..續本文上一頁in, saying, "What do I do next

　　" There! the confusion arises again. He says he wants peace but when he gets it, he doesn”t want it, he asks what he should do next!

　　So in this practice we must do everything with detachment. How are we to detach

　　 We detach by seeing things clearly. Know the characteristics of the body and mind as they are. We meditate in order to find peace, but in doing so we see that which is not peaceful. This is because movement is the nature of the mind.

　　When practicing samadhi, we fix our attention on the in and out-breaths at the nose tip or the upper lip. This "lifting" the mind to fix it is called vitakka, or "lifting up." When we have thus "lifted" the mind and are fixed on an object, this is called vicara, the contemplation of the breath at the nose tip. This quality of vicara will naturally mingle with other mental sensations, and we may think that our mind is not still, that it won”t calm down, but actually this is simply the workings of vicara as it mingles with those sensations. Now if this goes too far in the wrong direction, our mind will lose its collectedness, so then we must set up the mind afresh, lifting it up to the object of concentration with vitakka. As soon as we have thus established our attention vicara takes over, mingling with the various mental sensations.

　　Now when we see this happening, our lack of understanding may lead us to wonder: "Why has my mind wandered

　　 I wanted it to be still, why isn”t it still

　　" This is practicing with attachment.

　　Actually the mind is simply following its nature, but we go and add on to that activity by wanting the mind to be still and thinking "Why isn”t it still

　　" Aversion arises and so we add that on to everything else, increasing our doubts, increasing our suffering and increasing our confusion. So if there is vicara, reflecting on the various happenings within the mind in this way, we should wisely consider..."Ah, the mind is simply like this." There, that”s the One Who Knows talking, telling you to see things as they are. The mind is simply like this. We let it go at that and the mind becomes peaceful. When it”s no longer centered we bring up vitakka once more, and shortly there is clam again. Vitakka and vicara work together like this. We use vicara to contemplate the various sensations which arise. When vicara becomes gradually more scattered we once again "lift" our attention with vitakka.

　　The important thing here is that our practice at this point must be done with detachment. Seeing the process of vicara interacting with the mental sensations we may think that the mind is confused and become averse to this process. This is the cause right here. We aren”t happy simply because we want the mind to be still. This is the cause -- wrong view. If we correct our view just a little, seeing this activity as simply the nature of mind, just this is enough to subdue the confusion. This is called letting go.

　　Now, if we don”t attach, if we practice with "letting go"...detachment within activity and activity within detachment...if we learn to practice like this, then vicara will naturally tend to have less to work with. If our mind ceases to be disturbed, then vicara will incline to contemplating Dhamma, because if we don”t contemplate Dhamma the mind returns to distraction.

　　So there is vitakka then vicara, vitakka then vicara,vitakka then vicara and so on, until vicara becomes gradually more subtle. At first vicara goes all over the place. When we understand this as simply the natural activity of the mind, it won”t bother us unless we attach to it. It”s like flowing water. If we get obsessed with it, asking "Why does it flow

　　" then naturally we suffer. If we understand that the water simply flows because that”s its nature then there”s no sufferin…

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