..續本文上一頁stand the teaching of the Ajahns, then we realize that the outside and the inside are comparable. Things which have consciousness and those without consciousness do not differ. They are the same. And if we understand this sameness, then when we see the nature of a tree, for example, we will know that it”s no different from our own five khandhas 12 — body, feeling, memory, thinking and consciousness. If we have this understanding then we understand Dhamma. If we understand Dhamma we understand the five khandhas, how they constantly shift and change, never stopping.

　　So whether standing, walking, sitting or lying we should have sati to watch over and look after the mind. When we see external things it”s like seeing internals. When we see internals it”s the same as seeing externals. If we understand this then we can hear the teaching of the Buddha. If we understand this, then we can say that Buddha-nature, the ”One who knows”, has been established. It knows the external. It knows the internal. It understands all things which arise. Understanding like this, then sitting at the foot of a tree we hear the Buddha”s teaching. Standing, walking, sitting or lying, we hear the Buddha”s teaching. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking, we hear the Buddha”s teaching. The Buddha is just this ”One who knows” within this very mind. It knows the Dhamma, it investigates the Dhamma. It”s not that the Buddha-nature, the ”one who knows”, arises. The mind becomes illumined.

　　If we establish the Buddha within our mind then we see everything, we contemplate everything, as no different from ourselves. We see various animals, trees, mountains and vines as no different from ourselves. We see poor people and rich people — they”re no different! They all have the same characteristics. One who understands like this is content wherever he is. He listens to the Buddha”s teaching at all times. If we don”t understand this, then even if we spend all our time listening to teachings from the various Ajahns, we still won”t understand their meaning.

　　The Buddha said that enlightenment of the Dhamma is just knowing Nature, 13 the reality which is all around us, the Nature which is right here! If we don”t understand this Nature we experience disappointment and joy, we get lost in moods, giving rise to sorrow and regret. Getting lost in mental objects is getting lost in Nature. When we get lost in Nature then we don”t know Dhamma. The Enlightened One merely pointed out this Nature.

　　Having arisen, all things change and die. Things we make, such as plates, bowls and dishes, all have the same characteristic. A bowl is molded into being due to a cause, man”s impulse to create, and as we use it, it gets old, breaks up and disappears. Trees, mountains and vines are the same, right up to animals and people.

　　When Añña Kondañña, the first disciple, heard the Buddha”s teaching for the first time, the realization he had was nothing very complicated. He simply saw that whatever thing is born, that thing must change and grow old as a natural condition and eventually it must die. Añña Kondañña had never thought of this before, or if he had it wasn”t thoroughly clear, so he hadn”t yet let go, he still clung to the khandhas. As he sat mindfully listening to the Buddha”s discourse, Buddha-nature arose in him. He received a sort of Dhamma "transmission," which was the knowledge that all conditioned things are impermanent. Any thing which is born must have aging and death as a natural result.

　　This feeling was different from anything he”d ever known before. He truly realized his mind, and so "Buddha" arose within him. At that time the Buddha declared that Añña Kondañña had received the Ey…

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