..续本文上一页 no self in the body. If you dissect it, you won”t find a self in this body. It”s the delusion of the mind that creates the perception that there is a self in this body. This body is “I”. “I” am this body. This body is “myself”. The Buddha says this is not truth, it is a delusion. The truth is that there is no “self.”
In order to see this truth, you have to meditate until your mind fully rests in peace, in full concentration. When that happens the mind and the body will temporarily separate. The feeling that there is a body will disappear from the mind. During that time, there is just the mind by itself—the knowing, but there is nothing to know. Right now you have the body in your awareness. But when you meditate until the mind enters into full concentration it will be temporarily severed from the sense doors and objects, from sight, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects, from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body.
You will then see that your existence is composed of two parts: the physical part which is the body, and the mental part which is the mind. The physical part is impermanent while the mental part is permanent. Eventually, this body will break up, returning to where it comes from. The water element will go back to the water element. The wind element will go back to the wind element. The fire element will go back to the fire element. The earth element will go back to the earth element. The mind will go on to a new existence propelled by the three cravings, namely craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being and craving for non-being.
But if the mind realizes that to be born again is painful and miserable it will strive in cutting off the three cravings to stop it from taking birth again. By doing so it does not annihilate itself because the mind is indestructible. It is one of the six basic elements of the universe called the knowing element. The other five elements are earth, water, wind, fire and space. All animate beings are made up of these six elements, while all inanimate objects are made up of just five elements, minus the knowing element.
The culprit here is our delusion that prevents the mind from seeing the three characteristics of impermanence, dukkha or suffering, and anatta or not-self, causing it to cling or become attached to whatever it comes into contact with. Whatever we have, we will cling to it, want it to last and stay with us forever. But nothing lasts forever. When it leaves us or changes, we”ll become sad. When it”s still with us, we are worried, wondering when it will leave us.
The Buddha therefore teaches us to look at these three characteristics. Once we are able to see them we will let go of our attachment. Then whatever happens will not cause us any pain. We will always be at ease, at peace with everything, regardless of what happens. This is the goal of Buddhism, which is to teach the mind to let go of everything, not to cling to anything, to know that nothing lasts forever, that they are not really good for us, they don”t really make us happy. They do not belong to us. They are not us. They have no self. Self is just the delusion of the mind. When we see that we will let go of everything. We will then live in peace. No matter what happens, we already know and have already let go. We won”t care what happens. We can live without them. But we have to do these three stages of practice namely charity, morality and mental development.
Be charitable. Don”t keep what you don”t need. Keep only what you need for your existence, like the four basic requisites of life: food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. Anything more than that is considered to be a surplus. The more you have them, the more problems, worry and mental stress you will have. Live simply, have as little as possible. You s…
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