..續本文上一頁ho knows”. He takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.

　　To depend truly on the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha we must see the Buddha. What use would it be to take refuge without knowing the Buddha

　　 If we don”t yet know the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, our taking refuge in them is just an act of body and speech, the mind still hasn”t reached them. Once the mind reaches them we know what the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are like. Then we can really take refuge in them, because these things arise in our minds. Wherever we are we will have the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha with us.

　　One who is like this doesn”t dare to commit evil acts. This is why we say that one who has reached the first stage of enlightenment will no longer be born in the woeful states. His mind is certain, he has entered the Stream, there is no doubt for him. If he doesn”t reach full enlightenment today it will certainly be some time in the future. He may do wrong but not enough to send him to Hell, that is, he doesn”t regress to evil bodily and verbal actions, he is incapable of it. So we say that person has entered the Noble Birth. He cannot return. This is something you should see and know for yourselves in this very life.

　　These days, those of us who still have doubts about the practice hear these things and say, "Oh, how can I do that

　　" Sometimes we feel happy, sometimes troubled, pleased or displeased. For what reason

　　 Because we don”t know Dhamma. What Dhamma

　　 Just the Dhamma of Nature, the reality around us, the body and the mind.

　　The Buddha said, "Don”t cling to the five khandhas, let them go, give them up!" Why can”t we let them go

　　 Just because we don”t see them or know them fully. We see them as ourselves, we see ourselves in the khandhas. Happiness and suffering, we see as ourselves, we see ourselves in happiness and suffering. We can”t separate ourselves from them. When we can”t separate them it means we can”t see Dhamma, we can”t see Nature.

　　Happiness, unhappiness, pleasure and sadness — none of them is us but we take them to be so. These things come into contact with us and we see a lump of ”atta”, or self. Wherever there is self there you will find happiness, unhappiness and everything else. So the Buddha said to destroy this "lump" of self, that is to destroy sakkaya ditthi. When atta (self) is destroyed, anatta (non-self) naturally arises.

　　We take Nature to be us and ourselves to be Nature, so we don”t know Nature truly. If it”s good we laugh with it, if it”s bad we cry over it. But Nature is simply sankharas. As we say in the chanting, Tesam vupasamo sukho — pacifying the sankharas is real happiness. How do we pacify them

　　 We simply remove clinging and see them as they really are.

　　So there is truth in this world. Trees, mountains and vines all live according to their own truth, they are born and die following their nature. It”s just we people who aren”t true! We see it and make a fuss over it, the Nature is impassive, it just is as it is. We laugh, we cry, we kill, but Nature remains in truth, it is truth. No matter how happy or sad we are, this body just follows its own nature. It”s born, it grows up and ages, changing and getting older all the time. It follows Nature in this way. Whoever takes the body to be himself and carries it around with him, will suffer.

　　So Añña Kondañña recognized this "whatever is born" in everything, be it material or immaterial. His view of the world changed. He saw the truth. Having got up from his sitting place he took that truth with him. The activity of birth and death continued but he simply looked on. Happiness and unhappiness were arising and passing away but he merely noted them. His mind was constant. He no longer fell into the woeful states.…

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