..续本文上一页lements gather in and are still as well. When the mind draws into itself, to be itself or to become a point on which we can focus and understand, the affairs of defilement also enter a restricted range in that same point. They gather in at the heart and rarely ever run loose to stir up trouble for the heart as they used to before the mind was still.
Once the mind is still so that it can stand on its feet, we are then taught to use our discernment to investigate, unravel, and contemplate the various parts of the body in which the defilements hide out. What is the mind interested in
When it isn”t quiet, with what does it like to involve itself
While the mind is quiet, it doesn”t stir up trouble for itself, but a common habit with us human beings is that once we have gained peace and relaxation, we get lazy. We simply want to lie down and rest. We don”t want to unravel the body, the elements, or the khandhas with our mindfulness and discernment for the sake of seeing the truth and removing the various defilements from the heart. We don”t like to reflect on the fact that those who have abandoned and removed the various kinds of defilement that hide out in the body and the khandhas have done so by using mindfulness and discernment. As for mental stillness or concentration, that”s simply a gathering together of the defilements into a restricted range. It”s not an abandoning or a removal of defilement. Please remember this and take it to heart.
The heart, when it isn”t still, tends to get entangled with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, and to take them as issues for stirring itself up. We can know with our mindfulness and discernment which of the various sights, sounds, etc., the mind tends to favor most strongly. While we are investigating, we can know with our mindfulness and discernment the objects with which the mind is involving itself. We can observe the affairs of the mind because the mind has been still. As soon as it begins to head out toward its various preoccupations, we know. This is why we are taught to investigate and unravel things with our discernment so as to know what the mind goes to involve itself with. Try to observe so as to know, so as to see clearly with mindfulness and discernment while you are investigating. Only when you are stilling the mind in concentration is there no need for you to investigate, because concentration and discernment take turns working at different times, as I have already explained.
When you are investigating visual objects, with which visual object is the mind most involved
What is the reason
Look at the object. Dissect it. Analyze it into its parts so as to see it clearly for what it truly is. Once you have dissected the object — whatever it is — so as to see it with discernment in line with its truth, at the same time you will see the absurdity, the deceptiveness of the mind that grows attached and misconstrues things in all kinds of ways without any real reason, without any basis in fact. Once you have investigated carefully, you”ll see that the object has none of the worth construed and assigned to it by the mind. There are simply the assumptions of the mind that has fallen for the object, that”s all. Once you have investigated, separating the various parts of ”their” body or ”your” body so as to see them in detail, you won”t see anything of any worth or substance at all. The heart of its own accord will see the harmfulness of its assumptions, its labels and attachments. The more it investigates, the more clearly it sees — not only the various sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, but also the acts of the mind involved with those objects — until it fully knows and clearly sees with discernment, because it has been constantly unraveling th…
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