..续本文上一页ausal sequence responsible for the origination of samsaric suffering. The series of conditions can be mapped out in the abstract as follows:

　　With Ignorance (avijja) as a condition - Kamma formations (sankhara) arises;

　　With Kamma formations (sankhara) as a condition - Consciousness (vinnana) arises;

　　With Consciousness (vinnana) as a condition - Mentality-materiality (nama-rupa) arises;

　　With Mentality-materiality (nama-rupa) as a condition – Six-fold sense-base (salayatana) arises;

　　With the Six-fold sense-base (salayatana) as a condition - Contact (phassa) arises;

　　With Contact (phassa) as a condition - Feeling (vedana) arises;

　　With Feeling (vedana) as a condition - Craving (tanha) arises;

　　With Craving (tanha) as a condition - Attachment (upadana) arises;

　　With Attachment (upadana) as a condition - Existence (bhava) arises;

　　With Existence (bhava) as a condition - Birth (jati) arises;

　　With Birth (jati) as a condition - Suffering (dukkha) arises.

　　As the Vipassana meditator experiences the series of causal events, they can be intercepted at the linkage between contact and feeling during a sense impression. The ability to do this gives one the potential of being free of the conditioned cycle of suffering that most people are unknowingly trapped in.

　　Try an Exercise in Orientating to a Sense-door

　　Check! Where is your attention at this present moment

　　 What sense impression is predominant now

　　 Is it the eye-door attracted by some visual object, the ear-door taken by sounds, or the touch sensations of the body”s contact on the cushion or chair you”re sitting on

　　 This moment is the time to establish the habit of being consciously present at a sense-door and notice what is happening during a sense impression.

　　So stop for a few minutes, choose a sense-door (most people are predominantly visual, although others can be more auditory inclined) and be attentive to what is happening there - what feeling is present, what is the quality of that feeling, is it pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; and particularly notice the changes. It is useful to make a habit of asking yourself checking questions during your daily routine: what sense door am I at, what is happening there, and what are the associated feelings that arise

　　The Story of Bahiya

　　This is the enlightenment story of Bahiya, the wooden robed one, who was able to practise in this way. Bahiya was originally a merchant, who, when traveling at sea with all his merchandise, was shipwrecked and was cast ashore naked. He found some bark to cover himself and finding an old bowl on the beach, he went searching for alms-food at a nearby village. The village people were impressed by his seeming austerities and his reputation grew as an ascetic. He was tested when people offered him fine robes, but knowing that they would loose faith in him if he accepted, he refused, keeping up the deception.

　　Bahiya was installed in a temple and worshiped as an Arahant, so that in time he came to believe that he was actually an enlightened being. He lived impeccably and gained good concentration powers. Sitting in meditation one day, it is said that a deva was able to persuade Bahiya that he wasn”t really enlightened at all, but that he should go and see the Buddha, an Arahant who could help him.

　　Bahiya made the journey to where the Buddha was staying at the Savatthi monastery and found the Buddha was just about to go on the daily alms-round. So Bahiya was asked to come back at a more opportune time. But Bahiya was insistent and implored the Buddha to instruct him in the essence of the Dharma. The Buddha then responded with these brief instructions:

　　“Bahiya, you should train yourself in this way:

　　With the seen, there will be just the seen; with the heard, there will be just the heard; with the sensed there will be just the sensed; with the cognised, there will be just the cognised. When for you, Bahiya, there is merely the seen, heard, sensed, and cognised, then you will not be therein. Then you, Bahiya, will be neither here nor there nor within both - this is itself the end of suffering”.

　　Through this brief instruction, Bahiya was immediately enlightened - through non-clinging - thus becoming an Arahant.

　　Not long after the Buddha left, a cow fatally gored Bahiya. When the Buddha returned from the alms-round and heard that Bahiya was dead, he arranged for his cremation and a stupa to be built for him. When asked what the destiny of Bahiya was, the Buddha said that because he had grasped the meditation subject in the teacher”s presence, and practiced as instructed, Bahiya had attained Parinibbana - final Enlightenment.

　　The Buddha”s succinct instruction to Bahiya directs bare attention to whatever is seen, heard, sensed or cognised. Bare attention just registers whatever arises during a sense impression, allowing one to be present at the initial stage of the perceptual process and thereby inhibiting unwholesome associations and biased cognitions. Maintaining bare attention in this way prevents the mind evaluating and proliferating (papanca) the raw data of perception. Bahiya, as an Arahant, was no longer influenced by subjective bias, and cognized phenomena without self-reference, and thus was enlightened.

《The Vipassana Retreat: 12· The Six Sense-spheres》全文阅读结束。