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　　 We haven”t separated these things with discernment, so we have to keep holding onto them as our self. When the khandhas and the mind blend into one, we can”t analyze them. But when we try to use mindfulness and discernment to investigate in to see the truth of these things — that each exists separately, each has its separate reality, which holds true for us and for everyone else — and this realization goes deep into the heart, then the pain gradually fades away, fades away. At the same time, we know what makes the connection from the pain into the heart, because the connection comes from the heart. When we investigate the pain, it comes retracting into the heart. All the affairs of pain come from the heart that labels or that experiences mental pain because of an insidious connection by way of attachment (upadana) that we don”t yet know.

　　When we investigate so as to see clearly, we follow the feeling of pain inward. We come in knowing, knowing. The pain keeps retracting and retracting, into the heart. Once we know that the heart is what created the attachment, making itself construe the pain to be itself, creating a great deal of suffering-once we know this, the pain disappears.

　　Or — alternatively — once we know this, the pain stays real, but the heart doesn”t latch onto it. Even though the pain may not disappear, the mind is the mind. It doesn”t make any connection through attachment. Each is its own separate reality. This is called the mind being its own self — cool, calm, and collected — in the midst of the pain of the khandhas. This is to know that the mind is a reality just as each khandha is a separate reality.

　　This is the path for those who are practicing so as to become wise to the five khandhas, with feelings of pain as their primary focus.

　　But for those who understand all the way, to the point of reaching ”the unshakable mind, the unshakable Dhamma” (akuppa-citta, akuppa-dhamma) that can”t be provoked into being anything else, there is no problem at all. Whether pain is little or great, they have absolutely no problem because their minds are always true. There is never a time when their minds, which are already pure, can become defiled, can become ”worlded.” There”s no way it could happen. For this reason, whatever conditions the khandhas may display, such people know them in line with the principles of nature. The khandhas themselves appear in line with the principles of nature and disappear in line with nature. They remain naturally and then disappear naturally. The mind knows in line with its own nature, without having to be forced or coerced in any way. The minds of those who know totally all-around are like this.

　　As for those of us who are investigating the khandhas to know them and withdraw from them step by step, even though our minds are not yet like that while we are practicing, even though our hopes aren”t yet fulfilled, still our investigation of pain is for the purpose of separating the mind from the pain so that it”s not entangled in pain, so that whenever pain arises in greater or lesser measure, the mind doesn”t cling to the pain as being itself. We do this so as not to gather up the pain as being our self — which would be the same as taking fire to burn ourself. When we can do this, we can be at our ease.

　　So pain is an excellent whetstone for discernment. However much pain arises, set your mindfulness and discernment focused right there. Turn to look at the mind, and then expand your awareness to encompass the feeling and the body, each of which is already a separate part. The body is one part, the feeling is another, and the mind another. Keep going back and forth among them, investigating with discernment until you understand — and it really goes to the heart — that, ”Each khandha is sim…

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