|
Now let us see the practical implementation of this
teaching. As we saw, the most important factor is the link between feeling and craving.
That is why Buddha singles out craving as the origin of suffering in the Four Noble
Truths. So what we have to do in our own practice is to prevent feeling from leading to
craving. We have to be mindful and clearly aware of the feeling that arises. and not
delight in them, hold to them, and cling to them. If we lack mindfulness when pleasant
feeling arises, it issues in craving. We relish the object, become attached to it and
desire more of the pleasure it gives. But if we have mindfulness, we become aware "a
pleasant feeling has arisen". We stop at awareness without succumbing to it. Then
applying wisdom to the feeling, we understand the feeling as impermanent, unsatisfactory,
without a self. These measures prevent the feeling from giving rise to craving. As we go
on cultivating wisdom, wisdom grows sharper and sharper, deeper and deeper until it cuts
off the basic ignorance. It cuts off layer after layer of ignorance, and when all
ignorance is eliminated the state of liberation is achieved. |