..續本文上一頁entions can be supposed, because the mind is pure Dhamma. Even though such people may still be alive, directing their khandhas, that nature stays that way in full measure.

　　Their khandhas are khandhas just like ours. Their appearance, manners, and traits appear in line with their characteristics, in line with the affairs of conventional reality that appear in those ways, which is why these things cannot be mixed together to become one with that nature. When the mind is released, the nature of release is one thing; the world of the khandhas is another world entirely. Even though the pure heart may dwell in the midst of the world of the khandhas, it is still always a mind released. To call it a transcendent mind wouldn”t be wrong, because it lies above conventional reality — above the elements and khandhas.

　　The transcendent Dhamma is a Dhamma above the world. This is why people of this sort can know the issue of connection in the mind. Once the mind is cleansed stage by stage, they can see its beginning points and end points. They can see the mind”s behavior, the direction towards which it tends most heavily, and whether there is anything left that involves the mind or acts as a means of connection. These things they know, and they know them clearly. When they know clearly, they find a way to cut, to remove from the mind the things that lead to connection, step by step.

　　When the defilements come thick and fast, there is total darkness in the mind. When this happens, we don”t know what the mind is or what the things entangling it are, and so we assume them to be one and the same. The things that come to entangle the mind, and the mind itself, become mixed into one, so there”s no way to know.

　　But once the mind is cleansed step by step, we come to know in stages until we can know clearly exactly how much there is still remaining in the mind. Even if there”s just a bit, we know there”s a bit, because the act of connection lets us see plainly that, ”This is the seed that will cause us to be reborn in one place or another.” We can tell this clearly within the mind. When we know this clearly, we have to try to rectify the situation, using the various methods of mindfulness and discernment until that thing is cut away from the mind with no more connections. The mind will then become an entirely pure mind, with no more means of connection or continuation. We can see this clearly. This is the one who is released. This is the one who doesn”t die.

　　Our Lord Buddha — from having practiced truly, from having truly known in line with the principles of the truth, seeing them clearly in the heart — spoke truly, acted truly, and knew truly. He taught what he had truly known and truly seen — and so how could he be wrong

　　 At first, he didn”t know how many times he had been born, or what various things he had been born as. Even concerning the present, he didn”t know what his mind was attached to or involved with, because he had many, many defilements at that stage.

　　But after he had striven and gained Awakening, so that the entire Dhamma appeared in his heart, he knew clearly. When he knew clearly, he took that truth to proclaim the Dhamma to the world and with intuitive insight knew who would be able to comprehend this sort of Dhamma quickly, as when he knew that the two hermits and the five brethren were already in a position to attain the Dhamma. He then went to teach the five brethren and attained the aim he foresaw.

　　All five of them attained the Dhamma stage by stage to the level of arahantship. Since the Buddha was teaching the truth to those aiming at the truth with their full hearts, they were able to communicate easily. They, looking for the truth, and he, teaching the truth, were right for each other. When he taught in line with the princi…

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