DN2: "From this body he creates another body, mind made, complete in all its parts, not lacking any faculty."

The way the body is normally perceived is not a neutral fact. It is a layered construction shaped by long habits, memories, tensions, and the sense of ownership. Because this construction is taken for granted, it becomes the ground on which clinging forms. The mind leans on it, reacts to it, and builds identity around it.

When the physical frame is held as the only reference point, every feeling tone and every perception must pass through the dense patterns tied to it. Pleasant and unpleasant tones get amplified. Identity becomes involved. The mind cannot see clearly because the frame it is using is already loaded with impressions.

Recreating a mental body works because it removes the old frame and replaces it with one that is clean, light, and free of those accumulated impressions. The mind now has a body to reference that does not carry tension, age, pain, or history. This changes the entire structure of experience.

Once a new reference frame is established, several changes happen at once:

• Feeling tones appear in their bare form. They are no longer pushed through the old channels in the head, face, chest, or gut where they usually trigger reactions.

• Perception becomes thin and transparent. What once appeared solid shows itself to be a set of impressions the mind was holding together through habit.

• Clinging loses its support. The usual anchors for clinging no longer function because the mental body offers no place for them to latch onto. At the same time, the physical body is not being rejected. It is simply no longer the sole foundation for experience.

The key point is that by shifting the reference frame from a dense construction to a lighter, deliberately formed one, the mind can see how all bodily perception is fabricated. Once this is seen directly, dependence on both bodies drops away. The result is a field of experience where feeling and perception stand on their own, without drawing the mind into old patterns.

1. Settle the field of awareness

Allow the sense of the physical body to be known in a broad way, not by zooming in on any one spot. The point here is to establish a wide frame so mindfulness stays with the whole field instead of tightening around the head or chest. When the frame is wide, tension has nowhere to accumulate.

2. Soften the hold on the physical body

Without pushing anything away, let the physical frame be known as something felt rather than something owned. Do not analyze it. Simply allow the heaviness, solidity, and long held impressions to be seen as just that, feelings. This is where the dependency begins to loosen.

3. Bring to mind the inner counterpart

Using the line from the discourse as your reference, let a lighter body appear in awareness. It is not imagined in vivid detail. It is sensed as an inner presence that is complete, intact, and free from the weight, pressure, or history of the physical form. It has all faculties, meaning it is fully suitable as a station for awareness.

This counterpart is not made of flesh. It is a clean, a smooth field, simple and unburdened. You can see it as an energy field, a field of glowing light, or one of the four elements. We are simply trying to purify perception by overlaying it with a skill means.

4. Establish mindfulness over this whole mental body

Let attention spread through it in one sweep, not by scanning. The aim is a unified sense of presence. Because this body is light, mindfulness can hold the whole of it without strain. This prevents the mind from collapsing into the head area, the spot where tension often collects when the sense of embodiment becomes narrow.

5. Notice how perception shifts

With the mental body as the frame, perceptions become clearer. Feeling tones appear directly instead of being filtered through the physical structure. What seemed solid becomes thin. What seemed fixed becomes fluid. This reveals how much of the old sense of “body” was a construction laid over raw experience.

6. See how clinging weakens

As the physical frame fades into the background, the usual anchors for clinging lose their grip. Clinging to pain, age, health, identity, posture, and all the subtle reactions tied to flesh and bone have no footing here. Clinging to perception also weakens, because even this inner body is recognized as a perception shaped by conditions, not a hidden essence.

7. Recognize the mental body as a tool, not a truth

The point is not to hold the mental body or adopt it as a new home. The point is to use it to uncover the constructed nature of the old body perception. Once this is clear, both are seen as dependently arisen. With this insight, the mind no longer leans on either one.

8. Return to simple knowing

When the dependence on the physical form relaxes, awareness no longer feels trapped inside anything. Experience arises freely. Feeling tones are recognized as they appear. Perceptions show their nature. Clinging loses its supports.

This completes the cycle.