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shadows and substance of stress come from. The essence of stress lies with the
mind. Aging, illness, and death are its shadows or effects that show by way of
the body. When we want to kill our enemy and so take a knife to stab his
shadow, how is he going to die? In the same way, ignorant people try to destroy
the shadows of stress and don’t get anywhere. As for the essence of stress in the
heart, they don’t think of remedying it at all. This ignorance of theirs is one form
of avijj›, or unawareness.
To look at it in still another way, both the shadows and the real thing come
from ta˚h›, craving. We’re like a person who has amassed a huge fortune and
then, when thieves come to break in, goes killing the thieves. He doesn’t see his
own wrong-doing and sees only the wrong-doing of others. Actually, once he’s
piled his house full in this way, thieves can’t help but break in. In the same way,
people suffer from stress and so they hate it, and yet they don’t make the effort to
straighten themselves out.
Stress comes from the three forms of craving, so we should kill off craving for
sensuality, craving for becoming, and craving for no becoming. These things are
fabricated in our own heart, and we have to know them with our own
mindfulness and discernment. Once we’ve contemplated them until we see, we’ll
know: ‘This sort of mental state is craving for sensuality; this sort is craving for
becoming; and this sort, craving for no becoming.’
People with discernment will see that these things exist in the heart in subtle,
intermediate, and blatant stages, just as a person has three stages in a lifetime:
youth, middle age, and old age. ‘Youth’ is craving for sensuality. Once this thirst
arises in the heart, it wavers and moves—this is craving for becoming—and then
takes shape as craving for no further becoming—a sambhavesin with its neck
stretched out looking for its object, causing itself stress and pain. In other words,
we take a liking to various sights, sounds, smells, flavors, etc., and so fix on
them, which brings us stress. So we shouldn’t preoccupy ourselves with sights,
sounds, etc., that provoke greed, anger, or delusion (craving for sensuality),
causing the mind to waver and whisk out with concepts (this is craving for
becoming; when the mind sticks with its wavering, won’t stop repeating its
motions, that’s craving for no further becoming).
When we gain discernment, we should destroy these forms of craving with
anulomika-ñ›˚a, knowledge in accordance with the four Noble Truths, knowing
exactly how much ease and pleasure the mind has when cravings for sensuality,
becoming, and no becoming all disappear. This is called knowing the reality of
disbanding. As for the cause of stress and the path to the disbanding of stress,
we’ll know them as well.
Ignorant people will go ride in the shadow of a car—and they’ll end up with
their heads bashed in. People who don’t realize what the shadows of virtue are,
will end up riding only the shadows. Words and deeds are the shadows of
virtue. Actual virtue is in the heart. The heart at normalcy is the substance of
virtue. The substance of concentration is the mind firmly centered in a single
preoccupation without any interference from concepts or mental labels. The
bodily side to concentration—when our mouth, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are
quiet—is just the shadow, as when the body sits still, its mouth closed and not
speaking with anyone, its nose not interested in any smells, its eyes closed and
not interested in any objects, etc. If the mind is firmly centered to the level of
fixed penetration, then whether we sit, stand, walk, or lie down, the mind
doesn’t waver.
Once the mind is trained to the level of fixed penetration, discernment will
arise without our having to search for it, just like an imperial sword: When it’s
drawn for use, it’s sharp and flashing. When it’s no longer needed, it goes back
in the scabbard. This is why we are taught,