..续本文上一页ven if you felt inclined to follow the sound, the mind wouldn”t go after it.
Once you are fully mindful of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects and thoughts, you will see them clearly as they truly are in reality, with the internal eye of wisdom. They are dominated by the three universal characteristics of annicam, dukkham and anatta. Whenever you hear a sound, for instance, there will be immediate insight into the three characteristics in the process of having that experience. It”s like you no longer hear it, you don”t hear it in the usual way, because you see that the mind is one thing, the object is another. But that doesn”t mean the mind is no longer functioning. Mindfulness is monitoring and watching over the mind at all times. If you”re able to develop your practice to this level, it will mean wherever you are or whatever you are doing, you will be engaged in investigating the Dhamma. This is dhamma-vicaya or one of the essential factors of enlightenment. If this factor is present in the mind, it means that there will be intensive and sustained consideration and reflection on the Dhamma going on at all times, and this will gradually loosen and undo your attachment to body, feelings, perceptions, thoughts and consciousness. Nothing will be able to disturb or intrude upon the mind when it is absorbed in its work of reflection.
For one who is experienced and has developed concentration, this process of reflection and investigation take place automatically in the mind – it”s not something you have to think about or create. The mind will immediately be adept in contemplation in whatever direction you point it. If you are practicing in this way, one additional thing that occurs is that once you have established mindfulness before you got to sleep, you no longer, habitually snore, talk in your sleep, gnash your teeth or writhe about. If meditation is established in the mind, all of that disappears. Even if you sleep deeply, when you awaken you will feel like you haven”t been asleep, and you won”t feel tired or sleepy. In the past you might have slept snoring heedlessly, but if you really develop wakefulness, that can”t happen. How could you snore when you don”t really sleep
It is just the body which stops and rests. With this level of mindfulness the mind is awake at all times of the day and night. It is “Buddho”: knowing, awake, clear and bright with its own inner happiness. At this level the mind has it”s own self-sustaining energy and is free of drowsiness, even though it doesn”t sleep in the normal sense. If you have developed your meditation to this point, you might be able to keep going for two or three days without sleep. Even then, if you start to feel sleepy because the body has become exhausted, you can focus on your meditation object and enter a state of deep Samadhi immediately, and because of your skill, you might only need to stay in it for five or ten minutes to feel as refreshed as if you had slept all day and all night.
As far as going without sleep is concerned, if you are beyond worrying about the body then there is no problem, but you should know what amount is right. You should reflect on the state of the body and what it”s been through and then adjust your sleep according to it”s needs. When you have reached this stage in practice, you don”t have to consciously tell the body what to do, it tells itself. There is a part of the mind that is constantly prodding and urging you on. Even if you feel lazy, you won”t be able to indulge in moods because there will always be this voice encouraging and arousing you to make diligent effort. You will reach a point where you can no longer stagnate, where the practice takes care of itself. Try it out. You have done enough study and received enough teaching al…
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