Q: You mentioned last time that it is excellent to practice the Fourfold Foundation of Mindfulness to transform from unhealthy emotion to healthy emotion. What is the Fourfold Foundation of Mindfulness?

A: It is the first four factors of thirty-seven prerequisites for the attainment of enlightenment. They are the establishments in mindfulness of the body, feeling, mind, and the objects of mind.

Q: Could you explain why it is important for enlightenment?

A: Mindfulnessin the first two factors, body and feeling, help people with dominance of attachment to single-pointedly concentrate the mind on a designated object without distraction. Thus, it makes them purify their attachment and guide them into the tranquil abiding. On the other hand, mindfulness in the other two factors, mind and its object, help people with dominance of delusion to investigate the mind and its objects without judgment. As a result, it makes them purify their delusion and guide them into the right view.

Q: It is a little bit difficult for me to comprehend. Could you explain it in details a little more?

A: Let's say you are angry. In other words, it means you are angry at something no matter you are aware of it or not. You might be upset at somebody or something. Or it could be you. The key point you should know here is the fact that, no matter what, there is an object of your anger. It is the object that you think made you to be upset.

Q: Isn't it obvious to be angry at something when we are angry?

A: Yes. That is why you end up directly attacking or indirectly hating the object. Such response causes various anxiety, stress, or fear, and in the end, makes you feel unsatisfied, unhappy, and frustrated as well.

A: Now, I want you to focus on your body-sense or body-feeling when you are angry. Instead of being attached to a person or a thought that is making you angry, try to pay attention to your breathing, skin, the beat of a pulse, or other parts of your body at the moment you are angry.

Q: Do you mean I should switch the attention from the object that is stirring up my anger to my body and feeling?

A: Yes. Then, you can feel yourself breathing faster and your heart beating faster. Just observe continuously until they go back to the normal state.

Q: How can I switch my emotions just like at the snap of a finger at the moment I am angry? Isn't it hard to switch my attention from whom or what puts me in the difficult situation to focusing on my body reaction?