I am going to give a discourse in the way of “The exposition in terms of ideas, to illustrate a topic of the Dhamma. Here is a quote from the Pali language,
“Anicca Vata Sankhara Uppada Vayadhammino Uppajjitva Nirujjhanti Tesam Vupasamo Sukho.”
This means how happy it is to cool down the heat of an anxious mind. Keep trying. How much relief it is after the death of this body. There will be no more illness, pain and weariness. The moment the body is cremated, a person is without any more discomfort. Whenever we still have to eat, walk, sit, lie down and are sick; we are not yet dead, therefore suffering is still with us. However before cremating our body to eliminate suffering, we should extinguish the fire of defilements in our heart first. This is called “to analyse the elements.”
To analyse the elements in this context means that there is the source and the finality in that same person. Anger is the source and calmness is the finality. Greed is the source and Generosity is the finality. Delusion which makes people forget, old age, illness, death, grasping and clinging to the idea of Self, children, grandchildren and home is the source. When the same person is well equipped with transcendental wisdom and mindfulness of body and mind, Samadhi is the finality.
The moment we know the source and the finality, it is called ” Mindfulness directs the mind.” In this state the mind will retain human prosperity, heavenly prosperity and successful attainment of Nibbana. It is also called “To be skilful in putting out the fire of the four elements and the five aggregates thus preventing it to cause more suffering.”
We must analyse our human body to see what we really possess before understanding this topic. What are we made of? We are made of blood, hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, muscles and joints, skeleton, liver, kidneys and intestines. All these organs are made from food, water and air.
The body is composed of the elements of earth, water, fire and air. When the breath stops, it becomes a woodfire without consciousness and will start to rot. All the liver, kidneys and intestines inside it will decay. The body is not our “Self”, but where have we gone? In fact what is called ” We” is awareness. Consciousness is awareness as it resides within the five aggregates to form the body.
As long as we still have no wisdom to analyse these aggregates, to realise Anatta, we will continue to search for the state of existence and the five aggregates which are: body, feeling, perception which includes memory, intentional activities which can cause merit and demerit with impulses and emotions, and consciousness which gives rise to emotions. For example, when the eyes contact a form there is visual consciousness, the ears contact a sound, there is auditory consciousness, the nose contacts an odour, there is olfactory consciousness, the tongue contacts sapids, there is gustatory consciousness. These are called “The six types of consciousness” which can cause happiness, misery, like and dislike if intentional activities take place. It is a very delicate process. We should train ourselves to contemplate and analyse the five aggregates to realise that we possess nothing, after all, each part is separated from the whole. They will become one part of earth, one part of water, one part of fire and one part of wind. There is no ‘We’, only birth and death or the beginning and the end.
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