..續本文上一頁ct, or craving for an object. These are two internal formations, attachment and craving. They begin with a pleasant feeling, and later they become toxins, they become demands, which push us day and night, trying to satisfy those demands, and we lose all our freedom.

　　There are other internal formations which are not pleasant; they are unpleasant right from the start. For example, somebody else does something to us, says something to us, and we become angry, we are upset, we are afraid, we despair, we are jealous—all these things are also internal formations. They are unpleasant internal formations, and they make knots in our hearts and make us suffer. Anger, sadness, anxiety, fear, despair, jealousy—all these things are internal formations, so bitter, they all take away our peace and our freedom. To practice means to do something to transform these internal formations, in order to recover our freedom and our joy. For as long as these internal formations are within us, they will make us suffer, and they will command us to do things, to see things, which will cause harm for ourselves and for others. That is why we sometimes call internal formations "knots which push you to do something." There are internal formations which command us to do and say things which bring about suffering for ourselves and for the other. A practitioner is someone who knows how to recognize the internal formations in her or her own heart, and to transform them.

　　A husband and wife had just married, and they loved each other so much. One day the husband was welcoming guests, and he was talking to them, chatting, just to make them respect him—it was not the truth. His wife was listening to him, and knew he was not telling the truth. He was exaggerating so that his friends would admire him, and the wife felt very uncomfortable about this: "There”s my husband—he”s not sincere." She began to have an internal formation of not admiring her husband, because of his insincerity. When that young wife had a feeling that her husband was not sincere, her respect for him was lessened, and despising of him arose. That was an internal formation.

　　Does the husband know that she has this internal formation

　　 It”s very important that he should know. If both of them, husband and wife, do not know about this internal formation, it”s very dangerous. But if the wife knows about it, and the husband practices, she will be determined, once the guests have gone home, to say something to her husband. Of course, she will not say it when the guests are there. Once they have cleared up the glasses, and cleared the table, she will say to her husband: "When you said that, was that the truth, or was that an exaggeration

　　 It wasn”t quite the truth, was it

　　 When I heard it, I felt a little ashamed, because my husband was not telling the truth. Please tell me about this, my dear, because I don”t want to carry this internal formation around with me. It will make me unhappy."

　　The wife knows that she already has the beginnings of an internal formation. She doesn”t want to keep it for a long time, she wants to resolve it. So she goes to her husband, and she talks like this. Then the husband may think, "My wife has not understood me. " And then he will explain, "You misheard me, I was saying this and that." If that is the truth, the internal formation in his wife will dissolve immediately, the wife will again feel her respect for her husband, and the internal formation that we refer to as despising, or lack of respect, will no longer be there. The wife will see that the internal formation has dissolved, and she will feel very happy. She will say, thank goodness you explained it me, otherwise I would have just gone on suffering.

　　But there may be another instance, when the husband sees that he m…

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