..续本文上一页te and subtle levels, and the mind from the blatant to the intermediate and subtle levels. These levels of thought-formations and the mind come from the fact that the mind can become involved with blatant, intermediate, or subtle preoccupations. People contemplating the mind as a frame of reference should thus make themselves understand from the very outset that the mind and its conditions, or thought-formations, are two different sorts of things. They aren”t one and the same. Otherwise the mind and its thought-formations will become entangled and this will complicate the investigation as I have already explained.

　　The point to focus on is the arising and involvement of thought-formations -- what preoccupations they touch on -- as well as their disbanding together with the disbanding of their preoccupations. Try to observe and keep track of the movements of these thought-formations that come out from the mind to focus on preoccupations of the past or future, both blatant and subtle. Always be aware that thought-formations and preoccupations of every sort that are interrelated must arise and disband together. They can”t be made to behave otherwise. Thus the notions of ”being,” ”person,” ”self,” or ”other” shouldn”t be brought in to refer to the mind, because they will immediately turn into a cause of stress. Try to observe until you see this in the course of the investigation, and you will see, as the Buddha taught, that the mind is simply a mind and nothing else -- not a being, a person, self, other, or whatever. When we contemplate the mind in this way, the heart will not be upset or infatuated with the fashionings and conditions, the pleasures and pains of the mind. This is what it means to have the mind as a frame of reference.

　　”Phenomena” (dhamma) as a frame of reference covers anything that serves as a focal point of the heart. On the refined level, it refers to the heart itself. External phenomena are of many kinds. Internal phenomena include every part of the body, all three kinds of feelings, and the mind on the level of a frame of reference. All of this is included in the contemplation of phenomena as a frame of reference. The contemplation of the body, feelings, and mind together -- all four frames of reference at once -- is, from the standpoint of forest Dhamma, [2] the contemplation of phenomena as a frame of reference. If this is in any way wrong, due to my lack of skill in understanding and explaining the matter, I ask forgiveness of all my listeners and readers, because I always feel at a loss every time I mention the topic of forest Dhamma in any of my talks or writings. For this reason, I ask that my readers, when reading about forest Dhamma, try to cultivate a fairly open mind toward every passage so that they won”t get upset while they are reading.

　　When, in the course of the investigation, the four frames of reference are brought together in the contemplation of phenomena so that they become a single level of Dhamma, this is a point in the practice more amazing and unexpected than anything that has gone before. This is because in the beginning steps of the investigation the body is like a piece of wood in the raw state. Feelings are in a raw state. The mind is in a raw state. Even phenomena are in a raw state, because the investigation itself is like a piece of wood in the raw state, so that the things investigated are all in the same state. But when we plane and polish things with the effort of the practice, everything in the area of the practice gradually changes its condition.

　　What I have mentioned here concerning the contemplation of phenomena as a frame of reference is a fairly refined level of Dhamma, so we can”t help but be grateful for the groundwork laid during the raw state of the investigation …

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