The Buddha's Direct Path to Awakening

The Buddha begins the sutra by declaring that sati patana, the abidings in mindfulness to be the direct path to awakening. He then goes on to give a very concise definition of the path and he highlights just its essential characteristics. So again as you listen to this you know as we go through this over the next weeks. Please don't listen with a philosophic mind. This is the Buddha giving very direct instructions. It's like a preview of the whole rest of the sutra.