..續本文上一頁e light of my torch the beautiful head was just bones, just a skeleton, nothing about it. Her eyes - how lovely! ...but in the light of the torch: how hollow. Couldn”t see anything beautiful anymore. What”s so attractive about looking into these eyes

　　 I kept on shining my light on the skeleton, staring at it, every night, but I didn”t tell anybody. At one a.m. I”d go. What about the male skeleton

　　 Was there any difference

　　 They were all the same, just bones, man and woman, they are not different at all once the skin and flesh are peeled off. But we usually don”t recognize that this is a fact, so we need to rely on training to look at demonstration objects as these skeletons that we have in almost every wat, as tools for practice. The benefit of this practice is that it alleviates sexual attraction and desire. I put a lot of effort into staring at these skeletons in order to make my mind feel at ease, relying on a strong foundation, not having to fear states of sexual desire taking over my heart. Because, if we have failed to train thinking in this way before, when the objects of our desire actually challenge us, we won”t be able to counter them. We don”t know what to do to fight them, how to find a way to overcome them.

　　So, when I thought of how to deal with the whole area of bodily forms, beauty and attraction, luckily enough there were these skeletons at Wat Pah Pong, so I went every night, stared at them until I was able to remember everything. During my first pansah this practice then developed to the point that the hands of every single person that was giving rice into my almsbowl turned into bones, both male and female, old and young. This was quite an encouragement for me in my practice.

　　Tan Kevali: When sitting meditation and looking at the parts of the body, should one s tay with one part or is it okay to change around, or is it a sign of restlessness, if I move too fast

　　 How do I know how fast to move on

　　 Maybe sit with the hair all the time

　　 Or go to every other part

　　 What do you suggest

　　Luang Por: If you have enough strength of mind, you can contemplate the whole of the body, if you are not strong enough, analyze it point by point. If you like to look at the hair, look at the hair, or take the body hair nails, teeth and skin and analyze each part by itself. Sometimes your energy might not be enough to contemplate the whole of the body, so then take each part separately. If you are tired of looking at the hair for example, you can go on looking at another part. But what”s important is that you have enough energy. We need to know when we contemplate when it is enough for us, that means, when the insight comes up in our mind that now we can really see the unattractiveness, the ugliness of the hair (or nails or skin).

　　If we withdraw from contemplation and there is no new perception coming up, it means, our energy wasn”t sufficient. Then we look at another part. Becoming uninterested with one part, we go to another. If we have enough energy, though, it is okay to contemplate the whole of the body. If not, we need to contemplate part after part.

　　Tan Kevali: Is it a good thing to do this together with the breath

　　Luang Por: No, it”s not appropriate to do it at the same time, Do each practice seperately, this will be more fruitful.

　　Tan Moshe: What shall we do, if we practice anapanasati together with "Buddho", and after some time "Buddho" disappears

　　Luang Por: If Buddho fades away, keep meditating. When Buddho disappears, look at where it disappears. You don”t need to think any more, simply keep watching. If you start thinking, peace of mind won”t be able to arise. It is right at this point [where the word fades away], that peace is just about to develop. Be aware and look at this p…

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