..續本文上一頁hts, we as Buddhists cannot exclusively enjoy the nectar of Buddhadharma, but should share it as much as possible with those who have the affinity.

　　Then, how does Buddhism teach us to treat our mental afflictions

　　1.

　　Treating craving

　　According to the Theravada viewpoint, when fierce craving arises, it is best to practice skeleton meditation. In Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and other countries, most practitioners adopt this method. When I went to Thailand in 1999, I especially went to a forest monastery to see this. Placed there were a human anatomy model and the skeleton of a corpse. Next to these, the elders were explaining to the visitors: How is our human body formed

　　 Is it worth craving

　　 …

　　Initially, those who do not understand may find it a little ridiculous: “This is a dead person, we are living people, how can there not be distinctions

　　” But if you quiet the mind and think it through, you will slowly understand that any one whom you are strongly attached to is actually just a sack of stinking skin and bones. If you analyse one by one their skin, flesh, bones, organs, you find not a shred worthy of craving and attachment. Eventually you will realize that the body of your beloved is not even as pure as a sheet of white paper. Your own incomparable craving of it is entirely a sort of confused attachment.

　　Nowadays many people never tire of professing: “I love you, you love me”, are willing to die and be born again for love, and everyone also find this perfectly justified. Yet they have never thought about: is this body worthy of love

　　 That, which I love, in the end is which portion of this person

　　I once met a government official in Thailand who has gone through temporary ordination and practiced skeleton meditation – the situation in Thailand is different to ours, men of around 20 there must go through temporary ordination, even Prime Ministers are of no exception. Such undertakings ensure the sowing of virtuous roots for liberation, and can also have restraints on the actions of the people. When he initially saw the impurities of the human body, perhaps due to his different living environment, he really scoffed at it. Yet slowly, through attending to the interpretations of the elders, he started to accept, and within a very short period of time had very strong confidence. He said in astonishment: “I was so ignorant before. I should not be attached to this body, whether other”s or mine. It is in the end only a clump of flesh and blood, what is there to grasp

　　 Why are people so confused

　　Presently, quite a few among you also grasp and are attached to others or your own body. Actually this is all because the education you received as a child was different and you did not have the opportunity to touch these truths. If you have the chance, “man”s nature at birth is good”, everyone can recover his or her own virtuous roots.

　　Above, from the Theravada perspective of visualizing impurities, I have briefly touched on the method of treating craving. Of course, in Mahayana Buddhism, there are also many teachings on this.

　　2.

　　Treating anger

　　As for anger, there is a specific chapter in The Way of the Bodhisattva on how to treat it. For instance, when you are in the midst of anger, you can observe what are the colour, shape, and nature of this anger

　　 Has it come from the body of the foe, from empty space, or from a part of your own body

　　 Where does it actually exist

　　 As soon as you dissect it this way, you will realize that anger is like empty space, and it will dissolve in that moment. Just as it is said in the Purification of Karmic Obscurations Sutra: “All afflictions are the Buddhadharma…all afflictions are of the nature of empty space.”

　　This is the method of treating anger adopted by highly skilled practitioners. With it, aff…

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