Page 36 - Because I know, I can let go

‘mine.’ There’s the thinking that this body is ‘me,’ or this body is ‘mine,’ whatever, it leads
to the same result, that is, to dukkha.

As long as there’s no clinging it will be just the aggregates as they are in Nature, when
there is clinging they become the ‘clinging aggregates.’ If the feeling of being ‘I’ or
‘mine’ hasn’t yet arisen then it’s still just the aggregates operating without any additional
meaning, there’s the appropriate form of dukkha, but it’s not of the problematic variety.
When there’s ‘me’ and ‘mine’ then things become heavy, then there’s pressure, there’s

biting, there’s heat, there’s dukkha of the distressful kind. Hence, when it’s just the
aggregates there’s just the dukkha which is a natural characteristic of life, but when the
clinging aggregates arise they bring dukkha, distress, dis-ease, with them.

We’ll consider this some more: the eye sees a form, the rūpakhanda arises, but ignorance
arises too so that it’s now ‘me’ who sees the form, which is a very different thing: if it’s just
the eye seeing the form it’s just the aggregates, but with the appearance of ignorance it

will be ‘me’ doing the seeing. Hence on the ear hearing a sound it’s ‘me’ who does the
hearing, when the nose smells, which it does naturally, then it will be said that ‘I’ do the
smelling, then there arises the meaning of something being ‘mine,’ there’s the sort of
thinking which is very troublesome. The tongue tastes, but it’s not the tongue naturally
tasting a flavour, it’s ‘me’ who does the tasting, the body receives a touch, and the mind
thinks that it’s ‘me’ who feels it.

Remember the words ‘khanda’ and ‘upādānakhanda’ well, then go and practise saying
them, as in the sutta text: rūpakhanda, then rupūpādānakhanda; vedanākhanda, then

vedanūpādānakhanda; saññakhanda, then saññūpādānakhanda; sankhārakhanda, then
sankharūpādānakhanda; viññānakhanda, then viññānūpādānakhanda. At first there’s
no clinging so no biting, then it’s Oooh! Oooh! as the clinging aggregates arise and we
get bitten, we get dukkha. Get to know the difference between the aggregates and the
clinging aggregates. If we can really see this then we’ll know, the mind will know that
there’s neither ‘me’ nor ‘mine,’ there’s a natural process, just that, but then ignorance,
avijja, taṇhā, craving, and upādāna, clinging, come to dominate and the feeling of being

‘me’ or of something being ‘mine’ appears. The aggregates change from being just the
aggregates as they are in Nature into the clinging aggregates, then there’s ‘biting,’ there’s
dukkha, when it’s just the aggregates operating that doesn’t happen.

36 Because I Know...