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| And the second Foundation is feeling (vedana) --- pleasure, (sukha), pain (dukkha)and neutral (adukkhamasukha) sensation, through the senses, through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind. The mind, mental states, give us pleasure or pain or are neutral, as well as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. With mindfulness we're now intuiting feeling, meaning we're not judging it, or criticising it but noticing "it's like this", pleasure is "like this", pain is "like this", neutral sensation is "like this." When we look at beauty, pleasure is like this we feel this pull towards it, we feel attracted. When we look at something ugly, repulsive, repulsion is "like this", then: neither pleasure nor pain is "like this" and so it's "the way it is." We're not trying to fit experience into ideas we have about it, we're actually observing the state of awareness, the way it is. | |||
Then in the third Foundation --the mental state, (citta) -- the state of mind is "like this." Whether we're feeling inspired or depressed or elated or frightened or angry or greedy, jealous, doubtful, confused, miserable, stressed out, whatever -- the citta is like, the intuitive awareness allows us to recognise "this is the way it is" but it's not judging it. This I find particularly challenging because when you're feeling angry or uncertain and confused, there's so much resistance, wanting to get rid of it and change it. We begin by releasing, letting go into the present moment. We're not trying to make anything out of it, just let it be what it is, like this, a miserable mental state is "like this." Then the fourth Foundation is of dhamma. This comes about with the recognition of the conditioned realm as changing, unsatisfactory and not-self. This takes us to the ultimate realisation, where we realise the dhamma is "like this" and "the deathless" the amatadhamma, is "like this." |
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