The  Buddha began  the  Maha  Satipatthana  Sutta with these seven benefits of mindfulness
meditation.  So you are sure to acquire these seven benefits if you put strennuous effort into your
practice.
       We are lucky bacause we believe in the Buddha who is enlightened and who teaches the right
way which leads to the cessation of suffering.     But we should not be complacent.      In the Pali teaxs, there is a simile; 
      There is a great pond  full of clear  water  with many lotus flowers in it.   A traveller,s hands
      are dirty.   He knows that if he washes them in the pond, they will be clearn.      But though he
     knows it, he does not go to the pond to wash his hands, his hands are still dirty.  In this way, he
     passes the pond and continues his journey.
       Then the question was asked in the teaxt:   "If the man remains dirty, who is to be clamed, the
pond or the traveller?.   Obviously, the travelller.   Though he knew he could wash the dirt away in
the pond, he did not do it.    Therefore, the traveller is to be blamed.     The Buddha teaches us the
way of mindfulness.   If we know the way but do not practise this mindfulness meditation, we will
not get rid of suffering.   If we do not get rid of suffering, who should be blamed?.   The Buddha;
the way of mindfulness, or us?.    Yest, we should be blamed.        If you practise this mindfulness meditation with strenuous effort, you will purity yourself from all defilements and get rid of suffering by obtaining these seven kinds of benefits of mindfulness meditation.

     When the Buddha had explained the seven benefits of mindfulness, he continued to explain the
Four Foundations of Mindfulnes:
      1.  Kayanupassana              Satipatthana
     2. Vedananupassana          Satipatthana
     3. Cittanupassana              Satipatthana
     4. Dhammanupassana       Satipatthana
       Kayanupassana  Satipatthana means contemplation of the body or mindfulness of any bodily
process as it occurs.  Vedananupasana  Satipatthana  means contemplation of feeling or sensation.
This feeling or sensation is of three types:
     (a)  Pleasant  feeling  or  sensation,
     (b)  Unpleasant  feeling  or  sensation,
     (c)  Neutral   feeling  or  sensation.
      Pleasant feeling or pleasant sensation is called  sukha-vedana  (sukha means pleasant, vedana,
is feeling or sensation).     Unpleasant sensation or unpleasant feeling is called dukkha-vedana in
Pali (dukkha here means unpleasant).   Neutral feeling or neutral sensation is called upekkha-veda
na (upakkha means neutral -neither pleasant nor unpleasant).    When pleasant feeling unpleasant
feeling or neutral feeling, arises, a meditator must be mindful of it as it is.    Some meditators think
that unpleasant feeling should not be observed because it is unpleasant.      Actually, all kind of feeling must be noted very attentively as they really occur.      If we do not observe or note the  pleasant or unpleasant feeling or sensation, we are sure to become attached to it or repulsed by it.
When we like a particular feeling or sensation, we become attached to it.     That attachment or
tanha  arises depending on the feeling or sensation.   In this case, the pleasant feeling is the cause
and attachment is the effect.
  If a meditator practises strenuously and perseveringly, his
concentration will become deep and strong.   When the meditator,s concentration becomes deep
and strong, he feels happy and experiences rapture because his mind is, at that moment, quite free
from all defilements such as greed, hatred, delusion, conceit and so on.  The persevering meditator
has attained a very good stage of insight because his mind is now calm, tranquil and serene.   If
the meditator enjioys it and is satisfied with what he is experiencing, it means he is attached to it, 
and thus he cannot progress to the higher stages of insight.   Such an experience can be attained in
the first part of the fourth stage of insight.       If he understands that, he should just observe the 
experience he has attained at this stage.       Whatever he is experiencing at this stage, he will not
become attached to it if he observes his experience very attentively and energetically.   When the
meditator notes it attentively and persistently, that happiness, tranquility or serenity will not be 
manifested in his mind very distinctly.   What he realises at that moment is just feeling that arises
and passes away.   Then another feeling arises and passes away.   He cannot differentiate between
and unpleasant feelings, thereby, he becomes detached from his experience and proceeds to prac-
tise for a higher stage of insight.   Only then can he go beyond this stage of insight.
    If a meditator walks very mindfully, noting the six parts of the step:
         lifting  of  the  feet,
         Raising  of  the  toes,
         pushing  the  foot  forward,
         dropping   it  down,
        touching   and   pressing,
and  as a result, his concentration is good, deep and strong, he will not be aware of the forn of the
foot.   Nor is he aware of the body or bodily forn.   What he knows is just movement of the foot.
The movement may also feel light; he may feel as if he is walking in the air.    He may feel as if he
is lifted in the sky.   At this stage, he is experiencing excellent meditational experiences.   If he does not observ these experiences mindfully, he will like them and may desire more of them.    He
may become very satisfied with his practice and he may think this is nibbana ( the cessation of all
kinds of suffering) because this is the best perience he has ever had.  All this happiness because he
does not observe his pleasant experiences, and so is attached to them.      This attachment arises depending on the pleasant his good experience.
     If a meditator enjoys this pleasant feeling or sensation about his good experience without being
mindful of it he is sure to become attached to it.   So, he should observe and be aware and mindful
of whatever experience he has encountered at this stage.   He must not analyse it or think about it,
but must be aware of the experience as it really occurs, in order to realise that this experience of the mental process or mental state is subject to impermanence.    Whenever he notes, he finds that
the experience is not everlasting.   When the 'noting mind' becomes constant, sustained and power-
ful, it penetrates into the nature of his experience, i.e, the mental state.    The mind begins to realise that the experience has disappeared.      Whenever it arises, the mind notes it, and again it
disappears.       He then concludes that this pleasant feeling together with his experience is imper-
manent (anicca), because he has comprehended the nature of impermanence through his personal
experience of the Dhamma. Here, Dhamma means mental  as well as physical processes.   Because he has realised that the pleasant feeling or sensation together with the good experience is
impermanent, he will not be attached to it.     Attachment will not arise when the meditator rightly
understands the true nature of good mental states or a good experience.
   Chain  of  Cause  and   Effect
     When attachment does not arise, grasping or upadana will not arise.   When grasping does
not arise, there will not be any wholesome or unwholesome actions, verbal, physical or mental.  The action that is caused by grasping is known as kamma-bhava.  This may be wholesome or un-
wholesome.   Wholesome bodily action is  kusala-kaya-kamma.     Unwholesome bodily action is
akusala kaya-kamma.  Wholesome verbal action is  kusala vaci-kamma.  Unwholesome verbal
action is akusala vacikamma. Wholesome mental action is kusala mano-kamma.   Unwholesome
mental action is akusala mano-kamma. These action or kamma  arise through the grasping which
is the result of attachment to pleasant or unpleasant feeling or sensation.
     When any bodily, verbal or mental action is carried out, it becomes a cause.   This cause has its
result which may occur in this life, or future lives.   So in this way, a being is reborn again through
his wholesome or unwholesome action.  That action is caused by the grasping which has attach-
ment as its root.   Attachment, in turn, is conditioned through feeling or sensation, vedana. In this
way, a being has to be reborn in the next existence to experience a variety of suffering because he
does not observe has pleasant feeling together with his experience.
         Therefore, if a meditator thinks that feelings should not be observed, he will be carried away 
along the Chain of Dependent Origination (paticcasamuppada) to be reborn in the next existence
and suffer from a variety of dukkha.    That is why the Buddha teaches us to be mindful of any kind of feeling or sensation whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
Mindfulness   of  Feeling
    Mindfulness of sensation or contemplation of sensation is known as  Vedananupassana-Satipat
thana.    Usually at the beginning of the practice, the meditator feels the unpleasant physical sensa-
tions as well as mental sensations.   Here we need to explain again the two kinds of sensation:
     1. Kayika-vedana
     2. Cetasika-vedana
    If the feeling or sensation arises depending on physical processes, it is known as kayika-vedana.
We may translate it as physical feeling or sensation, or bodily feeling or sensation.    If the feeling
or sensation arises depending on mental processes, it is called cetasika-vedana.    We may render
it as mental feeling or mental sensation.   Actually, every feeling, every sensation is a mental pro-
cess, not a physical process.     However, sometimes feeling or sensation arises depending on the
physical process of discomfort.    When a meditator feels discomfort in his body, then unpleasant
sensation arises.   That unpleasant sensation is called kayika-vedana; because it arises depending
on physical processes.
   In the beginning of the practice, a meditator generally experiences mostly unpleasant mental and
physical sensations.   But whatever sensation he may experience, he must observe it very attentive
ly, energetically and precisely so that he can reailse the true nature of that feeling or sensation.  The specific and the general characteristics of the feeling must be throughly realised so that he will
not be attached to it or repulsed by it.     This is  Vedananupassana  Satipatthana mindfulness of
feelings or sensations.   Whenever feeling arises, it must be observed and noted as it really occurs.