..续本文上一页 into the ground and some evaporate into the air. That”s the way it goes. Once all the liquids are lost into the ground and atmosphere, the bodily parts start to dry out and steadily dehydrate until they finally crumble into dust. Then the dust from the bones of the body and the earth itself merge into one. This is seen so clearly.

　　Those more solid parts, like a bone for instance, could be taken up and seen as if it”s burnt in a fire or as it slowly decomposes and crumbles away. Eventually they all seem to have become one with the earth.

　　In this particular investigation both the earth and water elements appeared the most vivid; but especially the earth element. The water element seemed to remain as water, while neither the air nor fire elements posed any problem. Unlike the courser, more solid parts, they didn”t seem the weighty objects of this investigation and therefore didn”t appear so vividly to the heart.

　　Once this stuff had completely dispersed into, and become one with, the earth, the heart was empty and bare. At that moment everything was void.

　　However, when you are doing the investigation, please don”t speculate about such things. Just take the truth within yourself as your own, as your living testimony. Don”t bring in outside speculation for witness and mode of practice, because that”s about other people and doesn”t belong to you. What you have realized by yourself is your own, and whatever that might be, let it happen within yourself. Your own realization and experience are what matters. So remember this as you go further.

　　At other times the results of the practice were not always exactly the same. Although they would still be following the natural course of things. On occasion the body would have dispersed into the earth, but some skeletal parts were left in a partial state of decomposition. Then a thought appeared in the heart predicting that, ”even though they haven”t all gone yet, what”s left is still doomed to return to the earth again”. This when there was no awareness of one”s body — yet the heart was still able to create such things.

　　A moment later and the ground suddenly seemed to swell up out of nowhere and the rest of the remains were swallowed up. And so they all were transformed into earth. When that was done, the heart turned around to another angle and... everything disappeared. Even the ground that had so suddenly swallowed up the bone fragments was no longer there.

　　There was the knowledge and realization that: ”Aha! Every part of the body is made of earth and has returned to earth.” Then the heart turned around and everything disappeared with only pure awareness remaining. An indescribable feeling of wonder and amazement arose, because my investigation had never ended like this before. But now it had actually happened and was vividly perceived and experienced. The heart was now one, without a single moment of duality, because it was steadfast and constant in a true state of oneness.

　　(Normally,) as soon as the heart begins to stir, it will form two with the thought process, but here, there was absolutely no thought process. All that remained was bare awareness, which was marvellous and amazing. At that moment there was no physical world — no trees, no mountains. Nothing was present. It was empty and void as if it was all space, however there was also no conjectures using such ideas. Only knowingness was present.

　　The heart was stilled like this for hours and then, having emerged from that condition, any object focused upon appeared empty and void. Such an experience probably only happens once for each practitioner. For me it happened just that one time and has never occurred again. However, the investigative process can be repeated and will eventually be successful every time, depending on the sk…

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