Page 111 - Extinguishment of self, in search of dhamma

This characteristic of the state of mind: When our state of mind is serene or when our state of mind is happy. Here, we distinguish one mental phenomenon from another mental phenomenon; hence we can experience it clearly. If our state of mind is serene, but the experiencer is not serene— there is no sense of serenity. The experiencer is merely dry, indifferent, inactive. The experiencer experiences within an ambiance of serenity only. When the experiencer ceases, or if we do not contemplate the ambiance that supports it, when we look back at our state of mind, the serenity has disappeared, only the sense of inactivity, indifference remains.
But, whenever we experience and the experiencer has the same sense as the ambiance: Observe this—when we raise our mind into happiness, making our state of mind feeling happy, and then ll our whole physical body with happiness. If the experiencer remains just a neutral experiencer, how does it feel? Compared with experiencer also being happy, see how the experience of the natural condition there feels. Which one is more comfortable? Which one is more powerful? When the experiencer is also happy, our feeling, our mind will be more powerful. The happiness will be more apparent, and it will persist longer.
If the experiencer is happy, there will be a characteristic where each time we experience anything, happiness emerges. But, if there is only an ambiance of happiness and the experiencer is not happy—being only an
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