..續本文上一頁isdom to know the limitations of concentration, or of books. If you have practiced and understand not-clinging, you can then return to the books. They will be like a sweet dessert. They can help you to teach others. Or you can go back to practice absorption. You have the wisdom to know not to hold on to anything.

　　Q: Would you review some of the main points of our discussion

　　A: You must examine yourself. Know who you are. Know your body and mind by simply watching. In sitting, in sleeping, in eating, know your limits. Use wisdom. The practice is not to try to achieve anything. Just be mindful of what is. Our whole meditation is looking directly at the mind. You will see suffering, its cause and its end. But you must have patience; much patience and endurance. Gradually you will learn. The Buddha taught his disciples to stay with their teachers for at least five years. You must learn the values of giving, of patience and of devotion.

　　Don”t practice too strictly. Don”t get caught up with outward form. Watching others is bad practice. Simply be natural and watch that. Our monks” discipline and monastic rules are very important. They create a simple and harmonious environment. Use them well. But remember, the essence of the monks” discipline is watching intention, examining the mind. You must have wisdom. don”t discriminate. Would you get upset at a small tree in the forest for not being tall and straight like some of the others

　　 This is silly. Don”t judge other people. There are all varieties. No need to carry the burden of wishing to change them all.

　　So, be patient. Practice morality. Live simply and be natural. Watch the mind. This is our practice. It will lead you to unselfishness. To peace.

　　Notes

　　1. Anicca-Dukkha-Anatta: the three characteristics of existence, namely: impermanence/instability, suffering/unsatisfactoriness, and not-self/impersonality.

　　2. Siddhartha Gotama: the original name of the historic, al Buddha. (Buddha, the "one-who-knows," also represents the state of enlightenment or awakening.

　　3. According to Buddhist thought beings are born in any of eight states of existence depending on their Kamma. These include three Heavenly States (where happiness is predominant), the Human State, and the four above-mentioned Woeful or Hell States (where suffering is predominant). The Venerable Ajahn always stresses that we should see these states in our own minds in the present moment. So that depending on the condition of the mind, we can say that we are continually being born in these different states. For instance, when the mind is on fire with anger then we have fallen from the Human State and have been born in Hell right here and now.

　　4. Lit. creatures with soft horns on their chest.

　　5. Mara: the Buddhist "Tempter" figure. He is either regarded as the deity ruling of the highest heaven of the Sensuous Sphere or as the personification of evil and passions, of the totality of worldly existence and of death. He is the opponent of liberation and tried in vain to obstruct the Buddha”s attainment of Enlightenment.

　　6. Worldly dhamma: the eight worldly conditions are: gain and loss, honor and dishonor, happiness and misery, praise and blame.

　　7. Path: (the Eightfold Path) comprises 8 factors of spiritual practice leading to the extinction of suffering: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.

　　8. Nourishment for contemplation, to feed wisdom.

　　9.N.B. in this translation "heart" is used where "mind" was used in the other translations.

　　10.Ajahn Mun: probably the most respected and most influential Meditation Master of this century in Thailand. Under his guidance the Ascetic Forest Tradition (Dhutanga Kammatthana) became a very…

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