..續本文上一頁s, our suffering and despair will be worse. It”s like having a wound. If we treat it on the surface but inside it”s still infected, it”s not cured. It looks OK for a while, but when the infection spreads we have to start cutting. If the inner infection is never cured, we can be operating on the surface again and again with no end in sight. What can be seen from the outside may look fine for a while, but inside, it”s the same as before.

　　The way of the world is like this. Worldly matters are never finished and done with. So the laws of the world in the various societies are constantly resolving issues. New laws are always being established to deal with different situations and problems. Something is dealt with for a while, but there”s always a need for further laws and solutions. There”s never the internal resolution, only surface improvement. The infection still exists within, so there”s always need for more cutting. People are only good on the surface, in their words and their appearance. Their words are good and their faces look kind, but their minds aren”t so good.

　　When we get on a train and see some acquaintance there, we say, “Oh, how good to see you! I”ve been thinking about you a lot lately! I”ve been planning to go visit you!” But it”s just talk. We don”t really mean it. We”re being good on the surface, but we”re not so good inside. We say the words, but then as soon as we”ve had a smoke and taken a cup of coffee with him, we split. Then if we run into him one day in the future, we”ll say the same things again: “Hey, good to see you! How have you been

　　 I”ve been meaning to go visit you, but I just haven”t had the time.” That”s the way it is. People are superficially good, but they”re usually not so good inside.

　　The Great Teacher taught Dhamma and Vinaya. It is complete and comprehensive. Nothing surpasses it, and nothing in it need be changed or adjusted, because it is the ultimate. It”s complete, so this is where we can stop. There”s nothing to add or subtract, because it is something of the nature not to be increased or decreased. It is just right. It is true.

　　So we Buddhists come to hear Dhamma teachings and study to learn these truths. If we know them, then our minds will enter the Dhamma; the Dhamma will enter our minds. Whenever a person”s mind enters the Dhamma, then the person has well-being, the person has a mind at peace. The mind has a way to resolve difficulties, but has no way to degenerate. When pain and illness afflict the body, the mind has many ways to resolve the suffering. It can resolve it naturally, understanding this as natural and not falling into depression or fear over it. Gaining something, we don”t get lost in delight. Losing it, we don”t get excessively upset, but rather we understand that the nature of all things is that having appeared, they then decline and disappear. With such an attitude, we can make our way in the world. We are lokavidu, knowing the world clearly. Then samudaya, the cause of suffering, is not created, and tanha is not born. There is vijja, knowledge of things as they really are, and it illumines the world. It illumines praise and blame. It illumines gain (and loss). It illumines rank (and disrepute). It clearly illumines birth, aging, illness, and death in the mind of the practitioner.

　　That is someone who has reached the Dhamma. Such people no longer struggle with life and are no longer constantly in search of solutions. They resolve what can be resolved, acting as is appropriate. That is how the Buddha taught: he taught those inpiduals who could be taught. Those who could not be taught he discarded and let go of. Even had he not discarded them, they were still discarding themselves—so he dropped them. You might get the idea from this that the Buddha must have been l…

《Taking Care of the Bamboo Grove》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…