..續本文上一頁not with the various kinds of defilement, craving, and mental effluents that are like poisons burning the heart. Reduce matters to these terms, meditators. This is called Right Livelihood in the practice of meditation.
Right Effort, as I”ve said before, means persistence in abandoning all forms of evil. This covers everything we”ve said so far. The Buddha defines this as persistence in four areas, or of four sorts, [4] but since I”ve already explained this many times, I”ll pass over it here.
Right Mindfulness: What does the Buddha have us keep in mind
All the things that will remove defilement. For example, he has us keep the four frames of reference in mind: being mindful as we investigate the body; being mindful as we investigate feelings; being mindful as we investigate the mind; being mindful as we investigate phenomena that involve the mind, arise in the mind, arise and then vanish, vanish and then arise, matters of past and future appearing in the present all the time. We keep investigating in this way. If we investigate so as to make the mind progress in tranquillity meditation, Right Mindfulness means using mindfulness to supervise our mental repetition. From there it turns into Right Concentration within the heart. This is called building the Dhamma, building tools for clearing our way, loosening the things that bind and constrict the heart so that we can make easy progress, so that we aren”t obstructed and blocked by the force of the things I have mentioned.
Only the religion, or only the Dhamma, can remove and scatter all the things that have bound us for countless aeons, clearing them away so that we can make easy progress. When the mind is centered in concentration, then confusion and turmoil are far away. The mind is still and dwells in comfort and ease. When the mind develops discernment from investigating and contemplating the things that obstruct it, it makes easy progress. The sharper its discernment, the wider the path it can clear for itself. Its going is smooth. Easy. It advances by seeing and knowing the truth, without being deluded or deceiving itself. Genuine discernment doesn”t deceive itself, but instead makes smooth progress. It unravels all the things that obstruct it -- our various attachments and misconstruings -- so as to see them thoroughly, as if it were slashing away the obstacles in its path so that it can progress step by step as I”ve already explained to you.
The most important basis for its investigation is the body. Bodies outside or the body inside, investigate them carefully and thoroughly, for they”re all Noble Truths. They”re all the path, both inside and out. Investigate and unravel them so as to see them clearly -- and while you”re investigating them, don”t concern yourself with any other work more than with the work of investigation. Use discernment to investigate in order really to know, really to see these things as they are, and uproot the counterfeit labels and assumptions that say that they”re pretty and beautiful, lovely and attractive. Investigate so as to penetrate to the truth that there is nothing at all beautiful or attractive about them. They”re thoroughly filthy and repulsive: your body and the bodies of others, all without exception. They”re all filled with filthy and repulsive things. If you look in line with the principles of the truth, that”s how they are. Discernment investigates, peering inward so as to see clear through -- from the skin outside on into the inside, which is putrid with all kinds of filth -- for the sake of seeing clearly exactly what is pretty, what is beautiful, what is lovely and attractive. There”s nothing of the sort in any body. There are only the lying defilements that have planted these notions there.
When we have really investigate…
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