..續本文上一頁when their mood goes bad, everything the spouse says seems offensive. The mind has gone bad, it”s changed again. This is how it is.

　　So in order to give up evil and cultivate the good you don”t have to go looking anywhere else. If your mind has gone bad, don”t go looking over at this person and that person. Just look at your own mind and find out where these thoughts come from. Why does the mind think such things

　　 Understand that all things are transient. Love is transient, hate is transient. Have you ever loved your children

　　 Of course you have. Have you ever hated them

　　 I”ll answer that for you, too... Sometimes you do, don”t you

　　 Can you throw them away

　　 No, you can”t throw them away. Why not

　　 Children aren”t like bullets, are they

　　 [2] Bullets are fired outwards, but children are fired right back to the parents. If they”re bad it comes back to the parents. You could say children are your kamma. There are good ones and bad ones. Both good and bad are right there in your children. But even the bad ones are precious. One may be born with polio, crippled and deformed, and be even more precious than the others. Whenever you leave home for a while you have to leave a message, "Look after the little one, he”s not so strong." You love him even more than the others.

　　You should, then, set your minds well -- half love, half hate. Don”t take only one or the other, always have both sides in mind. Your children are your kamma, they are appropriate to their owners. They are your kamma, so you must take responsibility for them. If they really give you suffering, just remind yourself, "It”s my kamma." If they please you, just remind yourself, "It”s my kamma." Sometimes it gets so frustrating at home you must just want to run away. It gets so bad some people even contemplate hanging themselves! It”s kamma. We have to accept the fact. Avoid bad actions, then you will be able to see yourself more clearly.

　　This is why contemplating things is so important. usually when they practice meditation they use a meditation object, such as Bud-dho, Dham-mo or Sang-gho. But you can make it even shorter than this. Whenever you feel annoyed, whenever your mind goes bad, just say "So!" When you feel better just say "So!...It”s not a sure thing." If you love someone, just say "So!" When you feel you”re getting angry, just say "So!" Do you understand

　　 You don”t have to go looking into the Tipitaka. [3] Just "So!" This means "it”s transient." Love is transient, hate is transient, good is transient, evil is transient. How could they be permanent

　　 Where is there any permanence in them

　　You could say that they are permanent insofar as they are invariably impermanent. They are certain in this respect, they never become otherwise. One minute there”s love, the next hate. That”s how things are. In this sense they are permanent. That”s why I say whenever love arises, just tell it "So!" It saves a lot of time. You don”t have to say "Aniccam, dukkham, anatta." If you don”t want a long meditation theme, just take this simple word...If love arises, before you get really lost in it, just tell yourself "So!" This is enough.

　　Everything is transient, and it”s permanent in that it”s invariably that way. Just to see this much is to see the heart of the Dhamma, the True Dhamma.

　　Now if everybody said "So!" more often, and applied themselves to training like this, clinging would become less and less. People would not be so stuck on love and hate. They would not cling to things. They would put their trust in the truth, not with other things. Just to know this much is enough, what else do you need to know

　　Having heard the teaching, you should try to remember it also. What should you remember

　　 Meditate... Do you understand

　　 If you understand, the Dhamma clicks with you, the mind will stop. If there is anger in the mind, just "So!" ... and that”s enough, it stops straight away. If you don”t yet understand then look deeply into the matter. If there is understanding, when anger arises in the mind you can just shut it off with "So! It”s impermanent!"

　　Today you have had a chance to record the Dhamma both inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly, the sound enters through the ears to be recorded in the mind. If you can”t do this much it”s not so good, your time at Wat Ba Pong will be wasted. Record it outwardly, and record it inwardly. This tape recorder here is not so important. The really important thing is the "recorder" in the mind. The tape recorder is perishable, but if the Dhamma really reaches the mind it”s imperishable, it”s there for good. And you don”t have to waste money on batteries.

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　　Notes:

　　1. "Looking for merit" is a commonly-used Thai phrase. It refers to the custom in Thailand of going to monasteries, or "wats," paying respect to venerated teachers and making offerings.

　　2. There is a play on words here between the Thai words "look," meaning children, and "look bpeun," meaning literally "gun children"... that is, bullets.

　　3. The Buddhist Pali Canon.

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