“After you are aware of the rising and falling of the aggregates, the objective is then to be aware of the aggregate that you are attached to.”

“After you are aware of the rising and falling of the aggregates, the objective is then to be aware of the aggregate that you are attached to.”

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Question: There is constant awareness of the arising and ceasing of aggregates even when I am not in samādhi. What do I do next?

Tan Ajahn: After you are aware of the rising and falling of the aggregates, the objective is then to be aware of the aggregate that you are attached to, such as your body. Are you aware that your body is also arising and ceasing? Your body is constantly evolving, changing. And the eventual final destination of the body is death. This is something that you want to be aware of so that you can tell your mind to let go, not to cling to the arising and cessation of the body. Because if you cannot let go, when the body has to cease, the mind will be stressed.

You have to be aware of the object that is your concern. You don’t want to be aware of the object that is not your concern. And the object that is your concern is the object that you consider to belong to you. When you believe that something belongs to you, you will have the tendency to want it to be with you all the time, you don’t want it to separate from you.

When you have this desire, you are creating stress for your mind. This desire is what we want to eliminate by being aware that these things will eventually cease. Knowing that they will eventually leave you or you will eventually leave them, the mind stops clinging to them. And then when they leave you, you will not feel any stress.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 2, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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