..续本文上一页As for the mind, know that it”s the ”knower” we have to test and comprehend in the same way as the elements and khandhas so that we won”t grab hold of it as the self or as belonging to the self, which would simply be creating a heavier burden. We must investigate it with discernment so as to see it for what it truly is, in just the same way. But as I”ve explained the investigation of the mind in a number of talks already, you should have a fair understanding of the matter by now.
In particular, when a pain arises in the body, we should know distinctly that, ”This is a feeling.” That”s all. Don”t go labeling or interpreting it, saying that the feeling is us, the feeling is ours, or that anything is ours, for that would simply foster more and more defilements and bring more and more pain in to smother the heart. Then when the feeling doesn”t vanish, that would cause even more pain in the heart, and what could we possibly find to bear it
Pains arise in the body. They”ve been arising ever since the day we were born. The moment we came from our mother”s womb, the pain was excruciating. Only by surviving this death did we become human beings. If you don”t call that pain, what will you call it
Pains have existed ever since way back when. You can”t force them to change their ways. The way of pain in the body is that it continually has to show itself. Once it arises, it remains and then vanishes. That”s all there is to it — arises, remains, vanishes — regardless of whether it”s an external feeling or an internal feeling, namely a feeling or mood in the mind.
In particular, feelings in the body: Investigate them so as to see them clearly. The body is the body. We”ve seen it clearly, known it clearly ever since the day we were born. We can conjure it into anything — us, ours, a prince, a king, nobility, whatever, however we want to conjure it — but its truth is simply a truth, fixed and unalterable. It doesn”t change in line with what we conjure it up to be. The body is simply the physical khandha. It has four elements — earth, water, wind, and fire — gathered together and called a person, a woman, a man, classified in endless ways, given this name and that, but what stays the same is the body: the ”physical heap.” All the parts taken together are called the physical heap, which is one reality. Take out any of the parts, and each of them also has its reality. When they”re gathered together, the skin is skin, the flesh is flesh, and the same holds true for the tendons, bones, and so forth. Even though they have names, don”t fall for their names. See them simply as inpidual realities, as a physical heap.
As for the heap of feelings, it”s not the body. The body isn”t a feeling, such as pain. Feeling is feeling. Whether pleasure appears, or pain or a neutral feeling appears, it”s simply a separate feeling that you can see clearly. These two khandhas — the body and feeling — are more prominent than sañña, sankhara, and viññana, which arise at intervals and immediately vanish.
Feelings, however, even though they vanish, have a period in which they remain. This you can clearly see in the practice. When pain arises, focus on it as your target, as the point to investigate. Don”t see the pain as being yourself, for that would be going against the true nature of feelings and the method of investigation, and you won”t be able to know the truth of the feeling as you should with your discernment. When you don”t know the truth and persist in assuming the pain to be yourself, you”ll increase the pain enormously within the mind, because you are going against the principles of nature, which are the principles of truth the Lord Buddha taught.
He taught us to investigate so as to see pain — in whichever part of the body it ma…
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