..續本文上一頁down there”s no opportunity to estimate how many feet and inches we”ve fallen. What we do know is that we”ve hit the ground with a thud and it hurts!
The mind is the same. When it falls for something, what we”re aware of is the pain. Where has all this suffering, pain, grief, and despair come from
It didn”t come from theory in a book. There isn”t anywhere where the details of our suffering are written down. Our pain won”t correspond exactly with the theory, but the two travel along the same road. So scholarship alone can”t keep pace with the reality. That”s why the Buddha taught to cultivate clear knowing for ourselves. Whatever arises, arises in this knowing. When that which knows, knows in accordance with the truth, then the mind and its psychological factors are recognized as not ours. Ultimately all these phenomena are to be discarded and thrown away as if they were rubbish. We shouldn”t cling to or give them any meaning.
THEORY AND REALITY
The Buddha did not teach about the mind and its psychological factors so that we”d get attached to the concepts. His sole intention was that we would recognize them as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self. Then let go. Lay them aside. Be aware and know them as they arise. This mind has already been conditioned. It”s been trained and conditioned to turn away and spin out from a state of pure awareness. As it spins it creates conditioned phenomena which further influence the mind, and the proliferation carries on. The process gives birth to the good, the evil, and everything else under the sun. The Buddha taught to abandon it all. Initially, however, you have to familiarize yourself with the theory in order that you”ll be able to abandon it all at the later stage. This is a natural process. The mind is just this way. Psychological factors are just this way.
Take the Noble Eightfold Path, for example. When wisdom (pañña) views things correctly with insight, this Right View then leads to Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, and so on. This all involves psychological conditions that have arisen from that pure knowing awareness. This knowing is like a lantern shedding light on the path ahead on a dark night.
If the knowing is right, is in accordance with truth, it will pervade and illuminate each of the other steps on the path in turn.
Whatever we experience, it all arises from within this knowing. If this mind did not exist, the knowing would not exist either. All this is phenomena of the mind. As the Buddha said, the mind is merely the mind. It”s not a being, a person, a self, or yourself. It”s neither us nor them. The Dhamma is simply the Dhamma. It is a natural, selfless process. It does not belong to us or anyone else. It”s not any thing. Whatever an inpidual experiences it all falls within five fundamental categories (khandhas): body, feeling, memory/perception, thoughts and consciousness. The Buddha said to let it all go.
Meditation is like a single stick of wood. Insight (vipassana) is one end of the stick and serenity (samatha) the other. If we pick it up, does only one end come up or do both
When anyone picks up a stick both ends rise together. Which part then is vipassana, and which is samatha
Where does one end and the other begin
They are both the mind. As the mind becomes peaceful, initially the peace will arise from the serenity of samatha. We focus and unify the mind in states of meditative peace (samadhi). However, if the peace and stillness of samadhi fades away, suffering arises in its place. Why is that
Because the peace afforded by samatha meditation alone is still based on attachment. This attachment can then be a cause of suffering. Serenity is not the end of the path. The Buddha saw from his own experience that such peace of mind was n…
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