..续本文上一页long, even before we considered them. And who is it that gives them meaning, saying that this is attractive or that is unattractive

　　 When did these things ever give themselves meanings

　　 When did they ever say they were attractive or unattractive

　　 They don”t label or say anything at all. Whatever their truth is, that”s how it”s always been in line with its nature from the very beginning -- and they don”t know their meaning. What knows their meaning is sañña. The one that falls for their meaning is also sañña, which comes out of this deluded mind. Once we are wise to this labelling, all these things disappear. Each has its separate reality. This is what it means to be wise to these things.

　　Feelings (vedana) are the feelings of pleasure, pain, and indifference that arise from the body. The body is a phenomenon that has existed since before these feelings arose. Pains arise, remain, and then vanish. The body is the body. The pain is a pain. Each is a separate reality. Investigate and analyze them so as to see them for what they are -- just a feeling, just a body -- without regarding them as a being, a person, us or anyone else, ours or anyone else”s. The feeling isn”t us, ours, or anyone else”s. It”s simply something that appears for a moment and disappears for a while, in line with its nature. That”s what the truth is.

　　Sañña means labeling. Whatever it labels -- things near, far, past, present, or future -- whatever it labels, it vanishes immediately. It keeps vanishing -- arising and vanishing, arising and vanishing -- so how can we regard it as a self, a being, a person

　　 Here we”re referring to discernment on the refined level, penetrating down in line with the truth that is clear to our heart without our having to ask anyone else.

　　Sankhara means thought-formation: forming good thoughts, bad thoughts, neutral thoughts. Whatever it forms is simply a matter of arising and vanishing, arising and vanishing. We can”t get any sense out of these thought-formations at all if saññas don”t take up where they leave off and turn them into issues. As for saññas, we already know them clearly, so what is there to form thoughts, pick up where they leave off and grasp at them, turning them into long issues

　　 All there is, is just the arising and vanishing in the mind. This is thought-formation. It”s one reality, which the Buddha calls the sankhara khandha. Khandha means heap or aggregate. Rupa khandha means the physical heap. Vedana khandha means the heap of feelings. Sañña khandha means the heap of labels, the aggregate of labels. Sankhara khandha means the heap of thought-formations, the aggregate of thought-formations.

　　Viññana khandha means the aggregate or heap of cognizance, that which takes note the moment external things make contact, as when visual images make contact with the eye and cognizance occurs. As soon as the object passes, this cognizance vanishes. No matter what thing it takes note of, it”s always ready to vanish with that thing. What sense or substance can we get out of these five khandhas

　　 How can we assume them to be us or ours

　　This is what the issues of the five khandhas are like. They”ve occurred this way, appeared this way, arisen and vanished this way one after another continually from the day of our birth to the present moment. We can”t find any meaning or substance in them at all, unless the mind labels and interprets them, grasping onto them as being itself or belonging to itself and then carrying their weight -- which is heavier than an entire mountain -- within itself, without any reward. Its only reward is suffering and stress, because its own delusion has caused these things to reward it.

　　When the mind has i…

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