..续本文上一页ells, tastes, or tactile sensations — strike the mind, which stirs for a moment and sets out to scrutinize them (this is called vitakka and vicara) so as to ferret out an understanding of their nature. If you see that any of these two kinds of events give beneficial results, then fix your attention on them and keep after them, using the power of your discernment and ingenuity to gain true insight into their nature. But if you see that your discernment is still no match for them, focus back on the original object of your concentration. If you focus back and forth in this manner, you”ll give rise to liberating insight; and once you”ve given rise to liberating insight, you will attain transcendent discernment, the understanding that will enable you to abandon once and for all your views of self-identification.

　　Transcendent concentration derives its name from the discernment it gives rise to: The discernment itself is what constitutes Awakening. But for discernment to be effective in line with the aims of the Buddha”s teachings, it requires the back-up and support of concentration.

　　This ends the discussion of the third topic.

　　4. The fourth question — "What is needed for concentration to be maintained

　　" — can be answered as follows: Concentration means for the mind to be firmly intent on a single preoccupation, but for the mind to be firm, it needs a footing to hold onto. In general, if your mind lacks a solid footing, nothing you attempt will succeed. Just as the body needs a shelter as a basis for its well-being, and speech needs a listener as a basis for being effective, in a similar way, the mind — if it”s to become trained and firm in concentration — needs a kammatthana: an assignment or exercise. A kammatthana is like medicine or food. To know the theme of your exercise is enough to start getting results in your practice of concentration.

　　Here we will first pide the exercises into two categories: external and internal. External exercises deal with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas; the internal exercises deal with the five aggregates (khandha): physical phenomena (rupa), feelings (vedana), labels (sañña), mental fashionings (sankhara), and consciousness (viññana). If you”re alert and discerning, both categories — external as well as internal — are enough to achieve concentration unless you neglect to treat them as exercises. If you attend to them, they are all you need to attain concentration. But beginners, whose powers of discernment are still weak, should start first with the internal exercises. Start out by studying the body — "physiology from the inside" — by scrutinizing the four properties of earth, water, fire, and wind. People whose powers of discernment have been sufficiently developed can then give rise to concentration using any of the themes of meditation, whether internal or external.

　　The internal exercises should be done as follows: Focus on the properties of earth, water, fire, and wind that appear in the body. Don”t let your thoughts wander outside. Focus exclusively on your own body and mind, fixing your attention first on five examples of the earth property: kesa — hair of the head; loma — hair of the body; nakha — nails; danta — teeth; taco — skin, which wraps up the body and bones. Scrutinize these five parts until you see that they are unattractive, filthy, and repulsive, either with regard to where they come from, where they are, their color, their shape, or their smell.

　　If, after focusing your thoughts in this way, your mind doesn”t become still, go on to scrutinize five examples of the water property: pittam — gall, bitter and green; semham — phlegm, which prevents the smell of digesting food from rising to the mouth; pubbo — pus, decayed and d…

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