Practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

The Tathagata gives the simile of the 6 animals, If you catch six different animals - a dog, a bird, a snake, a wolf, a fish, and a monkey - and tie them all to the same pillar in the square.

Dogs want to enter the village, birds want to fly into the sky, snakes want to crawl into holes, wolves want to go to the wilderness, fish want to jump into the water, monkeys want to enter the forest. Each has its own desired destination. But because each animal is tied up and kept struggling, it eventually becomes exhausted and can only rely on the pillar for support.

The six constrained senses are like these six animals, constantly wanting to climb and explore their favorite phenomena. In order to tame these senses, we also need to tie them to a pillar, and this pillar is the body.

The so-called "body-mind awareness" refers to: putting all attention inwardly on one's body as a whole or specific parts, being fully engaged and enthusiastic, and attentively contemplating and discerning.

The reason why we focus our attention on the body is precisely to prevent it from shifting to other places. In order to prevent inadvertently shifting our attention, we also need to frequently check, reflect, and remind ourselves to place attention on our bodies.

If we can continuously pay attention inwards on ourselves, we will remain aware of the true state of our body and not pay attention to other things in the world.

Therefore, our attention will not be affected by worldly things, and thus can avoid the arising of corresponding desires, attachments, and sorrows and worries.

In other teachings of mindfulness, people are often taught to carefully observe the phenomena generated by the body, explore their sensations and the reasons behind their occurrence. For example, when the action of lifting the foot occurs, one should carefully and deeply observe the process of lifting the foot. The purpose is to study the sensations of lifting the foot, discover the motivation behind lifting the foot, and see the truth of lifting the foot.

Here, the focus is solely on the body, ensuring that one is aware of its real-time state. For example, when we pay attention to our feet, lifting our foot is simply a phenomenon that we naturally become aware of when we put attention on this area. What we need to ensure is that we continuously and clearly know the real-time state of our feet, rather than exploring the sensations and the reasons behind them.

Just like when driving, we are not focused on deeply studying the essence or reasons behind cars, pedestrians, or traffic lights that appear on the road ahead. The reason we can see them is because we are putting our attention on the road ahead.

The reason for being fully attentive, passionate, dedicated, and discerning is to ensure that attention is always directed towards the road ahead, continuously and accurately knowing the real-time road conditions ahead.

Similarly, we are not concerned with studying the sensations of walking, standing, sitting, lying down, gestures, perceptions, or the reasons behind them. The reason we are able to observe these phenomena is because we are putting our attention on the body. The reason for being fully aware, enthusiastic, dedicated, and discerning is to ensure that attention is always directed towards the body, continuously and accurately knowing its real-time state.

Another difference: This is the most important and also the most difficult distinction to make compared to what others teach about mindfulness.

The body will produce various sensations when touched, such as hardness, softness, coldness, warmth, pain, itchiness, and so on. In the type of mindfulness taught by others, when the body experiences sensations, one can focus on the sensation, carefully observe it, or delve deeper into its nature. For example, when there is pain, delve into the pain, observe the pain, until the pain disappears. It can be said that this method is widely present in various popular Buddhist practices in the world today.

In contrast, correct meditation is always on the body itself, and the scope of attention on the body in this context is always on the body itself, once again reminding you not to forget the metaphor of the six animals.

What you need to know is that tactile perception is generated because attention is placed on "touch," just like auditory perception is generated when attention is placed on sound.

Paying attention to touch and paying attention to scenery, music is not much different. People are immersed in observing these bodily sensations precisely because they mistakenly believe that these sensations are the objects of mindfulness, thinking that observing these sensations is practicing mindfulness. But in fact, they are external conditions, they are "touch", just like "sight, sound, smell, taste", they are the "touch" among the five desires of "sight, sound, smell, taste, touch".

When people deeply observe these sensations, they are deviating from their inner selves and being attracted by the five desires.

Therefore, when various sensations such as cold, heat, pain, itchiness, lightness, heaviness, hardness, and softness arise, not only should we not delve into the sensations, but we should also remind ourselves to redirect our attention back to our body.

This distinction is difficult for beginners to discern. Only by practicing correct mindfulness of the body can one more easily skillfully direct their attention inward and abide within the internal body. However, this distinction is crucial. If people mistakenly regard these sensations as the objects of perception, then the true objects of perception will not be able to develop.

If people do not have a correct understanding of mindfulness of the body, they will not be able to reach the true mindfulness of feelings, let alone mindfulness of the mind and mindfulness of phenomena.

If one does not correctly cultivate mindfulness, one cannot truly understand what the five aggregates, five skandhas, six sense bases, and dependent origination are.

If one does not have a true understanding of the dhamma, then it is impossible to fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment, the eightfold path, and the four noble truths.