About This Teaching
Asked to explain clear comprehension, Ajahn Dtun describes sati as recollection or awareness and sampajañña as all-round self-awareness. The two arise together, and he calls mindfulness the foremost path for cleansing the mind of defilements.
Without mindfulness and clear comprehension, delusion dominates the mind and people act according to their emotions. A thief driven by greed forgets himself and steals regardless of the harm, and bandits may even take life under the power of greed and anger. When mindfulness and clear comprehension are present, greed may still arise, but one knows to seek wealth only in honest, rightful ways; anger may arise, but one recognises that harming or killing another is not good. These qualities restrain the mind from wrongdoing.
A second question asks how they differ from paññā. Ajahn Dtun replies that sati and sampajañña are very close, and wisdom comes along to help after them. When he teaches, he usually speaks only of mindfulness and wisdom, since clear comprehension is included within them.