..续本文上一页 investigate them and know them as they actually are. Inside and out, both the internal body and external bodies, all share in the same characteristics. They always have to be washed and cleaned -- and thus the care of the body is a constant duty for everyone in the world. The things that are used to care for the body, to keep it alive and presentable, are thus the best-selling merchandise all over the world. The investigation of the body so as to see clearly with discernment into its origins, needs, and behavior, is thus a means of cutting off a well-spring of worries and stress in the heart -- because even a huge mountain of solid rock reaching to the clouds would never weigh on the heart causing it any stress, but the khandhas -- such as the physical khandha, or body -- oppress and weigh on the heart at all times to the point where we can find no chance to put them down. The affairs of stress that are related to the khandhas thus converge on the heart responsible for them. For this reason, the mind in charge of the khandhas should gain an all-around understanding of the khandhas, both in their good and their bad aspects, so as to manage them smoothly and comfortably, and not always be abused by them.
Normally, the khandhas take advantage of us all day long. Every move we make is for their sake. If the mind can find a way out by becoming wise to its khandhas -- even while it is still responsible for them -- it can then be in a position to contend with them and won”t have to take on all their stresses and pains. At the same time, the stresses and pains in the khandhas won”t set up shop to sell us all their suffering. Thus those who investigate the khandhas so as to see their benefits and drawbacks with discernment aren”t destined to take on pain and nothing but pain from the khandhas. They are sure to find a way to reduce and relieve the tensions and strains in their hearts.
In investigating the body, you have to investigate it repeatedly, time and again -- as required for your understanding, and not as determined by your laziness -- until you really see clearly that the body is nothing but a body, and is in no way a being, a person, one”s self, or another. This is called the contemplation of the body as a frame of reference.
As for feelings, the mind, and phenomena, you should realize that they are all present in this same body, but their characteristics are somewhat different, which is why they are given different names. Make sure that you understand this point well. Otherwise the four frames of reference and the four Noble Truths will turn into a cause of stress -- a source of worries and doubts -- while you are practicing, because of your confusion about where these phenomena begin and end.
As for feelings, there are three: pleasure, pain, and indifference -- neither pleasure nor pain. Feelings coming from the body and those coming from the mind have these same three sorts. To investigate them, you should ferret them out and examine them in line with their characteristics, but don”t take the body to be a feeling. Let the body be the body. Let the feeling be a feeling -- in the same way as seeing a tiger as a tiger, and an elephant as an elephant. Don”t take the tiger to be an elephant, or else your evidence won”t be in line with the truth, and the issue will spread until it can never be resolved. In other words, ferret out and investigate the feeling displaying itself in the present moment so as to see how it arises, how it takes a stance, and how it disbands. The bases for the arising of all three kinds of feeling are the body and mind, but the feelings themselves aren”t the body, nor are they the mind. They keep on being feelings both in their arising and in their disbanding. Don”t understand them as being anything …
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