..续本文上一页iewed the series twice in succession. If your powers of discernment are tempered and strong, it will arise after you have reviewed the series once. Thus the sages of the past pided those who reach the first noble path and fruition into three sorts: Those with relatively weak powers of discernment will have to be reborn another seven times; those with moderate powers of discernment will have to be reborn another three or four times; those with quick powers of discernment will have to be reborn only once.

　　The different speeds at which inpiduals realize the first path and its fruition are determined by their temperaments and propensities. The slowest class are those who have developed two parts tranquillity to one part insight. The intermediate class are those who have developed one part tranquillity to one part insight. Those with the quickest and strongest insight are those who have developed one part tranquillity to two parts insight. Having developed the beginning parts of the path in different ways — here we are referring only to those parts of the path consisting of tranquillity and insight — they see clearly into the four Noble Truths at different mental moments.

　　In the end, it all comes down to seeing the five aggregates clearly and unmistakably in terms of the four Noble Truths. What does it mean to see clearly and unmistakably

　　 And what are the terms of the four Noble Truths

　　 This can be explained as follows: Start out by fixing your attention on a result and then trace back to its causes. Focus, for instance, on physical and mental phenomena as they arise and pass away in the present. This is the truth of stress (dukkha-sacca), as in the Pali phrase,

　　nama-rupam aniccam,

　　nama-rupam dukkham,

　　nama-rupam anatta:

　　”All physical and mental phenomena are equally inconstant, stressful, and not-self.” Fix your attention on their arising and changing, seeing that birth is stressful, aging is stressful, illness and death are stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are stressful; in short, the five aggregates are stressful. What is the cause

　　 When you trace back to the cause for stress, you”ll find that craving for sensual objects — sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations and ideas — is one cause, termed sensual craving (kama-tanha). Then focus in on the mind so as to see the intermediate-level cause and you”ll see that ”At this moment the mind is straying, wishing that physical and mental phenomena — form, feelings, labels, fashionings, and consciousness — would be in line with its wants.” This wish is termed craving for becoming (bhava-tanha). Focus in again on the mind so as to see the subtle cause and you”ll see that, ”At this moment the mind is flinching, wishing that physical and mental phenomena wouldn”t change, that they would stay under its control.” This wish is termed craving for no becoming (vibhava-tanha), i.e., craving for things to stay constant in line with one”s wishes.

　　These three forms of craving arise when the mind is deluded. Focus in and investigate that deluded mental state until you can see that it”s inconstant, stressful, and not-self. Tap Craving on his shoulder and call him by name until, embarrassed and ashamed, he wanes from the heart, in line with the teaching: ”The lack of involvement with that very craving, the release from it, the relinquishing of it, the abandonment of it, the disbanding of it through the lack of any remaining affection: This is the disbanding of stress.”

　　The mind that switches back and forth between knowing and being deluded is all one and the same mind. Craving lands on it, not allowing it to develop the path and gain true knowledge, just as flocks of birds landing on a tall, unsteady, tapering tree can cause it to shudder and sway and come crash…

《The Craft of the Heart - The Nine Stages of Liberating Insight》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…