..續本文上一頁empty of self-cherishing, empty of concepts of self and other, not wishing for anything, not wishing to be or become anything.
Nibbana paccayo hotu: make it become a cause for Nibbana. Practicing generosity is giving up, letting go. Listening to teachings is for the purpose of gaining knowledge to give up and let go, to uproot clinging to what is good and to what is bad. At first, we meditate to become aware of the wrong and the bad. When we recognize them, we give them up, and we practice what is good. Then, when some good is achieved, don”t get attached to that good. Remain halfway in the good, or above the good—don”t dwell under the good. If we are under the good, then that good pushes us around, and we become slaves to it. We are the slaves, and it forces us to create all sorts of karma and demerit. It can lead us into anything, and the result will be the same kind of unhappiness and unfortunate circumstances we found ourselves in before.
Give up evil and develop merit--give up the negative and develop what is positive. Developing merit, remain above merit. Remain above merit and demerit, above good and evil. Keep on practicing with a mind that is giving up, letting go, and getting free. It”s the same no matter what you are doing: if you do it with a mind of letting go, then it is a cause for realizing Nibbana. Free of desire, free of defilement, free of craving, then it all merges with the path, meaning noble truth, meaning saccadhamma. It is the four noble truths, having the wisdom that knows tanha, which is the source of dukkha. Sensual desire, desire for becoming, desire not to be (kamatanha, bhavatanha, vibhavatanha): these are origination, the source. If you go there, if you are wishing for anything or wanting to be anything, you are nourishing dukkha, bringing dukkha into existence, because this is what gives birth to dukkha. These are the causes. If we make the causes of dukkha, then dukkha will come about. The cause, the place of origination, is tanha, this restless, anxious craving. One becomes a slave to desire and creates all sorts of karma and wrongdoing because of it, and thus suffering is born. To state it simply, dukkha is the child of desire. Desire is the parent of dukkha. When there are parents, dukkha can be born. When there are no parents, dukkha cannot come about—there will be no offspring.
This is where meditation should be focused. We should be seeing all the forms of tanha that cause us to have desires. But talking about desire can be confusing. Some people get the idea that any kind of desire, such as desire for food and the material requisites for life, is tanha. But we can have this kind of desire in an ordinary and natural way. When you”re hungry and desire food, you can take a meal and be done with it. That”s quite ordinary. This is desire that”s within boundaries and doesn”t have ill effects. This kind of desire isn”t sensuality. If it”s sensuality, then it becomes something more than desire. There will be craving for more things to consume, seeking out flavors, seeking enjoyment in ways that bring hardship and trouble, such as drinking liquor and beer.
Some tourists told me about a place where people eat monkeys” brains. They put a monkey in the middle of the table and cut open its skull. Then they spoon out the brain to eat. That”s eating like demons or hungry ghosts. It”s not eating in a natural or ordinary way. Doing things like this, then eating becomes tanha. They will say that the blood of monkeys makes them strong, or the blood of elephants. So they try to get hold of such animals, and when they eat them, they”re drinking liquor and beer too. This isn”t ordinary eating; it”s sensuality. Sometimes laborers will catch newly born - by the tail, open their mouths, and swallow them. The…
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