..续本文上一页 world of sense impressions and aggregates. But it doesn”t yet know about itself. This is where it gets stuck. This is where it is ignorant. Wisdom must now be turned loose into the heart, dissecting and cutting away so as to penetrate it. We must thrust through to that knowingness, which is the body of conceited awareness, which forms the real delusion of the heart.

　　A careful and thorough scrutiny and analysis of the condition that has infiltrated within the heart, will show that it”s just another natural process.10 The heart, therefore, won”t come to ruin by such a rigorous investigation. Nevertheless, one”s investigation can”t be eased back for fear of harming it, because if the heart is able to stand up to the truth it will prevail and won”t be destroyed. It will be true to its nature, and so will not only survive but will go beyond all offenses to purity. Let”s see whether the heart will be annihilated or not.

　　Delve and dig into it. Don”t be hesitant or over- protective of anything, not even of the heart. Don”t be afraid that the heart will be destroyed or ruined. Once wisdom has completely wiped out the infiltrators, every kind of defilement will disappear. For it”s this that makes up all the falsity existing within the heart. When the investigation really gets moving properly, those things that are vulnerable to dispersion will not be able to resist and will be annihilated. But the nature that can”t be annihilated will come through and stand.

　　Please notice therefore, that it is the heart that is dominated by the defilements. And that once wisdom has totally shattered and cleared the defilements away, the heart will be transformed into the state of purity. This is the genuine purity. How can it vanish

　　 Were it to disappear, how could it be pure

　　 That dies, that is ruined, but this is the genuine deathless, the undying.11 It is undying through purity and doesn”t turn12 — unlike the immortality that spins with the revolving wheel of birth and death. This is the vital truth present in the midst of our aggregates.

　　So we come to the main culprit, the one that incites and agitates the heart; pressing it into falling for the world, for the elements, for the aggregates, for pain, illness, and confusion. In truth, these things don”t have anything to say about the matter. The body is how it is. Feeling arises as it should — it doesn”t know that it”s pain or pleasure or neutral feeling. It is this heart that goes and gives meaning to them and afterwards is duped by those self-made meanings. It gains nothing but harm and affliction for itself in the process.

　　We must therefore inquire into this. What can be lost by a vigorous examination into the true state of affairs

　　 If the body should break, let it break. It comes, like all things in the world, under the law of impermanence, suffering and not-self — just as the Lord always said it did. How can we interfere

　　 Let go of it! If it can”t endure, then let it go! Everything in this physical world is breaking and dissolving. Some sooner, others later, but surely our aggregates can”t last for aeons and aeons, for they too fall under the same law and limit. So let”s investigate to see our aggregates according to truth, before they break up. This is encompassing, all-around wisdom, ready clearly to see painful feeling coming on the scene.

　　Alright then. Today we climb into the (boxing) ring. That”s it. Today, we are going into the ring to see and realize the truth in accordance with Dhamma. We”re certainly not going in there to fall down or collapse. When painful-feeling arises, that”s pain”s business, but the investigation of it belongs to mindfulness and wisdom. We are searching for the truth so how can we be knocked down. We don”t do it for our downfall, but for victory and for penetrati…

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