One may see from the salient points of satipatthna summarized above that satipatthna (and this includes vipassan) is not a principle that necessarily demands for its practice either withdrawal from society into seclusion or a fixed time schedule. Consequently, many wise teachers have encouraged its integration into daily life.

In essence, the teaching of satipatthna informs us that our lives have just four areas which require the watchful eye and governance of sati, namely, (1) the body and its behaviour, (2) the various feelings of pleasure and pain, (3) the different states of mind and (4) dhammas. Conducting one’s life with sati guarding over these four points will help to ensure a freedom from danger and suffering and a life of clarity and well-being, culminating in the realization of the ultimate truth.

One may also see from the outline of satipatthna above that, in practice, sati is never employed alone, but always in conjunction with other dhammas. One such dhamma, which is not specifically mentioned in the text, is samdhi, which must be present, at least in a weak form, sufficient for the purpose in hand.  The three dhammas singled out by name in the definition of sammsati above are :

1. tp (There is effort)

This refers to Samm Vyma (Right Effort), the sixth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, which entails guarding against and abandoning what is unwholesome and creating and maintaining what is wholesome.

2. Sampajno (There is clear comprehension)

This refers to the wisdom-faculty.

3. Satim (There is mindfulness)

A noteworthy clause is the second, ‘Sampajno’, rendered as ‘There is clear comprehension’ (sampajaa ). Sampajaa is a dhamma which usually appears coupled with sati. Sampajaa is the wisdom-faculty (pa) is the clear and penetrative understanding of the object or action fixed upon by sati in regard to its purpose, its nature and the way to proceed in relation to it, free from delusion and misunderstanding.

The subsequent phrase, “...eradicating covetousness and distress with regard to the world...”, demonstrates the attitude that results from the possession of sati-sampajaa as being one of equanimity and freedom, a state unbound by defilements, whether rooted in attachment or in aversion.

The phrase, shared by every clause, “...he sees arising and dissolution...” points to the contemplative understanding of those things in terms of the Three Characteristics, resulting in a perception and experience of them as they actually exist. The phrase, “...mindfulness of the existence of the body...”, for example, refers to an awareness of the body in its actuality, without clothing it in conceptualizations, interpretations, or attachments, not labelling it as a person or as self, as ‘him’ or ‘her’ or ‘me’ or ‘my body’. This attitude is thus one of freedom, independent, in that it is untied to any external condition, and is without any grasping at the things of the world with craving and clinging.

To further elucidate this matter, a few important phrases from the Pali text will here be translated and briefly explained:

1. Kye kynupass (contemplating the body in the body)

This phrases refers to seeing the body simply as a body, or as a meeting place or assembly point for the various organs which are its component parts. It means not seeing the body as being ‘him’ or ‘her’ or ‘me’ or ‘this person’ or ‘that person’, nor as belonging to anyone; not seeing a man or a woman, for example, in hair of the head or hair of the body or a face. In other words, one sees directly in accordance with the truth, in agreement with the actual state of the body; what one sees corresponds to what one is looking at, i.e. one looks at a body and sees a body, rather than looking at a body and seeing ‘Mr. Smith’ or someone hateful or someone attractive. This accords with the saying of the old masters, “One does not (usually) see what one is looking at. One sees, on the contrary, what one has truly not seen. Not seeing truly, one becoming attached; and, when one is attached to something, there is no liberation.” 

2. tp sampajno satim (There is effort, clear comprehension and mindfulness) In other words, there is Samm Vyma (Right Effort), Samm ditthi (Right View) and Sammsati (Right Mindfulness), the three factors of the Noble Eightfold Path which must always be employed in conjunction for the development of every aspect of the Path. 

(a)	Effort (vyma ) energize the mind. It prevents the mind from becoming discouraged or depressed, from dilly-dallying or regressing, and so gives no opportunity for unwholesome dhammas to arise. It is a force which urges the mind to press on, and which encourages the growth of the various wholesome dhammas.
(b)	Clear comprehension (sampajaa) is the wisdom-faculty which contemplates and fully comprehends the object brought into focus by sati and prevents delusion from arising in regard to it. It correctly understands the way in which the object actually exists.
(c)	Mindfulness (sati) is that which fixes onto the object, enabling one to keep abreast of it at every moment, not allowing it to slip from the mind or to become unclear or confused.

3. Vineyya loke abhijjhdomanassa (He destroys covetousness and distress with regard to the world)

When one practices in this way, the mind becomes spacious and bright, and neither desire and attachment nor sorrow and aversion can overwhelm it.

4. Atthi kyoti panassa sati paccupatthit hoti yvadeva namattya patissatimattya (He has clear mindfulness of the existence of the body only to the extent that will serve to make it an object of gnosis (na) and recollection).

Sati focuses clearly and directly on the truth that the body is merely the body, that no being, person, man, or woman is implied by it. There is perception of the body merely for the sake of the development and enhancement of satisampajaa, not in order to indulge in fanciful daydreams or senseless proliferations. The same applies in the case of feelings, mind and dhammas.

5. Anissito ca viharati (And he dwells independently)

His mind is free, not tied to any condition. He does not give his heart away to any thing or person. Speaking technically, he doesn’t rely on craving and views as a support; he is unaffected by them. When encountering some experience, for example, he is directly aware of the thing being experienced in its actuality, without resorting to craving and views to colour and embellish it and to lull him into indulgence. In short, he doesn’t entrust his powers of thought, his imagination, or his happiness to craving and views.

6. Na ca kici loke updiyati (Clinging to nought in the world)

He does not grasp at or attach to anything at all, whether form, feeling, perception, volitional formation, or consciousness as being self or belonging to self.

7. Ajjhatta v...bahiddh v (Internally...externally)

Teachers have differed in their explanations of this phrase, but the consensus of opinion in the Commentaries is that ‘internal’ refers to oneself and ‘external’ refers to others. Such an interpretation agrees with the Abhidhamma texts, which elucidate the meaning of the term clearly e.g., “And how does a bhikkhu see the mind in the mind externally? Here, when the mind of another person is lustful, he clearly perceives that that is so, etc.” Some people may wonder at this point whether it is proper to go prying into the affairs of other people’s bodies and minds, and how in fact one could see the truth of them anyway. As for this, we take it quite simply to be that the aim of the training is to use sati with all of the things with which we must have dealings, and to perceive in them to more than what is actually there. In our daily life, it is inevitable that we will have to have dealings with other people, and those dealings should be mindful ones. Our perceptions of others should accord with the way they are and be based only on direct personal experience, not exceeding what has been discerned by us in the course of our dealings with them. (If one posses the gnosis (na) enabling one to read others’ minds, then one’s ‘knowledge’ should not exceed the bounds of that gnosis. If one does not posses that gnosis, there is no need to be inquisitive). In that way, one will not proliferate and work oneself into a turmoil regarding other people, and give birth to such dhammas as greed and aversion. If one doesn’t know the mental states of others, or live alone, it doesn’ t matter; it is not an essential part of the practice. There is no question of being required to monitor other people’s behaviour in order to detect the states of their bodies and minds.

One way of summarizing the above would be to say that the development of satipatthna entails a dwelling with sati and sampajaa which ensures that the image of self which the mind of Ignorance creates and fashions can find no gap through which it can insinuate itself into one’s thoughts and create problems.

Some scholars in the West have looked at comparisons of
satipatthna with contemporary methods of psychotherapy. In their assessment of the relative merits of the two systems, they have come to the conclusion that satipatthna provides better results. Moreover, in that it is a method which may feasibly be practised by anyone by himself, and, as its value is not restricted to times of mental abnormality but may normally be employed for good mental health, it is of wider application. However, these views will not be discussed here; instead, there will be a further summary of the prominent features of satipatthna, this time in terms of contemporary modes of thought.