Feeling born of Material

When we take some food, it is feeling born of material. If the food is tasty, conducive to your 
tongue, then pleasant feeling will arise. If it is bitter, then unpleasant feeling will arise. 
The same food may be pleasant to one, and unpleasant to another. In fact it can change with 
time for an individual. Many foods that were not palatable when we were children are very 
welcome today. So you see, practice has a role to play in determining conduciveness or non-
conduciveness. On the hand, the food might not be conducive for either pleasant or unpleasant 
feeling, in which event, neutral feeling will arise. So feeling born of form, sound, odour, 
taste and touch are feelings born of material.


Feeling free of material

Let’s take a few examples. When you exercise restraint, there arises feeling, which once again 
may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When we sit down to meditate, once again we 
experience feeling. If there is diffusion, there will be unpleasant feeling. If the mind is 
in samadhi,there will arise pleasant feeling or neutral feeling as you go into the higher 
realms of samadhi. When we express gratitude, there will also arise some form of feeling. 
All these feelings are free of material.

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