About This Teaching
Long ago, Ajahn Dtun begins, a capital and two satellite cities were seized by an enemy army and held for countless years. The people lived oppressed, kept quiet with small pleasures. To free themselves they first had to gather supplies and retake the smaller cities, then attack the capital. In his reading, the capital is the mind and the satellites are body and speech, occupied by the kilesas of greed, anger and delusion. Sīla (moral virtue) retakes body and speech, so they no longer obey commands to kill, steal, lie or drink; samādhi then storms the capital, and mindfulness and wisdom hunt down the defilements hiding there.
He compares steady meditation to an athlete's training: frequent, patient effort builds skill even when the mind is not always peaceful. He then turns to why the mind suffers when the body is sick, ages and breaks apart. The body is only earth, water, wind and fire; once consciousness leaves, the cremation fire is not felt as hot. Suffering comes from the mind holding the body as self. Seeing that the body is not the mind, the mind gradually lets go and no longer trembles before illness or death.