..續本文上一頁 must suffer. For example, we commonly say "sankharas" 8 when referring to the body. Anybody can say it, but in fact we have problems simply because we don”t know the truth of these sankharas, and thus cling to them. Because we don”t know the truth of the body, we suffer.

　　Here is an example. Suppose one morning you”re walking to work and a man yells abuse and insults at you from across the street. As soon as you hear this abuse your mind changes from its usual state. You don”t feel so good, you feel angry and hurt. That man walks around abusing you night and day. When you hear the abuse, you get angry, and even when you return home you”re still angry because you feel vindictive, you want to get even.

　　A few days later another man comes to your house and calls out, "Hey! That man who abused you the other day, he”s mad, he”s crazy! Has been for years! He abuses everybody like that. Nobody takes any notice of anything he says." As soon as you hear this you are suddenly relieved. That anger and hurt that you”ve pent up within you all these days melts away completely. Why

　　 Because you know the truth of the matter now. Before, you didn”t know, you thought that man was normal, so you were angry at him. Understanding like that caused you to suffer. As soon as you find out the truth, everything changes: "Oh, he”s mad! That explains everything!" When you understand this you feel fine, because you know for yourself. Having known, then you can let go. If you don”t know the truth you cling right there. When you thought that man who abused you was normal you could have killed him. But when you find out the truth, that he”s mad, you feel much better. This is knowledge of the truth.

　　Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experience. When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disappear in the same way. As long as we don”t know these things we think, "What can I do

　　 I have so much greed and aversion." This is not clear knowledge. It”s just the same as when we thought the madman was sane. When we finally see that he was mad all along we”re relieved of worry. No-one could show you this. Only when the mind sees for itself can it uproot and relinquish attachment.

　　It”s the same with this body which we call sankharas. Although the Buddha has already explained that it”s not substantial or a real being as such, we still don”t agree, we stubbornly cling to it. If the body could talk, it would be telling us all day long, "You”re not my owner, you know." Actually it”s telling us all the time, but it”s Dhamma language, so we”re unable to understand it. For instance, the sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body are continually changing, but I”ve never seen them ask permission from us even once! Like when we have a headache or a stomachache — the body never asks permission first, it just goes right ahead, following its natural course. This shows that the body doesn”t allow anyone to be its owner, it doesn”t have an owner. The Buddha described it as an empty thing.

　　We don”t understand the Dhamma and so we don”t understand these sankharas; we take them to be ourselves, as belonging to us or belonging to others. This gives rise to clinging. When clinging arises, "becoming" follows on. Once becoming arises, then there is birth. Once there is birth, then old age, sickness, death... the whole mass of suffering arises. This is the Paticcasamuppada. 9 We say ignorance gives rise to volitional activities, they give rise to consciousness and so on. All these things are simply events in mind. When we come into contact with something we don”t like, if we don”t have mindfulness, ignorance is there. Suffering arises straight away. But the mind passes through these changes so rapidly that we can”t keep up with them. It”s the same as when you fall from…

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