..續本文上一頁morality, concentration and wisdom. It”s just like that man sitting on the ants” nest. He can”t do anything, the ants are biting and crawling all over him, he”s immersed in confusion and agitation. He can”t rid his sitting place of the danger, so he just sits there, suffering.

　　So it is with our practice. The worldly dhammas exist in the minds of worldly beings. When those beings wish to find peace the worldly dhammas arise right there. When the mind is ignorant there is only darkness. When knowledge arises the mind is illumined, because ignorance and knowledge are born in the same place. When ignorance has arisen, knowledge can”t enter, because the mind has accepted ignorance. When knowledge has arisen, ignorance cannot stay.

　　So the Buddha exhorted his disciples to practice with the mind, because the world is born in this mind, the eight worldly dhammas are there. The Eightfold Path, that is, investigation through calm and insight meditation, our diligent effort and the wisdom we develop, all these things loosen the grip of the world. Attachment, aversion and delusion become lighter, and being lighter, we know them as such. If we experience fame, material gain, praise, happiness or suffering we”re aware of it. We must know these things before we can transcend the world, because the world is within us.

　　When we”re free of these things it”s just like leaving a house. When we enter a house what sort of feeling do we have

　　 We feel that we”ve come through the door and entered the house. When we leave the house we feel that we”ve left it, we come into the bright sunlight, it”s not dark like it was inside. The action of the mind entering the worldly dhammas is like entering the house. The mind which has destroyed the worldly dhammas is like one who has left the house.

　　So the Dhamma practitioner must become one who witnesses the Dhamma for himself. He knows for himself whether the worldly dhammas have left or not, whether or not the path has been developed. When the path has been well developed it purges the worldly dhammas. It becomes stronger and stronger. Right view grows as wrong view decreases, until finally the path destroys defilements — either that or defilements will destroy the path!

　　Right view and wrong view, there are only these two ways. Wrong view has its tricks as well, you know, it has its wisdom — but it”s wisdom that”s misguided. The meditator who begins to develop the path experiences a separation. Eventually it”s as if he is two people — one in the world and the other on the path. They pide, they pull apart. Whenever he”s investigating there”s this separation, and it continues on and on until the mind reaches insight, vipassana.

　　Or maybe it”s vipassanu! 15 Having tried to establish wholesome results in our practice, seeing them, we attach to them. This type of clinging comes from our wanting to get something from the practice. This is vipassanu, the wisdom of defilements (i.e., "defiled wisdom"). Some people develop goodness and cling to it, they develop purity and cling to that, or they develop knowledge and cling to that. The action of clinging to that goodness or knowledge is vipassanu, infiltrating our practice.

　　So when you develop vipassana, be careful! Watch out for vipassanu, because they”re so close that sometimes you can”t tell them apart. But with right view we can see them both clearly. If it”s vipassanu there will be suffering arising at times as a result. If it”s really vipassana there”s no suffering. There is peace. Both happiness and unhappiness are silenced. This you can see for yourself.

　　This practice requires endurance. Some people, when they come to practice, don”t want to be bothered by anything, they don”t want friction. But there”s friction the same as before. We must try to find an end to …

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