..續本文上一頁hey should rather be taken up for mindful observation only when they occur. There will be many such occasions, provided the mind is alert and calm enough to notice the feelings clearly at their primary stage.

　　In the Contemplation of Feelings, there should first be a mindful awareness of the feelings when they arise, and one should clearly distinguish them as pleasant, unpleasant (painful) or neutral, respectively. There is no such thing as "mixed feelings."

　　Mindfulness should be maintained throughout the short duration of that specific feeling, down to its cessation. If the vanishing point of feelings is repeatedly seen with increasing clarity, it will become much easier to trap, and finally to stop, those emotions, thoughts and volitions, which normally follow so rapidly, and which are so often habitually associated with the feelings. Pleasant feeling is habitually linked with enjoyment and desire; unpleasant feeling with aversion; neutral feeling with boredom and confusion, but also serving as background for wrong views. But when Bare Attention is directed towards the arising and vanishing of feelings, these polluting additives will be held at bay; or when they have arisen they will be immediately cognized in their nature, and that cognition may often be sufficient to stop them from growing stronger by unopposed continuance.

　　If feelings are seen in their bubble-like blowing up and bursting, their linkage with craving or aversion will be weakened more and more, until that bondage is finally broken. By that practice, attachment to likes and dislikes will be reduced and thereby an inner space will be provided for the growth of the finer emotions and virtues: for loving-kindness and compassion, for contentment, patience and forbearance.

　　In this contemplation it is of particular importance to dissociate the feelings from even the faintest thoughts of "I" or "mine." There should be no ego-reference, as for instance "I feel (and, therefore, I am)." Nor should there be any thought of being the owner of the feelings: "I have pleasant feelings. How happy I am!" With the thought, "I want to have more of them" craving arises. Or, "I have pains. How unhappy I am!" and wishing to get rid of the pains, aversion arises.

　　Avoiding these wrong and unrealistic views, one should be aware of the feelings as a conditioned and transient process. Mindfulness should be kept alert and it should be focused on the bare fact that there is just the mental function of such and such a feeling; and this awareness should serve no other purpose than that of knowledge and mindfulness, as stated in the Satipatthana Sutta. As long as one habitually relates the feelings to a person that "has" them, and does so even during meditation, there cannot be any progress in that Contemplation.

　　To be aware of the feelings without any ego-reference will also help to distinguish them clearly from the physical stimuli arousing them, as well as from the subsequent mental reactions to them. Thereby the meditator will be able to keep his attention focused on the feelings alone, without straying into other areas. This is the purport of the phrase "he contemplates feelings in the feelings" as stated in the Satipatthana Sutta. At this stage of the practice, the meditator will become more familiar with the Insight Knowledge of "Discerning mentality and materiality" (nama-rupa-pariccheda).

　　Further progress, however, will require persistence in the mindful observations of the arising and passing away of every instant of feeling whenever it occurs. This will lead to a deepening experience of impermanence (anicca), being one of the main gates to final liberation. When, in Insight Meditation (vipassana), the vanishing moment of feelings becomes more strongly marked, the impermanent nat…

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