..续本文上一页e great harm. For example, if you contemplate the unattractiveness of the body, it can lead to a sense of dispassion, detachment, and calm, but there are times it can also get you into a state where you can”t eat or sleep because everything starts seeming filthy and disgusting. This is one way it can be harmful. Or sometimes you may contemplate the body until a mental image arises, but you get frightened and unnerved. In cases like this, you have to try to be up on what”s happening so that your theme will help you instead of harming you.
(2) To practice in isolation is to focus on a single refined theme that doesn”t have a lot of different features. I.e., you focus on being mindful of the in-and-out breath, without letting your attention slip away. Focus on whatever kind of breathing feels soothing, and the mind will settle down. Try to make the breath more and more refined, all the while keeping the mind gently with the breath, in the same way that you”d cup a bit of fluff in the palm of your hand. Do this until you feel that there”s no "in" or "out" to the breath at all. The mind doesn”t wander around. It”s quiet and still, able to cut away thoughts of past and future. At this point it becomes even more refined, with no restlessness at all. The mind is stable and doesn”t change along with its objects. It”s firmly set and unwavering to the point where it becomes fixed and strong.
When you can develop your meditation to this point, it will make the mind let go of its attachments and gain conviction and understanding into the truths of inconstancy, stress, and not-self. Your doubts will fall away, and you will know the way of the world and the way of Liberation, without having to ask for confirmation from anyone else. When your knowledge is clear and free from uncertainty, the mind is firm in its own strength. This is when you become your own refuge — when your mind isn”t affected by other people or objects, and reaches the happiness and ease of heightened consciousness.
《Food for Thought - Heightened Consciousness》全文阅读结束。