Contemplative Practice on the Suffering, Emptiness, Impermanence, and Non-Self of the Five Aggregates (II)

After contemplating the aggregate of form and confirming that it is impermanent, suffering, empty, and non-self, one then contemplates the aggregate of feeling as impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is non-self. The method and steps are the same as contemplating the aggregate of form: it will not work without meditative concentration, it will not work without deliberation in accordance with the Dharma, it will not work if the evidence is insufficient, and it will not work if the manas cannot diligently deliberate day and night. Once the manas confirms that the aggregate of feeling is impermanent, that the impermanent is suffering, and that what is suffering is neither self nor belonging to self, its views and concepts change; its views change, and its mental conduct will also change bit by bit.

In each step of the contemplative practice, whenever the manas recognizes a truth and clearly sees its own former ignorance, there will be sighs and exclamations, there will be a resolve and an attitude, which will prompt changes in body and mind. Therefore, whether a person has undergone genuine practice, and whether they are practicing genuinely, can be reflected in their physical and mental state—it cannot be hidden.

After contemplating the aggregate of feeling, one then contemplates the aggregate of perception: contemplate the impermanence of the aggregate of perception, contemplate the impermanence and suffering of the aggregate of perception, and contemplate that the suffering of the aggregate of perception is neither self nor belonging to self. In the end, one must genuinely and truly confirm this—any trace of hesitation does not count. Afterwards, one contemplates the impermanence of the aggregates of formations and consciousness, contemplates the impermanence and suffering of the aggregates of formations and consciousness, and then contemplates that their suffering is neither self nor belonging to self. Only such contemplative practice is real and genuine practice, and only then can one arrive at a final, reasonable, Dharma-conforming, and truthful conclusion, thereby eliminating the identity view and self-view.

The Buddha said that when noble disciples have genuinely contemplated in this way as it truly is, they will give rise to a mind of revulsion toward the aggregate of form; because they are disillusioned with the aggregate of form, they will not delight in the aggregate of form; because they do not delight in the aggregate of form, they will be liberated from the aggregate of form and no longer be bound by it. After truly eliminating the identity view, one will inevitably give rise to a mind of revulsion to a greater or lesser degree; if no revulsion has arisen, the identity view has not been eliminated. This is certain. Everything the Buddha said is true speech; only by trusting and accepting the Buddha's words and practicing in accordance with them can one's cultivation not deviate from the right track. If someone believes they have already eliminated the identity view, they must turn and examine their own mind, checking whether they truly no longer like the physical body, no longer cherish the physical body as a treasure, and no longer scheme in every way to maintain the physical body. Those disciples of intellectual understanding who have merely a theoretical comprehension of eliminating the identity view show none of these phenomena; their body and mind undergo no change, their living habits undergo no change—just the same as their former selves as ordinary beings.

As for still committing evil karma for the sake of the physical body—do not even think about it. Not delighting in the physical body, not cherishing the physical body, there is no need to commit evil karma anymore. But one will still continue to create wholesome karma—that is certain, because the mind has not yet been emptied to a sufficient degree.

The Buddha said that noble disciples who contemplate in this way as it truly is will become disillusioned with the aggregates of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; because of this disillusionment, they no longer delight in the aggregates of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; because they no longer delight in them, the mind attains liberation and is no longer bound by the aggregates of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. One whose mind has been liberated has already realized wisdom as it truly is and the wisdom of liberation. The arhat (the fourth fruit; Pali Arahant) will say: "My life ends with this present existence; there will be no future lives. My pure brahma conduct has been established. What I wished to accomplish in this life has been done. I myself can attest that there is no future existence, no continued receiving of rebirth."

Of course, the disillusionment and non-delight spoken of by the Buddha encompass the stages from the first fruit to the fourth fruit: the mind gradually becomes disillusioned with form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness—increasingly disillusioned with them, increasingly not delighting in them, and the mind becomes increasingly liberated. An obvious and clear sign of liberation is that as the wisdom of contemplative practice deepens, meditative concentration becomes deeper and deeper. Upon reaching the first dhyāna, within that concentration the two afflictions of greed and aversion are eliminated, and the mind is liberated from the desire realm. When the wisdom of contemplative practice advances further, the great wisdom of liberation from birth-and-death in the three realms appears, and one becomes an arhat liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti).

Anyone who considers themselves to have realized the fruits, if their body and mind have undergone no change whatsoever from beginning to end, has certainly realized the fruit only theoretically, gaining only theoretical views, which cannot withstand karmic obstructions and birth-and-death. At the age of thirteen, the monk Shenhui climbed mountains and crossed ridges for several months to visit the Sixth Patriarch. With one look, the Sixth Patriarch knew he was a disciple of intellectual understanding, and until he passed away in his nineties, he remained a disciple of intellectual understanding. Is genuine practice and realization easy? It is not easy at all. Do not say the Buddha's path is easy to seek: the karmic obstructions and habitual tendencies accumulated over beginningless kalpas are very hard to overcome. If one cannot pass the barrier of karmic obstructions and habitual tendencies, how can one settle the mind for genuine practice?

Cultivation is a process of a person's complete transformation and metamorphosis, and it is also a gradual process. Unless one has great or supremely great spiritual faculties, do not imagine that one can suddenly realize the fruit and transform oneself without the intermediate process of step-by-step change. The transformation of body and mind appears right from the beginning of actual practice, becoming increasingly evident, with more and more changes and more and more realizations. As quantitative accumulation grows ever greater, only when a certain quantity is reached does there come a qualitative leap—the transformation of body and mind, a complete metamorphosis.