..续本文上一页It”s not the case that one person will have many minds. Say that a person goes to heaven: He goes just to heaven. Even if he is to go on to other levels of being, he has to pass away from heaven first. It”s not the case that he”ll go to heaven, hell, and the Brahma worlds all at the same time. This goes to show that the mind is one. Only its thoughts and preoccupations change.
The preoccupations of the mind come down simply to physical and mental phenomena that change, causing the mind to experience birth in various states of being. Since the mind lacks discernment and doesn”t know the true nature of its preoccupations, it gropes about, experiencing death and rebirth in the four modes of generation (yoni). If the mind has the discernment to know its preoccupations and let go of them all without remainder, leaving only the primal nature of the heart that doesn”t fall for any preoccupation on the levels of sensuality, form, or formlessness, it will be able to gain release from suffering and stress. "Once the mind is fully matured by means of virtue, concentration and discernment, it gains complete release from the effluents of defilement."
Khandha-kamo — desire for the five aggregates is over and done with. Bhava-kamo — desire for the three levels of being (the sensual plane, the plane of form, and the plane of formlessness) disbands and disperses. The three levels of being are essentially only two: the aggregate of physical phenomena, which includes the properties of earth, water, fire, and wind; and the aggregates of mental phenomena, which include feelings, labels, fashionings, and consciousness — in short, the phenomena that appear in the body and heart or, if you will, the body and mind. Physical phenomena are those that can be seen with the eye. Mental phenomena are those that can”t be seen with the eye but can be sensed only through the heart and mind. Once we can distinguish these factors and see how they”re related, we”ll come to see the truth of the aggregates: They are stress, they are the cause of stress, they are the path. Once we understand them correctly, we can deal with them properly. Whether they arise, fade, or vanish, we won”t — if we have any discernment — latch onto them with any false assumptions. The mind will let go. It will simply know, neutral and undisturbed. It won”t feel any need to worry about the conditions or behavior of the aggregates, because it sees that the aggregates can”t be straightened out. Even the Buddha didn”t straighten out the aggregates. He simply let them go, in line with their own true nature.
The heart is what creates the substance of the aggregates. If you try to straighten out the creations, you”ll never be done with them. If you straighten out the creator, you”ll have the job finished in no time. When the heart is clouded with dullness and darkness, it creates aggregates or physical and mental phenomena as its products, to the point where the birth, aging, illness, and death of the aggregates become absolutely incurable — unless we have the wisdom to leave them alone in line with their own nature. In other words, we shouldn”t latch onto them.
This is illustrated in the Canon, where the Buddha says in some passages that he is free from birth, aging, illness, and death. If we read further, though, we”ll notice that his body grew old, ill and then died; his mental activity ended. This shows that the aggregates should be left alone. Whatever their nature may be, don”t try to resist it or go against it. Keep your mind neutral and aware. Don”t go latching onto the various preoccupations that arise, age, grow ill, and vanish, as pertaining to the self. If you can do this, you”re practicing correctly. Aim only at the purity of the one heart that doesn”t die.
The heart clouded with du…
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