..续本文上一页mind that is responsible for the arising of dukkha. You observe until no more dukkha arises; you have done what is to be done concerning the Second Noble Truth.

　　And how did you do it

　　 How did you reach the stage of dukkha-nirodha

　　 Every step you have taken to explore the entire field of dukkha is part of the process through which you have passed, the path over which you have walked. You have walked step by step over the entire path. You have accomplished the Fourth Noble Truth, the truth of the path leading to the eradication of suffering.

　　By doing what is to be done concerning the First Noble Truth, you automatically do what is to be done concerning the other three. And how do you do what is to be done concerning the first

　　 How do you explore the entire field of dukkha

　　 You start experiencing dukkha, you start feeling dukkha. In the language used by the Buddha, the words are vedana, anubhavana. You must feel it. You must experience it. You are not here simply to play an intellectual game. You start observing sensations.

　　The exploration started with dukkha-vedanā—unpleasant, gross sensation. As you understood in detail its reality by feeling it, you also understood that there is an ingrained tendency to react with aversion toward this unpleasant sensation. And it also becomes clear that every time you react with aversion, you become more miserable. Every reaction of aversion brings misery. You realize, “Oh, there is an unpleasant feeling in the body, and I am reacting with aversion. That means I am making use of my misery to multiply misery. Instead I must make use of this misery to come out of misery.” And it becomes clear that if you do not react, you do not multiply misery. You understand, “Oh, the best thing is for me not to react.”

　　Working in this way with unpleasant sensations, sometimes you succeed in not reacting and sometimes you fail. The old habit pattern keeps on overpowering you at times and you react with aversion. Then you remember that there shouldn”t be any reaction of aversion and you have a few moments when you do not react. This is how you start your work. Exploring the field of dukkha at the level of unpleasant sensations, you are experiencing dukkha, the First Noble Truth.

　　Then a time comes when the unpleasant sensations turn into sukha-vedanā—pleasant sensations—partly because some saṅkhāras have been eradicated and partly because this is the law of nature. From time to time changes naturally come, whatever the reason may be. You have started experiencing pleasant sensations, subtle vibrations.

　　Now, if your understanding of Dhamma is not very clear, you won”t know what to do. The old tendency of reacting to the pleasant sensations with craving will start overpowering you, and you will keep on reacting. You will think, “This is wonderful! The unpleasant has gone, now the experience is pleasant. I am free from misery. Dhamma has worked, I am liberated! Look, there are pleasant sensations, everything is good.” And you are generating craving, craving.

　　But as the unpleasant sensations sooner or later turn into pleasant ones, the pleasant sensations eventually turn unpleasant. This is the law of nature. Someone who understands properly will think, “Look, because I developed clinging to the pleasant sensations, when unpleasant sensations arise again I become more miserable than I was in the first place. Oh, my aversion toward unpleasant sensations is the result of my clinging toward pleasant sensations.” The more one clings to pleasure, the more one generates aversion toward pain.

　　In daily life also, when something desirable happens, you become elated and develop attachment to it. And when it passes away and something undesirable happens, you become depressed. Because you have developed attachment to …

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