We just discussed external material things, which belong to the aggregate of form (rūpa-skandha) among the Five Aggregates. In fact, within form (rūpa), there is something even more important—our body. Compared to external objects, it appears much more internal.
Does our body have anything to do with afflictions? This is something everyone knows very well—most of our afflictions arise from the body. But does that mean the body itself is affliction? No, it is not. Physical conditions—such as illness, discomfort, or well-being—are merely triggers for afflictions. For example, hunger or sickness directly brings about much suffering (painful feeling, duḥkha-vedanā, within the aggregate of feeling), and thus we begin to worry and become afflicted over the body.
From this perspective, the relationship between the body and afflictions is extremely intimate—almost inseparable, like a shadow following form. We may be able to give up external things like cars or luxury villas, but we cannot discard the body.
So does the arising of physical pain immediately lead to affliction? In principle, not necessarily. For example, some Arhats, before completely transcending the Five Aggregates, may still experience bodily injury—if pierced by a knife, they will bleed. Yet even if you were to kill them, there would not be the slightest affliction in their mind, because they have completely uprooted the self-grasping (ātmagrāha) that gives rise to affliction and painful feeling.
Some Arhats may still experience bodily harm for two reasons: one is that the aggregate of form has not yet been completely transcended; the other is that although most karmic causes related to form have been purified, under certain conditions, a particular karmic force (karma) has not yet been exhausted, and thus injury occurs.
Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva was such an example. At one time, Prince Susakti attempted to kill him, but no matter how he struck with a sword, it only cut through empty space. In despair, the prince could not succeed. Nāgārjuna then told him, “You cannot kill me with a blade, because the karma related to weapons has already been completely purified. But you can cut off my head with kuśa grass, because in a past life, when I cut kuśa grass with a sickle, I severed the heads of many tiny beings. That karma has not yet been purified. Therefore, now my head can be cut off with kuśa grass.”
Maudgalyāyana was also killed through an assassination by non-Buddhists. He was undoubtedly a non-retrogressive Arhat of the highest level. Yet, because he had not purified all karma as completely as the Buddha, his physical body might still have experienced pain at that time, but his mind remained entirely free from suffering.
In other words, from a purely theoretical standpoint, bodily pain and affliction do not have a one-to-one correspondence. It is not the case that whenever the body feels pain, the mind immediately becomes afflicted. Much like our earlier discussion on material wealth, affliction does not depend on whether we possess them or not, but on whether the mind is attached (rāga). Although the body—as a form—has a much closer relationship with the mind than external objects do, the two are still not in a one-to-one correspondence. As seen in the case of Arhats, it is possible for the body to experience pain while the mind remains free from suffering.
Even ordinary people, without the level of realization of an Arhat, can sometimes experience situations where the body is in pain but the mind remains joyful. For example, my daughter once dragged me around an ocean park for an entire afternoon. After climbing out of the water, I sat there for half an hour, struggling to catch my breath—my body was extremely uncomfortable. Yet playing with my daughter made me very happy, and my mind was joyful. In such a moment, bodily pain and mental affliction are clearly not in a one-to-one relationship.
At other times, the body may be at ease and comfortable, while the mind is filled with fear. For instance, as often depicted in movies: a beautiful woman gently caresses you with one hand while holding a knife in the other… You know she intends to kill you, yet you dare not resist. In such a situation, the experiences of the body and the mind are clearly not aligned one-to-one.
—Excerpted and compiled from The Arising and Remedy of Afflictions
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
