Meaning of ... seeing the body in the body

Question : What is the meaning of "seeing the body in the body"?

Answer : Everything which is real is dhamma. The body is dhamma. When we touch the body, softness or hardness appears. Softness and hardness are characteristics of realities, they are elements which each have their own unchangeable characteristic. Softness is always softness and hardness is always hardness, no matter whether we touch the body or things outside. When panna understands that the characteristic of softness or of hardness, no matter whether it appears on the body or outside the body, is in each case the same reality, the same element, panna can develop. When panna has become keener it can realize that these elements arise because of conditions and fall away completely. In this way there can be detachment from the conception that these elements are "self". Then one sees "the body in the body" which means that one understands that the body is not me, mine or self.


Topic 78