Page 34 - Because I know, I can let go

Sakkāyadiṭṭhi

The first saṃyojana is ‘sakkāyadiṭṭhi,’ which means to see, or to cling to the body as ‘mine.’
The thing called ‘body’ is a group or collection of things that we cling to as ‘my’ body, or as
my ‘self.’ To whatever magnitude we have the feeling of being ‘me,’ we’ll also cling to the
body as ‘mine.’ The right or wrong of that won’t be a problem for us. We follow our feelings:
this is the body, and this body is ‘mine,’ this is enough. When the body has become ‘mine’

we hold it dear, we cherish it, we want it to look good, want it to last forever, and, what’s
most important, we want for our own sake, for our own benefit, for ‘me,’ without being
concerned about any benefit to others. If we think at all about what’s good for other
people it will be about how they can then be of use to us.

The message of this saṃyojana is that in Nature there isn’t anything that can be possessed.
But the defilements and our subsequent infatuation make us take possession of things,
we’re forced to take something which, in reality, can never really belong to anybody and
make it ‘mine.’ Hence we grab the body and mind, which in truth are just natural elements,

and take them to be ‘me’ or ‘mine,’ which, either way, is delusional.

Hence something which is just the elements of earth, water, fire, air, space, and
consciousness collected together gets clung to as ‘my’ body. Here we can see clearly that
we’re clinging to some natural process, which ultimately isn’t a body, which certainly isn’t
anyone’s possession, and taking it to be ‘mine.’

34 Because I Know...