Part 18 - Feeling Without Fuel
“Feeling is just feeling.”
— SN 36.6
The strategy of liberation: see the pivot
We now stand at the first observable doorway
where suffering either begins or ends:
Feeling → Craving
This is the hinge of the entire chain.
If ignorance infiltrates feeling → craving ignites
If wisdom perceives feeling → craving cannot arise
Mindfulness here is the critical skill.
What does observation look like?
Not thinking about feeling.
Not analyzing feeling.
Not suppressing feeling.
But:
direct recognition of the bare tone
before reaction
Steps:
1️⃣ Contact happens
2️⃣ A tone appears
- pleasant
- unpleasant
- neutral
3️⃣ Mind labels exactly what tone it is
4️⃣ No story added
This is vipassanā:
- clarity
- immediacy
- non-ownership
What mindfulness sees
Pleasant:
- a pull forward
Unpleasant:
- a push backward
Neutral:
- subtle ignoring
Mindfulness generates:
“This is just sensation — not me.”
This is the exact point
where suffering can fail to launch.
What ignorance does instead
Pleasant:
“This is happiness — keep it!”
Unpleasant:
“This is danger — fix it!”
Neutral:
“This is nothing — ignore it!”
Every tone becomes:
- mission
- fight
- identity
This is fuel for the chain.
Removing the fuel
Mindfulness introduces:
- curiosity instead of control
- observation instead of ownership
- space instead of reaction
As soon as feeling is known without “mine”:
- craving collapses
- clinging finds no foundation
- becoming has no momentum
- birth does not occur
- suffering has no host
Seeing sensation clearly
is an act of liberation.
Meditation instruction
Find the raw sensation:
- heat
- pressure
- tingling
- vibration
Name the tone:
“Pleasant.”
“Unpleasant.”
“Neutral.”
And stop there.
Don’t:
- add meaning
- add story
- add self
A single moment
of feeling without fuel
is a moment of Nibbāna.
Culmination Link for Part 18
Feeling becomes fuel
only when the self claims it.
But:
Felt without ownership,
feeling leads to freedom.
Thus:
- Dependent Origination reverses
- the chain collapses at its pivot
- the path reveals itself in real-time
Sensation remains.
Suffering does not.