..續本文上一頁u not see women at all.””

　　Ānanda was puzzled by this; how can people not see other people

　　 He thought it over, and asked the Buddha further, ””If there are situations that make it unavoidable that we see, how will the Lord advise us to practice

　　””

　　””In such a situation, Ānanda, do not speak. Do not speak!””

　　Ānanda considered further. He thought, sometimes we might be traveling in a forest and lose our way. In that case we would have to speak to whomever we met. So he asked, ””If there is a need for us to speak, then how will the Lord have us act

　　””

　　””Ānanda! Speak with mindfulness!””

　　At all times and in all situations, mindfulness is the supremely important virtue. The Buddha instructed Ānanda what to do when it was necessary. We should contemplate to see what is really necessary for us. In speaking, for example, or in asking questions of others, we should only say what is necessary. When the mind is in an unclean state, thinking lewd thoughts, don”t let yourself speak at all. But that”s not the way we operate. The more unclean the mind is, the more we want to talk. The more lewdness we have in our minds, the more we want to ask, to see, to speak. These are two very different paths.

　　So I am afraid. I really fear this a lot. You are not afraid, but it”s just possible you might be worse than me. ””I don”t have any fear about this. There”s no problem!”” But I have to remain fearful. Does it ever happen that an old person can have lust

　　 So in my monastery, I keep the sexes as far apart as possible. If there”s no real necessity, there shouldn”t be any contact at all.

　　When I practised alone in the forest, sometimes I”d see monkeys in the trees and I”d feel desire. I”d sit there and look and think, and I”d have lust: ””Wouldn”t be bad to go and be a monkey with them!”” This is what sexual desire can do - even a monkey could get me aroused.

　　In those days, women lay-followers couldn”t come to hear Dhamma from me. I was too afraid of what might happen. It”s not that I had anything against them; I was simply too foolish. Now if I speak to women, I speak to the older ones. I always have to guard myself. I”ve experienced this danger to my practice. I didn”t open my eyes wide and speak excitedly to entertain them. I was too afraid to act like that.

　　Be careful! Every samana has to face this and exercise restraint. This is an important issue.

　　Really, the teachings of the Buddha all make sense, they are true in every aspect. Things of which you wouldn”t imagine that they could be so - they really are so. It”s strange.... At first I didn”t have any faith in sitting meditation with my eyes closed. I thought, what value could that possibly have - what purpose could it possibly serve

　　 Then there was walking meditation - I walked from one tree to another, back and forth, back and forth, and I got tired of it and thought, what am I walking for

　　 Just walking back and forth doesn”t have any purpose. That”s how I thought. But in fact walking meditation has a lot of value. Sitting to practise samādhi has a lot of value. But the temperaments of some people make them confused about walking or sitting meditation.

　　We can”t meditate in only one posture. There are four postures for humans: standing, walking, sitting, and lying down. The teachings speak about making the postures consistent and equal. You might get the idea from this that it means you should stand, walk, sit, and lie down for the same number of hours in each posture. When you hear such a teaching, you can”t figure out what it really means, because it”s talking in the way of Dhamma, not in the ordinary sense. ””OK, I”ll sit for two hours, stand for two hours, then lie down for two hours....”” You probably think like this. That”s what I did. I tried to pr…

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