Appearing and Disappearing Nature
The more we are mindful
of our body the more we will be able to know that our body is nothing but the
combination of four Elements. In our body we must be able to know the energies
of the four Elements, which are hardness and softness, cohesion and liquidity,
movement and stillness, coldness and hotness.
If we are feeling well,
the energy of softness might be evident. If we are feeling pain, the
energy of hardness or tightness might be evident. One of these energies might
be evident for a moment. These energies and powers are not something, not
someone. They appear from nowhere and disappear to nowhere.
These energies or powers
appear and disappear within a very short period of time. They didn’t exist
before the present moment and won’t exist beyond the present moment.
There is no one who creates these energies or powers. These energies or powers
are happening every moment. Though they are connected to each other, they are
not the same. In fact, these are the powers and energies of Original Impermanent
Nature.
The aim of mindfulness
is to be aware of the power or energies of the Original Impermanent
Nature. These powers and energies are appearing and disappearing
continuously. The more we know about ourselves, the more we will be able to
abandon the wrong view of something or someone, “me” or “mine,”
misunderstanding these powers and energies as something.
When we know the
movement of the body we will misunderstand that “I am moving.” When we know
hotness we will misunderstand, “ I am hot.” When we know bad feelings we
will misunderstand that “I am feeling bad.” When we recognize something, we
will misunderstand as, “I remember it.” If there is desire for doing something,
we will misunderstand as, “I want to do something.” If consciousness or
awareness appears in us we will misunderstand, “I know it.” The idea of “me” or
“you,” “male” or “female” are rooted in our heart or our mind.
Because of attachment to
the wrong view we cannot understand beyond this and that, something or someone.
We must be mindful to ourselves and then we must be able to know the power and
energies of the Original Impermanent Nature. We need to listen to the Dhamma
talk and to Buddha’s teaching in order to be able to detach from the usual
wrong view.
To know about meditation
we must meditate. To know about keeping the precepts we must keep precepts. To
know about good deeds we must do good deeds, but we must be careful to be
using-only, doing-only, experiencing-only and knowing-only, not to reject nor
to be attached.
There might be understanding
or not understanding about my teaching, or about the practice. If there is
understanding, try to detach from that understating. If there is no
understanding, try to detach from that not understanding. To be able to detach
from something we must abandon our habit of paying attention to
something.
This
article is an excerpt from the book “The Practice of Detachment”
by
ThaBarWa Sayadaw U Ottamasara.
http://thabarwameditationcenter.wordpress.com/appearing-and-disappearing-nature/