..续本文上一页g nature—serene and unperturbed amidst the pain of the khandhas.

　　 No matter how severe the pain may be at that time, it will be unable to affect the citta in any way. Once wisdom realizes clearly that the citta and the pain are each real, but real in their own separate ways, the two will not impact one another at all. The body is merely a lump of physical matter. The same body that was there when the pain appeared is still there when the pain ceases. Pain does not alter the nature of the body; the body does not affect the nature of pain. The citta is the nature that knows that the pain appears, remains briefly, and ceases. But the citta, the true knowing essence, does not arise and pass away like the body and the feelings do. The citta”s knowing presence is the one stable constant.

　　This being the case, pain—no matter how great—has no impact on the citta. You can even smile while severe pain is arising—you can smile!—because the citta is separate. It constantly knows but it does not become involved with feelings so it does not suffer.

　　 This level is attained through an intensive application of mindfulness and wisdom. It”s a stage where wisdom develops samadhi. And because the citta has fully investigated all aspects until they are understood thoroughly, the citta reaches the full extent of samadhi at that time. It converges with a boldness and subtlety so profound as to defy description. This amazing awareness comes from analyzing things completely and exhaustively and then withdrawing from them. Ordinarily, when the citta relies on the power of samadhi meditation to converge into a calm, concentrated state, it becomes still and quiet. But that samadhi state is not nearly so subtle and profound as the one attained through the power of wisdom. Once mindfuln, ess and wisdom have engaged the kilesas in hand-to-hand combat and triumphed, the nature of the calm that”s attained will be spectacular each time.

　　 This is the path for those who are practicing meditation so as to penetrate to the truth of the five khandhas, using painful feeling as the primary focus. This practice formed the initial basis for my fearlessness in meditation. I saw with unequivocal clarity that the essential knowing nature of the citta could never possibly be annihilated. Even if everything else were completely destroyed, the citta would remain wholly unaffected. I realized this truth with absolute clarity the moment when the citta”s knowing essence stood alone on its own, completely uninvolved with anything whatsoever. There was only that knowing presence standing out prominently, awesome in its splendor. The citta lets go of the body, feeling, memory, thought and consciousness and enters a pure stillness of its very own, with absolutely no connection to the khandhas. In that moment, the five khandhas do not function in any way at all in relation to the citta. In other words, the citta and the khandhas exist independently because they have been completely cut off from one another due to the persistent efforts of meditation.

　　 That attainment brings a sense of wonder and amazement that no experience we”ve ever had could possibly equal. The citta stays suspended in a serene stillness for a long time before withdrawing to normal consciousness. Having withdrawn, it reconnects with the khandhas as before, but it remains absolutely convinced that the citta has just attained a state of extraordinary calm totally cut off from the five khandhas. It knows that it has experienced an extremely amazing spiritual state of being. That certainty will never be erased.

　　 Due to that unshakable conviction, which became fixed in my heart as a result of that experience and therefore could not be brought into doubt by unfounded or unreasonable assertions, I re…

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