..续本文上一页e. No one wants to remain miserable and yet one continues to be miserable because one continues to generate taṇhā-craving and aversion-all the time; one keeps on reacting to the sensations. When ignorance is removed, as one starts looking inside one realizes, "Look, I am generating misery for myself by generating taṇhā in response to these sensations. When they are pleasant, I generate craving and when they are unpleasant, I generate aversion. Both make me miserable. And look, I have the solution now. When I understand the impermanent nature of sensations and maintain equanimity, there is no taṇhā, no craving and no aversion. The old habit pattern of the mind starts changing and I start coming out of misery."

　　This is vijjā or wisdom according to the Buddha. It has nothing to do with any philosophical or sectarian belief. It is the truth about one”s happiness and misery, which all people can experience within if they take steps on the path. The Four Noble Truths are not philosophical dogma. They are actual realities pertaining to myself that I start realizing within myself. They are Noble Truths only when one experiences them, and thus, starts becoming a noble person.

　　When one is working with sensations, one is working at the depth of the mind. Whatever arises in the mind is accompanied by sensations within the body-Vedanā-samosaraṇā sabbe dhammā. Even the most transient thought that arises within the mind is accompanied by a sensation within the body-Vedanā-samosaraṇā saṇkappavitakkā. This was a great discovery of the Buddha.

　　Another great discovery of the Buddha was that we generate taṇhā in response to the sensations. This was not known to the other teachers before the time of the Buddha, at the time of Buddha or after the Buddha. The teachers before the Buddha and at the time of the Buddha kept advising people not to react to the sensory objects that come in contact with the sense doors-eyes with visual object, nose with smell, ears with sound, and so on. They taught, "When sensory objects come in contact with your senses, don”t react by judging them as good or bad; don”t react with craving or aversion."

　　This teaching was already in existence. But the Buddha said that, actually, you are not reacting to these objects. He gave the example of a black bull and a white bull (one representing the sense doors and the other the sense objects)tied together with a rope. Neither the black nor the white bull is the bondage; the rope is the bondage. The Buddha said that the rope of taṇhā is the bondage, and that one generates taṇhā (craving or aversion) in response to vedanā (sensations)-vedanā paccayā taṇhā. This was the great discovery of the Enlightened One. He became an enlightened person because of this discovery.

　　There were many other people saying that one should not react to the objects of the senses. But they didn”t become Buddhas. There were teachers who taught that one should not generate lobha (craving) and dosa (aversion).

　　The Buddha explained that lobha and dosa would last as long as there was moha. He, therefore, advised us to come out of moha. And what is moha

　　 Moha is ignorance. Moha is avijjā. You don”t know what is happening inside. You don”t know the real cause of lobha and dosa. You are ignorant. How will you come out of ignorance

　　 Strike at the root of the problem and come out of misery by working with sensations.

　　As long as you are not aware of sensations, you keep fighting with outside objects, thinking, "This is ugly" or "This is not ugly." You keep working on the surface. You are thinking of the black bull or the white bull as the cause of the bondage. In fact, the bondage is the craving and aversion that one generates in response to sensations.…

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