..续本文上一页t keep stomping on the same spot of ground. In the same way, people on a low level who think they”re on a high level end up sinking further and further into the ground. The more they try to climb up, the deeper they go. Like an elephant fallen into the mud: The more she struggles, the deeper she sinks.

　　The steps of the stairs are virtue, concentration, and discernment. If we follow the steps, we”ll get to where we want to go — like a person with good eyesight climbing stairs that actually have steps. People who practice concentration can know things whether their eyes are opened or closed, because they have brightness within them.

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　　"Sankhara" means fashioning. Sankharas are things that we have to study in order to know them clearly for what they are. And we have to be wise to them, too. There are two kinds. World sankharas are things like gain, status, praise, and pleasure. These things arise and then pass away. Dhamma sankharas are our own physical and mental phenomena: aggregates, elements, and sense media. These things also arise and pass away in just the same way. So as long as we have them, we should put them to a good use. Otherwise they”ll turn around and kill us. If we don”t work at training them, they simply stay at the level of plain phenomena. But if we train them, we get more and more worth out of them. Like clay: If we”re intelligent enough, we can make it into a pot to cook our food. Higher than that, we can make it into tiles to cover our roof. If we put a glaze on the tiles, they become even more valuable. It all depends on how much discernment we have in understanding how to work with things so as to increase their value.

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　　The breath is the bodily sankhara, i.e., the factor that fashions the body.

　　Verbal sankharas are the thoughts that you put into words so that you have them ready to say, but without speaking out loud.

　　Mental sankharas are thoughts that aren”t involved with speaking. You simply think and then know what the thought is about.

　　Verbal and mental sankharas are very similar. In training the mind, the important point is to make an effort to prevent verbal sankharas from arising. Whether they deal with past or future perceptions, you have to brush them all away.

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　　Bodily sankharas are the present aspect of the body, i.e., the breath. Mental sankharas are the present aspect of the mind, i.e., the awareness that forms the basis for thinking.

　　Mental sankharas form the essence of suffering. Sankharas are the valuables of stupid people. You have to get rid of the smoke if you want to see the flame. You have to get rid of the sankharas in the mind if you want to see the Unfashioned.

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　　Taking pleasure in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, etc., is sensual craving. The mental state that wanders out in search of an object but hasn”t yet found anything that pleases it, is craving for becoming. The mental state that wavers or leans in its present preoccupation is craving for no becoming. Not knowing these aspects of the mind is unawareness (avijja).

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　　Labels of the past and future are the "world." The present is the Dhamma. Don”t let yourself get taken in by even the slightest labeling. Even if you get only slightly involved, that”s a state of becoming, and you”ll have to suffer more birth, aging, illness, and death.

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　　The skill of release is when "past" is simply a movement, "future" is simply a movement, and "present" is simply a movement, but there”s no kamma. You can think of the past, but the mind doesn”t taste any results from the thinking. For the mind to attain dispassion, you need to have the skill to determine what”s detrimental in the present so that you can spit out any passion immediately. The past isn”t for real, the future isn”t for real. If they were for real, they would have t…

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