..續本文上一頁ce, or as religion. When we know this truth, ignorance-based grasping and clinging vanish, desire of any sort has no means of arising, and suffering ceases.

　　Why is it, then, that we normally don”t see these five aggregates as they really are

　　 When we were born, we had no understanding of things. We acquired knowledge on the basis of what people taught us. The way they taught us led us to understand that all things are selves. The power of the primal instinctive belief in selfhood, which is present right from birth, becomes very strong in the course of time. In speaking we use the words "I, you, he, she," which only serve to consolidate the self idea. We say: "This is Mr. X; that is Mr. Y. He is Mr. A”s son and Mr. B”s grandson. This is So - and - so”s husband; that is So - and - so”s wife." This way of speaking serves simply to identify people as selves. The result is that we are, none of us, conscious of our clinging to selfhood, which increases daily. When we cling to something as being a self, the result is selfishness, and our actions are biased accordingly. If we were to develop sufficient insight to see this idea as a deception, we would stop clinging to the ideas of "Mr. A and Mr. B, high class and low class, beast and human being," and would see that these are nothing more than terms which man has devised for use in social intercourse. When we have come to understand this, we can be said to have dispensed with one sort of social deception. When we examine the whole of what goes to make up Mr. A, we find that Mr. A is simply an aggregation of body, feeling, perception, thinking and consciousness. This is a rather more intelligent way of looking at things. Doing this, one is not deluded by worldly relative truth.

　　It is possible to carry the process of analysis further than this. For instance the physical body can be pided up rather crudely into the elements of earth, water, wind and fire; or it can be analyzed scientifically into carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and so on. The deeper we look, the less we are deceived. Penetrating below the surface, we find that in fact there is no person; there are only elements, physical and mental. Looked at in this light, the "person" disappears. The idea of "Mr. A and Mr. B, high - class and low - class" dissolves. The idea of "my child, my husband, my wife" vanishes away. When we look at things in the light of absolute truth, we find only elements: earth, water, wind and fire; oxygen, hydrogen and so on; body, feeling, perception, thinking and consciousness. On examining these closely we find they all have one property in common, namely emptiness. Each is empty of what we refer to as "its self." Earth, water, wind and fire, looked at properly, are seen to be empty of selfhood. It is possible for each one of us to see anything and everything as empty in this sense. This done, grasping and clinging will have no means of arising and any already arisen will have no means of remaining. They will dissolve, pass away, vanish entirely, not a trace remaining. So there are no animals, no people, no elements, no aggregates. There are no things at all; there is only emptiness, emptiness of selfhood. When we don”t grasp and cling, there is no way suffering can arise. One who sees all things as empty is quite unmoved when people call him good or bad, happy or miserable, or anything. This is the fruit of knowledge, understanding, and clear insight into the true nature of the five aggregates which makes it possible to give up completely those four kinds of unskillful clinging. In summary, everything in the whole world is included within the five aggregates, namely matter, feeling, perception, thinking and consciousness. Each of these groups is a deception, each is quite devoid of selfhood, but has the seductive power to induce grasping and clinging. As a result, the ordinary person desires to possess, desires to be, desires not to possess, desires not to be, all of which only serves to produce suffering, suffering which is not obvious, but concealed. It behooves every one to utilize the threefold training in morality, concentration and insight, and eliminate delusion with respect to the five aggregates completely and utterly. A person who has done this will not fall under the power of the five aggregates and will be free of suffering. For him life will be unblemished bliss. His mind will be above all things for as long as he lives. This is the fruit of clear and perfect insight into the five aggregates.

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