The Felt Experience of the Manas After Being Perfumed

Question: The disciple contemplates that the physical body is suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self—contemplating oneself and contemplating others: birth, aging, sickness, death, eating, drinking, and bodily functions, all beyond one's own control. In ordinary walking, the contemplation is not deep; but when sitting quietly to contemplate, I feel a joyful feeling arise in body and mind, as if entering a new world, as if body and mind had entered another realm, and I really enjoy this feeling. Is this feeling a result of the manas having been perfumed a little?

Answer: This is the joy factor among the seven factors of enlightenment, and it is precisely a good phenomenon in the process of being nurtured by the Buddhadharma. Only when the manas has been perfumed does the joy factor appear; with joy, one can persist in long-term cultivation, and afterward the tranquility factor will appear. Joy that arises from the heart comes from the manas being perfumed, and it manifests in the physical body and in the mind consciousness. Only when the manas has been perfumed do the various changes in body and mind occur, including feelings of suffering and happiness, as well as the feeling that is neither suffering nor happiness; because the manas has gained new cognition and its thoughts and views have transformed, it will prompt the transformation of body and mind. If you frequently contemplate and observe the non-self of the five aggregates and other Buddhist principles, the changes in the manas and in body and mind will become greater and greater, more and more, and finally quantitative change will lead to qualitative change—a complete transformation, like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, turning from an ordinary being into a sage.