Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Rise & Fall of Vedana (Feeling)When the mind is still and free from both desire and aversion, it sees that sukha vedana (pleasant feeling) is no more than a pause between two moments of dukkha vedana (unpleasant feeling). Indeed, you can also discern that the intensity of the pleasure in sukha vedana is directly proportional to the degree of unpleasantness that went just before, and the intensity of the pain in dukkha vedana is measured by the amount of happiness that you have just lost.In a chilling book describing imprisonment and torture as a political prisoner in Argentina during the 1970s, an author relates that his most painful experience was not the beatings or the sessions on “Susan” (the name the guard gave to the electric shock torture machine). The worst moment, after endless months of imprisonment, was when his persecutors handed him a letter from his wife. He had blotted out from his mind all memory of the happy years before prison in order to cope with the terror and hopelessness of the present. That letter brought up many warm memories of his wife and family, and made the darkness and agony of his situation even more unbearable. He cursed his wife for sending that letter and screamed deep inside, louder than he ever had under electric shock. As this story graphically illustrates, the intensity of your pain or discontent is proportional to the degree of the happiness that you recall has now vanished.
*Article taken from Excerpt Articles
For you <3 11:08 PM
