Page 10 - Dhamma Practice

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all opportunities. All conscious phenomena that we experience could all be natural conditions. To conclude: Natural conditions are the conscious phenomena of the physical and mental (phenomena).
Now, when we wilfully contemplate the current conscious phenomenon, what exactly do we need to contemplate: The inflate-deflate phenomenon; the sensation phenomenon; or the thoughts phenomenon? What we really need to contemplate is the emergence- cessation of all physical and mental phenomena that occur. Contemplate the emergence-cessation of the inflate-deflate phenomenon. Contemplate the emergence- cessation of the sensation phenomenon. Contemplate the emergence-cessation of the thoughts phenomenon. To wilfully contemplate the emergence-cessation of the natural conditions that occur before us is called “to wilfully contemplate the phenomenon of trilaksana (The Three Characteristics of Being)”—that is: Emergence, existence, and cessation.
Therefore, when we wilfully contemplate a conscious phenomenon, we must have the intention to know how the phenomenon occurs and how it ceases. For example, when we wilfully contemplate our breathing or the inflate-deflate phenomenon, we should notice that when we breathe in and our stomach inflates, does it stop first before it deflates? And, once the stomach deflates fully, does it stop first before it inflates? And,