..续本文上一页es his mind from obstructive things; doing so also in the first and the last watch of the night, he lies down for rest only in the night”s middle watch. Thus he strives and struggles. Just as the serpent bends its tail, so he bends his legs to a cross-legged posture. As the serpent exhales forcefully, so the monk musters all his unremitting strength. As the serpent expands its hood, so the monk works for an expansion of his insight. And just as the serpent sheds its old skin, so the monk abandons the here and the beyond, and being now freed of the burden, he goes forth to the Nibbana-element that is without a residue of the groups of existence (anupadisesa-nibbanadhatu).
Commentary to the Sutta Nipata
Conforming to the "law of its own species," the serpent discards what has become only a burden. It is worn-out, outgrown skin which the snake gladly sheds. And thus it will finally be with him who earnestly walks the path to the freedom from all burdens (yogakkhema). Daily practice of alienation from what has been understood to be actually alien will wear thin the bondage to "self" and the world, loosen more and more clinging”s tight grip, until, like the serpent”s worn-out skin, it falls away almost effortlessly. Just as, according to similes given by the Buddha, the handle of a hatchet is wasted away by constant use; just as the strongest ship-ropes will become brittle by constant exposure to wind, sun and rain and finally fall asunder — so will constant acts of giving up, of letting go, wear thin and fragile the once so stout and unbreakable fetters of craving and ignorance, until one day they drop off completely. By such an act of "shedding the old skin," no "violence against nature" is done; it is a lawful process of growing, of outgrowing that which is no longer an object of attachment — just as the old skin is no longer attached to the snake”s body. Only in such a way can a person vanquish those passionate urges and deceptive notions of his, which are so powerful and so deeply rooted. In the act of ultimate liberation, nothing is violently broken which was not already detached from the living tissues of mind and body or only quite loosely joined with them. Only a last effort of the powerful muscles will be needed to shake off the empty sheath — this hollow concept of an imaginary self which had hidden for so long the true nature of body and mind. Here it lies before the meditator”s feet — like the serpent”s worn-out skin — a lifeless heap of thin and wrinkled thought tissue. Once it had seemed to be so full of alluring beauty — this proud and deceptive idea of "I" and "mine." Now this illusion is no more, and a new "conceptual skin" has grown which, though likewise made of imperfect words, has no longer the deceptive colorings of conceit, craving and false ideas. Mind-and-body are now seen as they truly are. Now one no longer misconceives them for what they are not and no longer expects of them what they cannot give: lasting happiness. How big a burden of anxiety, fear, frustration and insatiate craving will have been discarded! How light and free the heart can become if one sheds attachment to what is not one”s own!
What actually has to be shed is this attachment rooted in the ego-illusion. But until discarded entirely, this ego-illusion will still cling to mind- and-body by the force of three powerful strands which are also its feeders: conceit, craving and false ideas. Even if false ideas about a self have been given up intellectually, the other two "feeders," conceit and craving, are strong enough to cause an identification of mind-and-body (or of some of their features) with the imaginary self.
This identification has to be dissolved on all three levels until mind-and-body are seen to be as alien as those dry leaves o…
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