The constituent factors in this process of practice are two-fold: The passive (that which is focused on, observed, concentrated on, contemplated), and the active (focusing, observation, concentration, contemplation).

The passive constituents are those ordinary, mundane things common to all of us: The body and its movements, thoughts, feelings and so on as they occur (only those existing at the present moment are valid objects of contemplation).

The active constituents of focusing, concentration, observation and contemplation form the basic agents of satipatthna and are functions of sati and sampajaa. Sati is that which keeps hold of the chosen object. Sampajaa is the wisdom-faculty which realizes the nature and purpose of the thing or state being contemplated, as, for example, when focusing one’s contemplation on the movements of the body when walking, one has a comprehension of such things as the reason for walking and the intended destination. Sampajaa understands the objects or the action as it is, without coating it with feelings and so on.

There is a point to be wary of which should be stressed here, concentrating a wrong understanding that may lead to misguided and fruitless practice. Some people misconstrue the meaning of the common translation of sati as ‘recollection’ and of sampajaa as ‘self-awareness’. They establish sati on the sense of self and then feel aware of themselves as the agents of the various actions, ‘I am doing this; I am doing that’, their practice thus becoming a creation or strengthening of the concept of self. The mind becomes absorbed on that self-concept and develops a rigidity, or if not, at the very least, it strays from its task, thus spoiling the results of the work being undertaken. One who has formed such a wrong understanding should look at the meaning of sati in its sense of ‘bearing in mind’, maintaining the mind on its object, on the task being performed, or in the flow of action. He or she should look at the meaning of sampajaa in its sense of clear comprehension of that which sati is bearing in mind. In other words, it is not a matter of using sati to focus on the sense of self, ‘I am doing this, I am doing that’ ; it implies bearing the task itself in mind, rather than the ‘performer’ of the task. Sati should pay attention to the action being performed or to the state that is presently occurring to the extent that there is no room to think of oneself, or the ‘actor’. The heart must abide with the action until the feeling of ‘I’ or agency is made redundant.

The essential feature of focused contemplation lies in the accurate, undistorted perception of its object, i.e. looking, seeing and understanding what that object is, its characteristics and the effects of its presence. It entails facing up to, acknowledging, considering and understanding. Bare attention is maintained on the object at every moment, without reacting to it in any way; without evaluation, criticism, or jjudgment of its as being good or bad, right or wrong, etc. There is no interpretation of the object in the light of one’s emotions, prejudices or attachments as being agreeable or disagreeable, pleasant or unpleasant. One merely understands the way that thing, that state, that aspect is, without supplementing one’s perception of it with such thoughts as ‘mine’, ‘his’, ‘me, ‘her’, ‘Mr. A’, ‘Ms. B.’ , etc. To take the example of contemplation of the feelings in one’s heart; at the moment that a painful feeling arises, one knows that a painful feeling is arising, the way in which it has come about, and the way in which it is presently dissipating. In the contemplation of mental phenomena, as for example when anxiety or depression occurs in the mind, one lays hold of that anxiety or depression and contemplates how it has come about and how it has developed. At a time when anger arises, and, on becoming the object of awareness, subsides, then one takes up that past anger as an object of contemplation and considers its benefits and ill effects, the cause for its arising and the way in which it disappears. It can becomes enjoyable to study, reflection and analyse one’s suffering! When it is purely suffering that is presently arising and passing away, and is not ‘my suffering’ or ‘I am suffering’, then that suffering is robbed of all its power to harm the one who contemplates it. Whatever form of goodness or unwholesomeness appears or is present in the mind, one faces up to it, without any effort at avoidance. One cognizes it and pays attention to it as it is, from the moment of its occurrence until it meets its natural end, and then switches attention to something else. It is similar to watching actors perform a play, or to being a bystander at some event. It is an attitude that is comparable to that of a doctor performing an autopsy, or that of a scientist observing the subject of his study, rather than that of a judge listening to evidence in a trial. It is an objective rather than a subjective approach.

An important characteristic of the state that is informed at all times by sati-sampajaa is that of dwelling in the present moment. Sati is mindful at each moment of what is arising, what is happening, or what one is doing and does not allow the mind to wander off. There is no attachment to, or lingering on, any past experience, and no floating off into the future in search of things that have not yet happened or do not yet exist. There is no straying back into the past or forward into the future. If some unresolved matter from the past or some future obligation is to be considered, then sati lays hold of the relevant details, and the wisdom-faculty reflects on them in a purposeful way, so that every matter becomes a present object of mind. There is no aimless or superfluous drifting into past or future. Dwelling in the present moment means freedom from subjection to craving. The mind not seduced or motivated by selfish desire exists with a wisdom which liberates it from the various expressions of dukkha, such as grief and regret, agitation, anxiety and depression, and gives rise to an awareness that is accompanied by spaciousness, clarity and ease.