..续本文上一页. I was brought up in America — the land of freedom. It promises the right to be happy, but what it really offers is the right to be attached to everything. America encourages you to try to be as happy as you can by getting things. However, if you are working with the Four Noble Truths, attachment is to be understood and contemplated; then the insight into non-attachment arises. This is nor an intellectual stand or a command from your brain saying that you should not be attached; it is just a natural insight into non-attachment or non-suffering.

　　THE TRUTH OF IMPERMANENCE

　　Here at Amaravati, we chant the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta in its traditional form. When the Buddha gave this sermon on the Four Noble Truths, only one of the five disciples who listened to it really understood it; only one had the profound insight. The other four rather liked it, thinking ”Very nice teaching indeed,” but only one of the them, Kondanna, really had the perfect understanding of what the Buddha was saying.

　　The devas were also listening to the sermon. Devas are celestial, ethereal creatures, vastly superior to us. They do not have coarse bodies like ours; they have ethereal bodies and they are beautiful and lovely, intelligent. Now although they were delighted to hear the sermon, not one of them was enlightened by it.

　　We are told that they became very happy about the Buddha”s enlightenment and that they shouted up through the heavens when they heard his teaching. First, one level of devata heard it, then they shouted up to the next level and soon all the devas were rejoicing — right up to the highest, the Brahma realm. There was resounding joy that the Wheel of Dhamma was set rolling and these devas and brahmas were rejoicing in it. However, only Kondanna, one of the five disciples, was enlightened when he heard this sermon. At the very end of the sutta, the Buddha called him ”Anna Kondanna”. ”Anna” means profound knowing, so ”Anna Kondanna” means ”Kondanna-Who-Knows.”

　　What did Kondanna know

　　 What was his insight that the Buddha praised at the very end of the sermon

　　 It was: ”All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing.” Now this may not sound like any great knowledge but what it really implies is a universal pattern: whatever is subject to arising is subject to ceasing; it is impermanent and not self. ... So don”t attach, don”t be deluded by what arises and ceases. Don”t look for your refuges, that which you want to abide in and trust, in anything that arises — because those things will cease.

　　If you want to suffer and waste your life, go around seeking things that arise. They will all take you to the end, to cessation, and you will not be any the wiser for it. You will just go around repeating the same old dreary habits and when you die, you will not have learned anything important from your life.

　　Rather than just thinking about it, really contemplate: ”All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing.” Apply it to life in general, to your own experience. Then you will understand. Just note: beginning ... ending. Contemplate how things are. This sensory realm is all about arising and ceasing, beginning and ending; there can be perfect understanding, samma ditthi, in this lifetime. I don”t know how long Kondanna lived after the Buddha”s sermon, but he was enlightened at that moment. Right then, he had perfect understanding.

　　I would like to emphasise how important it is to develop this way of reflecting. Rather than just developing a method of tranquillising your mind, which certainly is one part of the practice, really see that proper meditation is a commitment to wise investigation. It involves a courageous effort to look deeply into things, not analysing yourself and making judgments about why you suffer on a personal l…

《The Four Noble Truths - The Third Noble Truth》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…