..續本文上一頁ust as it always was; the water is still water; the fire is still fire; and the wind, still wind. Only their particular manifestations — hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, etc. — have disappeared. What we supposed them to be has vanished, but the nature of the primal elements hasn”t. It”s there as it always was. People who have fallen for their supposings are sure to be shocked at death; those who have seen the truth, see death as nothing strange. It”s simply a change in the manifestations of the elements.

　　Our fear of death is based on our assumption that the body is ours. When it dies, and we feel that it”s been annihilated, this only increases our fears, all because we don”t know the truth of the body. And if we don”t know the truth even of this crude body, we”re ripe for all sorts of wrong views, such as the view that death is annihilation. If death is annihilation, then there are no heavens, no hells, no Brahma worlds and no nibbana. And if this true, then the Buddha was even stupider than we are, because pleasure in the present life is something everyone knows enough to search for — even common animals know enough to look for food. So why would the Buddha have to exert himself to the point of sacrificing his life and mind for the sake of teaching other people

　　People who believe that death is annihilation, who from birth have been led by necessity to search for a living from their environment, are like a person blind from birth who — when he gets older and his parents or friends take him by the hand and lead him into a cave — won”t know whether he”s in the cave or outside of the cave, because he can”t see. And since he can”t see, he”ll think that everywhere is probably dark without exception. Even if they tell him that in-the-cave is dark and outside-of-the-cave is bright, he won”t believe them, all because of his own darkness. In the same way, people believe that the body and mind are annihilated at death and that there are no heavens, hells, Brahma worlds, or nibbana, all because of their own darkness. Their knowledge hasn”t penetrated into the real nature of birth and death. They see others speaking of the practice of virtue, concentration, jhana, and discernment for the sake of ending death and rebirth, and they smile to themselves. "What a bunch of fools." they say. But actually they”re the fools.

　　Those who have seen that death has to be followed by rebirth have seen that if defilement, craving, and unawareness still entwine the heart, rebirth will be endless. People who can”t see this are bound to believe that everything is annihilated at death.

　　Our Lord Buddha was a sage, a man of wisdom endowed with virtue, concentration, and discernment. He was able to see that there is no annihilation — just like the expert surveyor who can look at a mountain spring and know that there”s gold in the mountain.

　　"Look," he tells some farmers. "There”s gold in the spring."

　　They go and look, but they don”t see any signs of gold. All they see is water gushing out of the mountain. "That guy is lying," they think. "He must be out of his mind. He looks at spring water and sees gold."

　　But what”s really wrong is that they don”t know his craft. Those who see that death has to be followed by rebirth as long as there is unawareness (avijja) in the heart are like the expert surveyor. Those who believe that death is annihilation are like the farmers who know nothing of the craft of searching for gold.

　　Those who want to see clearly into the nature of birth and death will first have to learn the craft of the heart. Thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, and singleness of object: These form the first skill in the Buddha”s craft. To focus in until only rapture, pleasure, and singleness of object are left is the second skill. To focus in until on…

《The Craft of the Heart - Jhana》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…