35th Imperishable, Presence of Recollection Concerned with Feelings.

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Then concerning the bodhisattva’s presence of recollection which consists in the consideration of the feelings, how does the bodhisattva continually consider the feelings?

In these matters the bodhisattva thinks: “Any feeling whatsoever is suffering,” and by penetrating the feelings thoroughly, penetrating them with knowledge, penetrating them with insight, penetrating them through appeasement he experiences a pleasant feeling, but he does not cling to the proclivity of cupidity. When affected by a painful feeling, he produces great compassion for beings born in the places of woe, in unfortunate states of existence, and he does not cling to the proclivity of aversion. When affected by a feeling which is neither painful nor pleasant he experiences the feeling which is neither painful nor pleasant, but he does not cling to the proclivity of ignorance. He experiences any feeling whatsoever, pleasant, painful or neither painful nor pleasant, through recollection accompanying the feelings, and he cultivates the vision of knowledge concerned with being freed from all those feelings.

He puts on spiritual armour to know fully what all beings feel: “These beings do not truly know the way out of feelings [which is the knowledge that they are all empty], and because of ignorance of the way out they become attached when affected by a pleasant feeling, they feel aversion when affected by a painful feeling, and are deluded when affected by a feeling which is neither painful nor pleasant. With feeling joined to insight and knowledge I will teach religion so as to do away with the feelings of those beings, through skill in means destroying all feelings, through accumulation of the roots of good attained by great compassion.”

Further, why is it called feeling? (p. 129) Feeling which is not understood [as inexistent (abhāva) ] becomes [the cause (hetu) of] suffering, feeling which is understood through knowledge [as empty (śūnya) ] becomes [the cause of unsullied (anāsrava) ] pleasure. What then is the state of pleasure that pertains to the feeling which is understood through knowledge? Here there is no self, animated being, life-principle, soul, life-sustaining principle, spirit, personality, human or man whatsoever by which the feeling arises; feeling is attachment, feeling is appropriation, feeling is grasping, feeling is apprehension, feeling is misunderstanding, feeling is thought-constructions, feeling is clinging to a viewpoint, feeling is notions of [the existence (bhāva) of] the eye [being the cause (hetu) of feelings concerned with the concept of the eye], and in the same way feeling is notions of the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind, feeling is notions of forms, feeling is notions of sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles and moments of existence. The pleasure, pain or state of neither pain nor pleasure that arise from the condition of contact between eye and form is feeling, thus feeling is the pleasant, painful or neither painful nor pleasant feelings that arise from the condition of contact between ear and sound, from the condition of contact between nose and smell, from the condition of contact between tongue and taste, from the condition of contact between body and tangibles, or from the condition of contact between mind and moments of existence.

Further, by way of enumeration, feeling is one, namely the experience of thoughts; feelings are two, namely inner and outer; feelings are three, namely past experience, future experience and present experience; feelings are four, namely the experience of the four elements; feelings are five, namely the mental effort in the five parts of personality; feelings are six, namely the imaginings in the six fields of sense-perception; feelings are seven, namely the seven states of consciousness; feelings are eight, namely the eight kinds of wrong practice; feelings are nine, namely the nine places of living beings; feelings are ten, namely [the suffering (duḥkha) arising as fruit from the causes (hetu) which are] the ten ways of bad action.

This is feeling in all its aspects; and, to the degree that there is perception, to such a degree there is mental effort, to the degree that there is mental effort, to such a degree there is fiction, to the degree that there is fiction, to such a degree there is feeling. That is why the feelings of immeasurable numbers of beings are immeasurable [and imperishable (akṣaya) ].

There the bodhisattva continually considering [by concentration (samādhi) and insight (prajñā) ] the feelings, produces knowledge of the feelings of all beings as they arise, remain and disappear.

[To summarize:] Knowledge of the feelings, the good and bad feelings of all beings as they arise, remain and disappear is called the presence of recollection which consists in the consideration of the feelings.