..續本文上一頁Sankhara then perpetuates these issues in the form of incessant, discursive thinking. Sañña, however, is the principal instigator. As soon as sankhara flashes up briefly, sañña immediately grasps it and defines its existence as this or that—agitating everything. These two are the mental faculties that cause all the trouble. Together they spin tales—of fortune and of woe—and then interpret them to be the reality of oneself. Relying on memory to identify everything that arises in awareness, sañña defines them and gives them meaning.

　　 Sankharas arise and cease with distinct beginnings and endings, like flashes of lightning or fireflies blinking on and off. When observed closely, sañña khandha is far more subtle than sankhara khandha. Bursting into awareness, sankharas are the basic building blocks of thought. Sañña, on the other hand, is not experienced as flashes of thought. When the mind is perfectly still and the khandhas are very quiet, we can cl, early feel the manner in which each khandha arises. Sañña will slowly spread out, permeating the citta like ink moving through blotting paper, expanding slowly until it forms a mental picture. Following sañña”s lead, the sankharas, that are constantly arising, begin to form a picture and create a story around it that will then take on a life of its own. Thoughts about this or that begin with sañña recognizing and interpreting the ripplings of sankhara, molding them into a recognizable image which sankhara then continuously elaborates. Both of these mental factors are natural phenomena. They arise spontaneously, and are distinct from the awareness that knows them.

　　 Now, when the citta has investigated the khandhas repeatedly, ceaselessly and relentlessly, it will develop an expertise. Contemplating by means of wisdom, we are able to first relinquish the physical khandha. At the beginning stage of the investigation, wisdom will see through the physical body before it sees through—and can let go of—the other khandhas. Henceforth, the citta can gradually relinquish its attachment to feeling, memory, thought and consciousness in the same manner.

　　 Put simply, the citta lets go when wisdom sees through the mental components of personality; before then, it holds on. Once wisdom has penetrated them completely, the citta can relinquish them all, recognizing that they are merely ripplings inside the citta and have no real substance. Whether good or bad, thoughts arise and cease all the same. No matter how they appear in the mind, they are just configurations created by sañña and sankhara and will simply vanish. There are no exceptions. No thought lasts more than an instant. Lacking duration, thoughts lack true substance and meaning; and therefore, they cannot be trusted.

　　 So, what keeps providing us with these thoughts

　　 What keeps producing them

　　 One moment it”s churning out one thought; the next moment, another, forever deceiving oneself. They come from sights, sounds, tastes, smells and tactile sensations; they come from feeling, memory, thought and consciousness. We take our assumptions about our perceptions for granted, perpetuating the fraud until it becomes a fire burning our hearts. The citta is contaminated by just these factors, these conventions of the mind.

　　 The purpose of the investigation is the removal of these factors. Their absence reveals the true nature of the citta. We will see that when the citta does not venture out to become involved with an object, it remains naturally calm and radiant; as in the saying: “Monks, the original citta is intrinsically bright and clear, but it becomes defiled by the commingling of kilesas that pas…

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