The way feelings behave is to arise,
take a stance, and disband. That's all there is to them every time. And there's
no 'being,' 'person,' 'our self,' or another to them at all. As soon as we invest
them with the ideas of 'being' or 'person,' they will appear in terms of beings
and persons, which are the powers giving rise to the cause of stress in that moment,
and we'll immediately be intensifying stress. Meditators should thus use their
discernment to be circumspect in dealing with feelings. If you don't take feelings
to be yourself while you are investigating them, all three sorts of feelings will
appear clearly as they truly are in line with the principles of the frames of
reference and the Noble Truths. No matter how these feelings may change for good
or bad, it will be a means of fostering the discernment of the person investigating
them each moment they exhibit movement and change. The notions of 'being,' 'person,'
'our self,' or 'another' won't have an opening by which to slip into these three
sorts of feelings at all. There will be just what appears there: feelings as nothing
but feelings. No sense of sorrow, discontent, discouragement, infatuation, or
pride will be able to arise in any way while these three sorts of feelings are
displaying their behavior, because we have come to a proper understanding of them
-- and all the time that we as meditators have a proper understanding of feelings
while they are arising, we are said to have the contemplation of feelings as a
frame of reference in the heart.
The mind as a frame of reference is not a level of mind different or apart from
the other three frames of reference, which is why it is termed a frame of reference
just like the body, feelings, and phenomena. If we were to make a comparison with
timber, the mind on this level is like an entire tree, complete with branches,
bark, softwood, roots, and rootlets, which is different from the timber put to
use to the point where it has become a house. To contemplate the mind as a frame
of reference is thus like taking a tree and cutting it up into timber as you want.
To investigate the mind on this level, we should focus on the thought-formations
of the mind as the target or topic of our investigation, because these are the
important factors that will enable us to know the defilement or radiance of the
mind. If we don't know them, then even if the mind suffers defilement and stress
all day long, we won't have any way of knowing. If we want to know the mind, we
must first understand the thought-formations that condition the mind in the same
way that seasonings give various flavors to food. The fact that the mind displays
such an infinite variety of forms, becoming so changed from its original state
as to bewilder itself, not knowing the reason and how to cure it, giving in to
events with no sense of good or evil, right or wrong, is all because of the thought-formations
that condition it.
For this reason, the mind as a frame of reference is a mind entangled with its
preoccupations and conditioned by its thought-formations. The investigation of
thought-formations is thus related to the mind, because they are things interrelated
by their very nature. If we understand thought-formations, we will begin to understand
the mind, and if we understand the mind, we will understand more about thought-formations
-- starting with thought-formations from the blatant to the intermediate and subtle
levels, and the mind from the blatant to the intermediate and subtle levels. These
levels of thought-formations and the mind come from the fact that the mind can
become involved with blatant, intermediate, or subtle preoccupations. People contemplating
the mind as a frame of reference should thus make themselves understand from the
very outset that the mind and its conditions, or thought-formations, are two different
sorts of things. They aren't one and the same. Otherwise the mind and its thought-formations
will become entangled and this will complicate the investigation as I have already
explained.
The point to focus on is the arising and involvement of thought-formations --
what preoccupations they touch on -- as well as their disbanding together with
the disbanding of their preoccupations. Try to observe and keep track of the movements
of these thought-formations that come out from the mind to focus on preoccupations
of the past or future, both blatant and subtle. Always be aware that thought-formations
and preoccupations of every sort that are interrelated must arise and disband
together. They can't be made to behave otherwise. Thus the notions of 'being,'
'person,' 'self,' or 'other' shouldn't be brought in to refer to the mind, because
they will immediately turn into a cause of stress. Try to observe until you see
this in the course of the investigation, and you will see, as the Buddha taught,
that the mind is simply a mind and nothing else -- not a being, a person, self,
other, or whatever. When we contemplate the mind in this way, the heart will not
be upset or infatuated with the fashionings and conditions, the pleasures and
pains of the mind. This is what it means to have the mind as a frame of reference.
'Phenomena' (dhamma) as a frame of reference covers anything that serves as a
focal point of the heart. On the refined level, it refers to the heart itself.
External phenomena are of many kinds. Internal phenomena include every part of
the body, all three kinds of feelings, and the mind on the level of a frame of
reference. All of this is included in the contemplation of phenomena as a frame
of reference. The contemplation of the body, feelings, and mind together -- all
four frames of reference at once -- is, from the standpoint of forest Dhamma,
[*] the contemplation of phenomena as a frame of reference. If this is in any
way wrong, due to my lack of skill in understanding and explaining the matter,
I ask forgiveness of all my listeners and readers, because I always feel at a
loss every time I mention the topic of forest Dhamma in any of my talks or writings.
For this reason, I ask that my readers, when reading about forest Dhamma, try
to cultivate a fairly open mind toward every passage so that they won't get upset
while they are reading.
[*] The Dhamma learned from practice, and not from the study of books.
When, in the course of the investigation, the four frames of reference are brought
together in the contemplation of phenomena so that they become a single level
of Dhamma, this is a point in the practice more amazing and unexpected than anything
that has gone before. This is because in the beginning steps of the investigation
the body is like a piece of wood in the raw state. Feelings are in a raw state.
The mind is in a raw state. Even phenomena are in a raw state, because the investigation
itself is like a piece of wood in the raw state, so that the things investigated
are all in the same state. But when we plane and polish things with the effort
of the practice, everything in the area of the practice gradually changes its
condition.
What I have mentioned here concerning the contemplation of phenomena as a frame
of reference is a fairly refined level of Dhamma, so we can't help but be grateful
for the groundwork laid during the raw state of the investigation on the beginning
levels. When we investigate phenomena in the final stages, if feels very different
from the beginning stages, even though they are the same four frames of reference.
When we reach the final stages, it appears to the mind that all four frames of
reference -- body, feelings, mind, and phenomena -- connect so that they all come
under contemplation of phenomena as a frame of reference. They converge completely
so that there is no sense that this is the body, that's a feeling, this is the
mind, that's a phenomenon. They all seem to come together on a single level of
Dhamma.
In dealing with the body, feelings, and mind, I've given a fairly adequate explanation
of the methods of investigation for remedying and freeing the mind, but now that
we come to the topic of phenomena, the discussion seems to have dealt entirely
with my own experiences. Nevertheless, I hope that you will approach it with the
attitude I've just mentioned and put it into practice in a way suited to your
own temperament. The results are sure to come out directly in line with what I've
explained to you.
To summarize the four frames of reference: There is the body, which covers the
internal body, external bodies, and the body within the body. There are feelings
-- internal feelings, external feelings, and feelings within feelings. (The issue
of feelings is fairly complex, so I'd like to insert a few opinions here: Internal
feelings are feelings or moods in the mind. External feelings are feelings in
the body.) There is the mind -- the inner mind, the outer mind, and the mind within
the mind. 'The inner mind' refers to mental states that deal with preoccupations
exclusively within the mind. 'The outer mind' refers to mental states involved
with external preoccupations. 'The mind within the mind' refers to any single
mental current out of the many mental currents that come out of the heart. And
then there are phenomena -- inner phenomena, outer phenomena, and phenomena within
phenomena. 'Inner phenomena' are the refined states or preoccupations that are
objects or focal points of the mind, and also the mind itself, which is the converging
point of all mental objects. 'Outer phenomena' refers to every kind of external
condition capable of being an object of the mind. 'Phenomena within phenomena'
refers to any single condition out of the many conditions that are the focal points
of the mind.
Thus the terms 'body within the body', 'feelings within feelings', 'the mind within
the mind', and 'phenomena within phenomena' refer to any single part or instance
of these things. For example, any one hair out of the many hairs on the head,
any one tooth out of the many teeth we have: These are termed the body within
the body. A person investigating any one part of the body in general is said to
be contemplating the body within the body. The same holds true for feelings, mind,
and phenomena, but I won't go into detail on this point for fear that we won't
have enough time. Let's save it for a later date.
The four frames of reference, from the point of view of forest Dhamma, are present
in full measure in our own bodies and minds. This doesn't mean, though, that their
external aspects are irrelevant. This is a point you will see clearly when you
work at the frames of reference until you can connect them entirely on the level
of contemplation of phenomena. The mind won't feel compelled to search for anything
external to help in its practice. Simply investigating exclusively in the area
of the body and mind, using the four frames of reference complete in the body
and mind, will be enough to cure it of its problems.
On the beginning level, though, everything internal and external is relevant.
But as you reach the stage of letting go step by step, those various conditions
will lose their relevance. Even the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena, which
are the necessary terms of the frames of reference, have to be let go. They shouldn't
be held to or borne as a burden on the heart. They must all be let go when your
investigation fully reaches the point of dhamma anatta: Phenomena are not-self.
Then later you can turn around to contemplate and connect them again as a pastime
for the mind in the present, once the mind has gone beyond and yet is still in
charge of the khandhas.
Meditators, if they are firm and unflinching in the practice of the frames of
reference, are sure to see a variety of extraordinary and amazing things arising
at intervals in their minds. When the time comes to reap the results on the level
of Dhamma corresponding to the causes that have been properly developed, the results
will have to appear stage by stage as the attainment of stream entry, once-returning,
non-returning, and arahantship. There is no need to doubt this.
So know that whether we contemplate the four frames of reference or the four Noble
Truths, they are one and the same path for the sake of release from suffering
and stress. Even though there may be some differences, they differ only in name.
In terms of their basic principles, they are one and the same. Those who work
at the four frames of reference and those who work at the four Noble Truths are
performing the same branch of work, because stress, its cause, its disbanding,
and the path to its disbanding are the same level of truth as the body, feelings,
mind, and phenomena -- in the same way as when different people do different jobs
in a single factory, the profits from their labor all go to the same factory.
To summarize the final results that come from working at the frames of reference
and the Noble Truths step by step: In the beginning the body, feelings, mind,
and phenomena are in a raw state. Stress, its cause, its disbanding, and the path
to its disbanding are in a raw state, because the practice is in a raw state of
planing and polishing back and forth without any feel for the heaviness or lightness,
depth or shallowness, breadth or narrowness of the Dhamma, and without any sense
of right or wrong, good or bad in the practice, because it's something we have
never done before. No one, from our great-grandparents down to our parents and
other relatives, has ever told us that the frames of reference and Noble Truths
are like this or that, that they should be put into practice this or that way
so as to give results of this or that sort -- for they themselves had no way of
knowing. What's worse, they have taken these excellent frames of reference and
Noble Truths and thrown them away underground, underwater and into the fire time
and again. We are simply their children, grandchildren, and great-grand-children:
How can we boast that we're wise and all-knowing in these matters? We simply have
to admit our own ignorance. Even though it's true that the frames of reference
and Noble Truths have been excellent Dhamma from the very beginning, when they
reach us they have to start as Dhamma in the raw state, because we ourselves are
people in the raw state. Even our practice is practice in the raw state. But as
we practice persistently, without retreating, and as our understanding into the
Dhamma and the practice gradually appears bit by bit, day by day, and slowly begins
to take shape, our conviction in the teachings of the Buddha grows continually
stronger and more deeply rooted. The things that used to be mysterious gradually
come to be revealed for what they truly are.
For example, the four frames of reference and four Noble Truths, even though they
were always right with us, used to be as if buried out of sight, without our being
aware of them. We listened to monks giving sermons and imagined things to be far
away, beyond the range of our ears and eyes. We never thought at all to refer
these teachings inwardly to ourselves, the converging points of the Dhamma. When
the monks finished their sermons, the results could be summarized as this: 'We
don't have the capability of reaching the Dhamma that has been taught, because
it's infinitely deep and exceedingly subtle. The Dhamma explained and we the listeners
lie on opposite sides of the world.' The thought never occurred to us that all
of us -- teachers and listeners alike -- are in the same world of the frames of
reference and the four Noble Truths, and that the matters explained were entirely
our own affairs without the slightest deviation. These sorts of misunderstandings
can happen to all of us.
But when the truth -- such as the frames of reference -- starts revealing itself
in the course of our practice, these teachings turn step by step into a map for
the mind. We see the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena as if they were a piece
of paper covered with symbols and signs showing us the way to proceed so as to
gain release from suffering and stress. The frames of reference and Noble Truths,
within and without, become symbols and signs showing the way for the mind to proceed
on all sides, as if they were saying, 'Hurry up and follow these arrows showing
the way to safety. The enemy is in a frenzy searching for you right nearby and
is waiting in ambush for you everywhere. Don't be lulled into thinking that any
of these places are safe. Only if you hurry through this jungle will you reach
safety.' Our persistence in the practice then grows stronger, together with the
mindfulness and discernment we have been training by using the frames of reference
and Noble Truths as our whetstone and path. The body, feelings, mind, and phenomena
that we used to investigate erratically and unevenly now become Dhamma on a common
level and can all be investigated so as to be brought together and subsumed under
the level of contemplation of pure phenomena.
When the mind takes the contemplation of phenomena as its frame of reference until
it is skilled and thoroughly sure of itself, the contemplation of phenomena (dhamma)
turns to deal exclusively with the affairs of the mind. At this stage you could
say that the Dhamma becomes the mind, or the mind becomes Dhamma. Once the mind
has entered purely into the contemplation of phenomena, then external conditions
-- sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas, together with
the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, feeling, and ideation, which used
to be like a solid mountain of rock, obstructing the mind so that it could find
no way out -- fade away and vanish from the imagination. The body, feelings, labels,
thought-formations, and cognizance that were like clouds obscuring the heart are
now dispersed bit by bit from their shapes -- the suppositions of conventional
reality -- by the winds of mindfulness, discernment, conviction, and persistence,
until they fade away to the point where almost nothing is left. What is left is
simply a vapor arising from the heart: This is a level of phenomena that hasn't
yet been destroyed but can't display itself openly because strong mindfulness
and discernment have it surrounded and are constantly probing after it to destroy
it at all times. Finally this level of phenomena -- the mind of unawareness (avijja)
-- is utterly destroyed by mindfulness and discernment, using the truth of dhamma
anatta -- phenomena are not-self -- and the teaching that all phenomena are unworthy
of attachment. The notions of being, person, self, or others, when they no longer
have any conventional suppositions in which to find shelter, must now float away
of their own accord.
The moment that mindfulness and discernment
have completed their duties toward the frames of reference, a nature that is
extraordinary and amazing appears in all its fullness. All problems are resolved
without any chance of continuation, because cause and effect between the khandhas
and the mind have come to a full and lasting truce. Even though they still live
together, they no longer quarrel the way they used to. Each is free in line
with its truth. The word yatha-bhuta-nana-dassana -- knowledge and vision of
things as they are -- in the understanding of forest Dhamma means living with
no mistrust between the khandhas and mind, the world and the Dhamma, the inside
and the out. The heart and all things everywhere are no longer enemies as they
used to be, and the heart can now put all things to their proper uses.