As mindfulness is increasingly embraced in the contemporary world as a practice that brings peace and self-awareness, Bhikkhu Analayo casts fresh light on the earliest sources of mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition.

The Satipatthana Sutta is well known as the main source for Buddhist teachings on mindfulness and its place in the Buddhist path. Ten years after Analayo's acclaimed study of the Sutta, Perspectives on Satipatthana brings a new dimension to our understanding by comparing the Pali text with versions that have survived in Chinese and, until now, been unknown to English speakers. Analayo also draws on the presentation of mindfulness in a number of other discourses as they survive in Chinese and Tibetan translations as well as in Pali.

The result is a wide-ranging exploration of what mindfulness meant in early Buddhism. Informed by Analayo's outstanding scholarship, depth of understanding and experience as a practitioner, this book sheds fresh light on material that is central to our understanding of Buddhist practice, bringing us as close as we can come to the mindfulness teachings of the Buddha himself.

In this new book, Analayo builds on his earlier ground-breaking work, Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization. Here, he enlarges our perspective on this seminal teaching by exploring the practices of mindfulness as presented in both the Pali and Chinese versions of this important discourse. The brilliance of his scholarly research, combined with the depth of his meditative understanding, provides an invaluable guide to the liberating practices of the Buddha's teaching." Joseph Goldstein, author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, and One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism.

"Analayo's work is a treasury of impeccable scholarship and practice, offering a wise, open-minded and deep understanding of the Buddha's original teachings. His approach makes an inspiring contribution to the modern Dharma world." Jack Kornfield author of The Wise Heart, Founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Center

"Analayo has offered us a work of great scholarship and wisdom that will be of immense benefit to anyone who wants to seriously study or to establish a practice of mindfulness." Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness, Co-founder, Insight Meditation Society, Barre, Ma