..續本文上一頁fort and peace without being disturbed by sadness, discontent, or loneliness as we are in our conventional world so full of turmoil and stress.

　　Actually, we don”t realize that this picture — of pure men and women milling or sitting around happily at their leisure without anything disturbing them — is simply a convention that can”t have anything to do with the release of actual nibbana at all. When we talk about things that are beyond the range of convention — even though they may not be beyond the range of the speaker”s awareness, even though they may be well within that person”s range — they can”t be expressed in conventional terms. Whatever is expressed is bound to be interpreted wrongly, because ordinarily the mind is always ready to be wrong, or continues to be wrong within itself. As soon as anything comes flashing out, we have to speculate and guess in line with our incorrect and uncertain understanding — like Ven. Yamaka saying to Ven. Sariputta that an arahant no longer exists after death.

　　Ven. Yamaka was still an ordinary, run-of-the-mill person, but even though Ven. Sariputta, who was an arahant, tried to explain things to him, he still wouldn”t understand, until the Lord Buddha had to come and explain things himself. Even then — if I”m not mistaken — Ven. Yamaka still didn”t understand in line with the truth the Buddha explained to him. As I remember, the texts say that Ven. Yamaka didn”t attain any of the paths and fruitions or nibbana or anything. Still, there must have been a reason for the Buddha”s explanation. If there were nothing to be gained by teaching, the Buddha wouldn”t teach. In some cases, even when the person being taught didn”t benefit much from the Dhamma, other people involved would. This is one of the traits of the Lord Buddha. There had to be a reason for everything he”d say. If there was something that would benefit his listeners, he”d speak. If not, he wouldn”t. This is the nature of the Buddha: fully reasonable, fully accomplished in everything of every sort. He wouldn”t make empty pronouncements in the way of the rest of the world.

　　So when he spoke to Ven. Yamaka, I”m afraid I”ve forgotten the details 4 — because it”s been so long since I read it — to the point where I”ve forgotten who benefited on that occasion, or maybe Ven. Yamaka did benefit. I”m not really sure. At any rate, let”s focus on the statement, ”An arahant doesn”t exist after death,” as the important point.

　　The Buddha asked, ”Is the arahant his body, so that when he dies he is annihilated with the body

　　 Is he vedana

　　 Sañña

　　 Sankhara

　　 Viññana

　　 Is he earth, water, wind, or fire, so that when he dies he”s annihilated with these things

　　” He kept asking in this way, until he reached the conclusion that the body is inconstant and so disbands. Vedana, sañña, sankhara, and viññana are inconstant and so disband. Whatever is a matter of convention follows these conventional ways.

　　But whatever is a matter of release — of purity — cannot be made to follow those ways, because it is not the same sort of thing. To take release or a released mind and confuse or compound it with the five khandhas, which are an affair of conventional reality, is wrong. It can”t be done. The five khandhas are one level of conventional reality; the ordinary mind is also a level of conventional reality.

　　The refinement of the mind — so refined that it is marvelous even when there are still things entangling it — displays its marvelousness in line with its level for us to see clearly. Even more so when the things entangling it are entirely gone, the mind becomes Dhamma. The Dhamma is the mind. The mind is Dhamma. The entire Dhamma is the entire mind. The entire mind is the entire Dhamma. At this point, no conv…

《Straight from the Heart - The Conventional Mind, The Mind Released》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…