..續本文上一頁uffering and death is suffering. People don”t see this suffering as the truth. If we know truth, then we know suffering.

　　This pride in personal opinions, these arguments, they have no end. In order to put our minds at rest, to find peace, we should contemplate our past, the present, and the things which are in store for us. Like birth, old age, sickness and death. What can we do to avoid being plagued by these

　　 Even though we may still have a little worry, if we investigate till we know according to the truth, all suffering will abate, we will no longer cling to it.

　　"...The worldly way is to do things for a reason, to get some return, but in Buddhism we do things without any gaining idea.. If we don”t want anything at all, what will we get

　　 We don”t get anything! Whatever you get is just a cause for suffering, so we practice not getting anything... Just make the mind peaceful and have done with it!..."

　　No Abiding

　　We hear some parts of the teachings and can”t really understand them. We think they shouldn”t be the way they are, so we don”t follow them, but really there is a reason to all the teachings. Maybe it seems that things shouldn”t be that way, but they are. At first I didn”t even believe in sitting meditation. I couldn”t see what use it would be to just sit with your eyes closed. And walking meditation... walk from this tree, turn around and walk back again... "Why bother

　　" I thought, "What”s the use of all that walking

　　" I thought like that, but actually walking and sitting meditation are of great use.

　　Some people”s tendencies make them prefer walking meditation, others prefer sitting, but you can”t do without either of them. In the scriptures they talk about the four postures: standing, walking, sitting and lying. We live with these four postures. We may prefer one to the other, but we must use all four.

　　They say to make these four postures even, to make the practice even in all postures. At first I couldn”t figure out what this meant, to make them even. Maybe it means we sleep for two hours, then stand for two hours, then walk for two hours... maybe that”s it

　　 I tried it — couldn”t do it, it was impossible! That”s not what it meant to make the postures even. "Making the postures even" refers to the mind, to our awareness. That is, to make the mind give rise to wisdom, to illumine the mind. This wisdom of ours must be present in all postures; we must know, or understand, constantly. Standing, walking, sitting or lying, we know all mental states as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self. Making the postures even in this way can be done, it is possible. Whether like or dislike are present in the mind we don”t forget our practice, we are aware.

　　If we just focus our attention on the mind constantly then we have the gist of the practice. Whether we experience mental states which the world knows as good or bad we don”t forget ourselves, we don”t get lost in good or bad. We just go straight. Making the postures constant in this way is possible. If we have constancy in our practice and we are praised, then it”s simply praise; if we are blamed, then it”s just blame. We don”t get high or low over it, we stay right here. Why

　　 Because we see the danger in all those things, we see their results. We are constantly aware of the danger in both praise and blame. Normally, if we have a good mood the mind is good also, we see them, as the same thing; if we have a bad mood the mind goes bad as well, we don”t like it. This is the way it is, this is uneven practice.

　　If we have constancy just to the extent of knowing our moods, and knowing we”re clinging to them, this is better already. That is, we have awareness, we know what”s going on, but we still can”t let go. We see ourselves clinging to good and bad, and we know it. We cling t…

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