..续本文上一页g to the utmost, straight to the heart, we could somehow escape death.

　　This fear of death: We really fear it and yet we don”t know what death is, or who dies. As long as we haven”t investigated down to the ”foundation of death,” we”ll have to fear it all the livelong day. But once we have investigated down to the foundation of death, what is there to fear

　　 — because nothing in the world dies. There is simply the change, the exchange of the various elements, and that”s all. Change is something we already know. The Dhamma has taught us: ”Inconstancy” — things are always changing. ”Stress” — where is there if not right here

　　 ”Not-self” — this already tells us — what is there of any substance, that”s ”us” or ”them”

　　 The Dhamma tells us with every word, every phrase, and yet we prefer to fly in the face of the Dhamma. We want that to be us, we want this to be ours. This wanting is an affair of defilement: That”s not us, it”s simply defilement from head to toe — or isn”t it

　　If it were to become our self as we say it is, wouldn”t it be a heap as big as a mountain

　　 If every defilement of every sort were to be gathered together, who knows how many millions of mountains they”d be

　　 We wouldn”t be able to carry them at all. What we already have is more than we can handle! So we should investigate these things to see them clearly and then cut them away, one mountain at a time. Otherwise we”ll be unable to walk, because we”ll be full of the mountains of every person”s every sort of defilement, and of every sort of suffering that defilement has created to be borne on top of the heart for such a long, long time. We should learn our lessons, in line with what the Dhamma has taught us, so that we will have some place to put down our burden of suffering.

　　Feelings — these characters: These are our enemies. All they offer us are feelings of pain or distress arising in the mind — sometimes on their own, with no connection to the body. The body may be perfectly normal, but because of our preoccupations, feelings of pain can manage to arise in the mind. If we think of something that stabs at the heart, a feeling of pain or distress arises. If we think in a way that will extricate us, a feeling of pleasure arises. When the mind rests and stays neutral within itself, that”s a feeling of equanimity. See

　　 We can clearly see them like this — if we reflect so as to see them. If we aren”t observant, if we don”t investigate them, we won”t see them to our dying day. We will simply die in vain. Don”t go thinking that we can gain knowledge and insight, and free ourselves of suffering, without making an effort to strive and investigate. Many, many living beings have died in failure because of their complacency.

　　In investigating, don”t set up any anticipations that you would like to have your different feelings disappear. That would only be increasing the cause of stress. Simply look inside the feeling itself when it arises. Use your mindfulness and discernment to contemplate without let-up. Investigate until you understand.

　　Sañña: This is very important. Normally, sañña is something very important. When pain arises, the pain is important, but pain doesn”t arise all the time. As for sañña, it keeps right on labeling. This is very important, very subtle, very delicate and refined. It”s deceptive, which is why it has us deceived.

　　Sankhara is what hands things over to sañña, which elaborates on them to the point where they become endless and unstoppable unless we use mindfulness and discernment to act as a block.

　　Viññana is what takes note.

　　As for sañña — labeling and interpreting — it has a big job to do, running around stirring up all kinds of trouble throughout the body. Sa&n…

《Straight from the Heart - The Principle of the Present》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…