha to aim and structure the meditations, such as the five aggregates, the eighteen elements, and the twelve sense-mediums, need to be explained and incorporated in mind, in order to be able to meditatively follow the guidance effectively.

"My Early Years: Exploring The Mahāsatipatthāna Sutta - Episode 285 of the Bob Thurman Podcast was recorded during Tibet House US | Menla’s “Mindfulness & the Mahayana: An In-Depth Exploration of the Mahasatipatthana Sutta” online course with Sharon Salzberg and Robert A.F. Thurman, available via www.thusmenla.org.