Page 118 - Dhamma Practice

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Cold is cold. Hot is hot. Painful is painful. Is it real or unreal? The pain is so intense that we grimace—we still feel that it is unreal? If the pain is unreal, there is no need to grimace to that extent. Why do we need to fake pain? This is the natural conditions that emerge.
And, when we ask: “Is the thing that we see real?” When it ceases, try to do it again. See whether the same thing recur? That is the natural conditions that emerge—if they are real, we could do it. But, we cannot imagine. No matter how hard we imagine, it will not be. No matter how hard we imagine, we will not be able to find it. But, when we contemplate, it will emerge. We can remember—remember that we were happy, remember that we felt light, but it is light now, correct? When we listen here, we forget to look at our own mind, correct? We are too engrossed in the listening, not knowing how our mind is.
One more thing, when we listen to dhamma, observe how our mind feels? (A practitioner answers: It feels joyful and happy). When we listen to music, we are also happy and joyful, correct? The thing we need to observe is—when we listen (Translator’s note: To dhamma) and we understand, observe our mind—in addition to being joyful, in addition to being happy, how do we feel? (A practitioner answers: Cool, alert). Observe a little more—the mind that is alert has what characteristics?