..續本文上一頁an conquer defilements the size of mountains, small though we may be. Our situation can be compared to that of a small mouse faced with the job of killing several tigers. We have to be really steadfast and always on the lookout for means appropriate to a small mouse. If we get nowhere, we must use all sorts of devices and techniques to weaken those tigers day by day rather than trying to kill them outright. This intense search for a way of escape (Patisankhanupassana - nana) constitutes the seventh step in the Knowledge and Vision of the Progress along the Path. h) This weakening of the defilements serves to make us progressively more and more independent of and oblivious to things. So this next step in the developing of right understanding, which results in imperturbability with respect to all things, consists in seeing all phenomena as empty, as devoid of essence, as devoid of status such as "animal" or "person," devoid of substance or real permanence, devoid of worth because they are thoroughly unsatisfactory, and devoid of all attraction because they are thoroughly disenchanting. Ultimately the mind becomes independent of and unperturbed by anything in any realm of existence. Things formerly likable, desirable and infatuating, come to be seen as lumps of rock and earth.

　　This too has been explained by means of a simile. A man who has always loved a certain woman may one day experience a change of heart and stop loving her. For instance, he will stop loving his wife if she is unfaithful. Once porced, however, he is free to go ahead and do as he pleases; his mind can be unperturbed. And at this level of knowledge, conditions hitherto delightful, each in its own way, are recognized as devoid of substance, so that one can be independent of them and unperturbed by them in all circumstances, just like the man who becomes independent on porcing his wife. This indifference to all phenomena (Sankharupekkha - nana) is the eighth step.

　　i) The mind thus independent of and unmoved by all phenomenal existence is ready to perfect the Path and know the Four Noble Truths (Saccanulomika - nana). At this stage one is all set to overcome the defilements, to break the fetters binding one to the world, and become an Aryian of one degree or another. This is the ninth step in the process of Knowledge and Vision of the Progress along the Path.

　　When this stepwise developing of knowledge, from knowledge of arising and passing away up to the state of readiness to perceive the Four Noble Truths, has been carried through to completion, one is said to have achieved the fourth state in vipassana, or the sixth Purification. The pure and perfect knowledge it yields is an instrument that reveals to the meditator the path by which he has come, and can lead on to the perfect intuitive insight that will destroy the defilements.

　　This perfect intuitive insight, or Purity of Knowledge and Vision, the seventh Purification, is the insight that arises out of the perfected Path. It is the goal, the Fruit of vipassana practice. This insight that arises out of the perfected Path is the fifth and final stage in vipassana. In between the state of readiness to perceive the Noble Truths and this perfect intuitive insight comes "qualifying" knowledge (Gotrabhu - nana), which marks the point of transition from the ordinary defiled inpidual to the Aryian. But this qualifying knowledge lasts only an instant. It is the culmination of the progressive perfection of knowledge and is still at the level of good karma, still in the sensual realm.

　　To sum up, then, vipassana has as its foundation morality and concentration. What do we examine

　　 The answer is: We examine all things, or to use other terms, the world, or phenomenal existence, or conditioned things, or the five aggregates, …

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