About This Teaching
A meditator tells Ajahn Dtun that when the mind becomes peaceful, an uncomfortable pain arises in the body and has kept returning for three years. Ajahn Dtun answers that when concentration and the energy of mindfulness are present, pain can be used as an object of investigation.
He advises directing the mind to the pain and reflecting on that part of the body as made of the four elements of earth, water, air and fire. When the mind sees this clearly, it often penetrates the pain and lets go of it, or of its attachment to the body. In this way the meditator contemplates both the body and painful feeling at the same time.