..續本文上一頁- when the properties of the body have been thoroughly evaluated, the mind will be able to contemplate the drawbacks of the five hindrances. The body will grow quiet -- this is called kaya-passaddhi, physical serenity; and the mind will grow still -- citta-passaddhi, mental serenity. The body will be at ease, with no pains or heaviness: this is kaya-lahuta, physical lightness. This is where rapture arises. The mind will feel full and satisfied, with no restlessness or distraction, like a person who has eaten his fill, or a child who has eaten its fill so that it no longer disturbs its mother or father.

　　When the heart has rapture as its companion, it will be free from unrest. It will be cool. It will be able to use the fresh water it has distilled from salt water as a means of washing its clothing, as a means of bathing its body. Then it will be able to wash the earth property -- which is like a rag -- the water property, the wind property, and the fire property, all of which are like rags: they”re always ripping and tearing, always getting dirty. This is why we have to care for them at all times. When the mind has given rise to the factors of concentration, the power of rapture will come to wash our properties of earth, water, wind, and fire. Then, if we want to be warm, we won”t have to sit in the sunlight; if we want to be cool, we won”t have to sit in the breeze. If, when we”re stuck in the sunlight, we want to be cool, we”ll be cool. If, when we”re stuck in water, we want to be warm, we”ll be warm. That way we can be at our ease, like a person who has clothing to cover his body, and so has no need to feel bashful when he enters human society.

　　This is why meditators have no fear of difficult conditions. Why is that

　　 Because they have their own source of fresh water: water to bathe in, water to drink. They”ve got all the water they need to use for bathing their body; for bathing their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; for bathing the properties of earth, water, wind, and fire. That”s water for using. As for water for drinking: they can develop concentration to an even higher level, to give rise to a sense of inner pleasure: pleasure that arises from within the mind itself. When the mind feels pleasure, both the body and mind will be at their ease. The mind will imbibe nothing but pleasure -- and there”s no pleasure higher than that of the mind at peace. Thus rapture is water for using, for bathing the body and mind; whereas pleasure is drinking water specifically for the mind.

　　So whoever has the discernment to distill fresh water from salt water will experience ease and well-being. This is our first distillery. The second distillery is where we take the water from the first and distill it to even greater purity. This is the same as when they refine sugar: after the first stage, it still contains some alcohol, so they have to refine it a second time. This stands for developing insight meditation, something very refined -- so refined that nobody else can see it. You can stand and practice insight meditation, sit and practice insight meditation, you can lie down, you can even be giving a Dhamma talk and practice insight meditation: the mouth speaks, the mind thinks of its topic -- when you think of something to say, or thoughts simply arise within the mind, there”s no attachment to bodily fabrication, i.e., the processes of the body; no attachment to verbal fabrication, i.e., the thoughts that fabricate words for other people to hear. There”s no attachment to your words, and your mind doesn”t run out after them. As for thoughts that arise from ignorance and craving, you know them immediately for what they are. The mind in that state isn”t involved in bodily fabrication, verbal fabrication, or mental fabrication. The m…

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