..续本文上一页ritual life, there is an ever changing consciousness never the same for two consecutive moments. This can be ascertained experimentally in the various exercises of meditation. When we try, according to certain rules of meditation to stop the stream of our thoughts and obtain an absolute stillness, we shall notice how the day”s impressions and old reminiscences disturb and prevent concentration.
This is equally true even in our very lives; the change from the womb to childhood, from childhood to manhood and thence to old age, death and decay.
The doctrine of impermanence shows us how to control our selfish cravings and passions. Thus, we shall destroy the chains of fear and anxiety, grief and despair. It is of vital importance to enjoy bodily and mental bliss.
Annotation 4
The four chief elements are earth or body, water or liquid, fire or heat, wind or air.
The body elements are of 20 kinds, namely; (I) hair of the head (2) hair of the body (3) nails (4) teeth (5) skin (6) flesh (7) tendons (8) bones (9) marrow (10) kidneys (11) heart (12) liver (13) pleura (14) spleen (15) lungs (16) lower intestine (17) upper intestine (18) stomach (19) feces (20) brain.
The water element is of 12 kinds: (1) bile (2) phlegm (3) blood (4) pus (5) sweat (6) fat (7) tears (8) grease (9) saliva (to) snot (11) synovial fluid (12) urine.
The fire element means heat which is greater when digestion is going on.
The air element which we breath, is always going in and out.
All these chief elements constitute the human bodies. If the four elements are in harmony, we are strong enough to walk and to work. Otherwise, we are sick. When the four elements separate and leave our bodies, then we die. Therefore all these four elements in our bodies, are painful and empty. This is just like a dream of the various illusions shown by magicians, comparable to the shadows of men under lighted lamps, or the images of men in a big glass, or like bubbles of water. We have no control over our bodies. It is in a state of flux.
Annotation 5
Man is a combination of five factors which come from craving rooted in ignorance. The five factors are body, feeling, perception, tendencies and consciousness. It is nothing but a mixing of five aggregates. Nowhere an eternal self is to be found in the physical organism. As a house is nothing but a joint name given to the tiles of the roof and its different parts, the beam, clay, wall, door, window and so on, when taken together. But when these different parts of the house are separated, nothing but an abstract house remains.
While the mind is infiltrated by selfish ideas, we can only have distorted views of things; we think of my body, your body, whereas they do not really belong to you or me at all. They belong to the Universe. It is this idea of personal possessions or attachment which is at the root of all illusion and suffering, and while it occupies our minds, we can never hope to see things is they really are.
There is no real I or mine. It is like a flame produced by a combination of gases. For what is a flame but a phenomenon by rapid oxidation. If we are to live a perfect life, we should break the prejudice of the selfish petty ego which creates a barrier between ourselves and others.
Impermanence, unreality of ego, suffering and emptiness are the essential features of Buddhism.
Annotation 6
Why should rebirth not be desirable
Because it is the entrance gate of all forms of suffering, namely; old-age.. disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Birth is preceded by death, and death is preceded by birth. Death, according to Buddhism, is the cessation of the psycho-physical life of any one inpidual existence. But it is not the complete annihilation of a being. So the mental force remains undisturbed…
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