..續本文上一頁ave rowed their boats into the main current of the Chao Phraya River, and so are destined to float down to the river”s mouth and into the sea of amata — deathless — nibbana. There are three ways they can reach the sea:

　　(1) The lowest level of stream-winner is like a boatsman who leans back with his hand simply placed on the rudder. This level of stream-winner reaches the goal slowly.

　　(2) The second level is like a boatsman who has his foot on the rudder, his hands on the oars, and rows along.

　　(3) The third level: The boat is equipped with a motor and the boatsman is at the steering wheel, and so he reaches the goal in practically no time at all.

　　This — reaching the stream to nibbana — is the beginning stage of the transcendent level. If you were to simplify the three Fetters, you could do so as follows: To be attached to the body as being one”s own is self-identification. To be attached to the actions of the body is attachment to precepts and practices. Not knowing how to separate the mind from the body or from one”s actions makes one unable to see clearly and know truly: This leads to uncertainty and doubt.

　　These are simply my opinions on the matter, so you who read this should consider things carefully on your own.

　　This ends the discussion of the transcendent and mundane skillful states of mind.

　　When you know the characteristics of the various mental states, you should use the three qualities mentioned above as your tools: Keep your mindfulness, alertness, and powers of focused investigation firmly in place at the mind. To be able to gain knowledge, you have to use the power of focused investigation, which is an aspect of discernment, to know how mental states arise and fall: pulling out, taking a stance, and then returning into stillness. You must keep your attention fixed on investigating these things constantly in order to be able to know the arising and falling away of mental states — and you will come to know the nature of the mind that doesn”t arise and doesn”t fall away.

　　To know the arising and falling away of mental states of the past is one level of cognitive skill (vijja), and deserves to be called ”knowledge of previous births.” To know the states of the mind as they change in the present deserves to be called ”knowledge of death and rebirth.” To know how to separate mental states from their objects, knowing the primal nature of the mind, knowing the current or force of the mind that flows to its objects; separating the objects, the current of mind that flows, and the primal nature of the mind: To be able to know in this way deserves to be called ”knowledge of the ending of mental effluents.” The objects or preoccupations of the mind are the effluent of sensuality. The current that flows is the effluent of becoming. Not knowing the primal nature of the mind is the effluent of unawareness.

　　If we were to express this in terms of the four Noble Truths, we would have to do so as follows: The objects or preoccupations of the mind are the truth of stress (dukkha-sacca). The current of the mind that flows into and falls for its objects is the truth of the cause of stress (samudaya-sacca). The mental state that penetrates in to see clearly the truth of all objects, the current of the mind, and the primal nature of the mind, is called the mental moment that forms the Path (magga-citta). To let go of the objects, the mental current, and the primal nature of the mind, without any sense of attachment, is the truth of the disbanding of stress (nirodha-sacca).

　　When the three qualities that assist the mind — alertness, mindfulness, and focused investigation — are vigorous and strong, alertness becomes the awareness of release (vijja-vimutti), mindfulness becomes intuitive understanding (ñana), and focused investiga…

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