..續本文上一頁amine absolutely everybody. This is a very heavy attitude. And it”s like this because we take what is said literally. If we follow the textbooks, this is the way we must go. Some Teachers teach in this manner -- strict adherence to what the textbooks say. It just can”t work that way.[17]

　　Actually, if we study theory like this, our practice won”t develop at all. In fact our faith will disappear, our faith in the Way will be destroyed. This is because we haven”t yet understood. When there is wisdom we will understand that all the people in the entire world really amount to just this one person. They are the same as this very being. So we study and contemplate our own body and mind. With seeing and understanding the nature of our own body and mind comes understanding the bodies and minds of everyone. And so, in this way, the weight of our practice becomes lighter.

　　The Buddha said to teach and instruct ourselves -- nobody else can do it for us. When we study and understand the nature of our own existence, we will understand the nature of all existence. Everyone is really the same. We are all the same "make" and come from the same company -- there are only different shades, that”s all! Just like "Bort-hai" and "Tum-jai." They are both pain-killers and do the same thing, but one type is called "Bort-hai" and the other "Tum-jai." Really they aren”t different.

　　You will find that this way of seeing things gets easier and easier as you gradually bring it all together. We call this "feeling our way," and this is how we begin to practice. We”ll become skilled at doing it. We keep on with it until we arrive at understanding, and when this understanding arises, we will see reality clearly.

　　Theory and Practice

　　So we continue this practice until we have a feeling for it. After a time, depending on our own particular tendencies and abilities, a new kind of understanding arises. This we call Investigation of Dhamma (Dhamma-vicaya), and this is how the Seven Factors of Enlightenment arise in the mind. Investigation of Dhamma is one of them. The others are: Mindfulness, Energy, Rapture, Tranquillity, concentration (Samadhi) and Equanimity.

　　If we have studied about the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, then we”ll know what the books say, but we won”t have seen the real Factors of Enlightenment. The real Factors of Enlightenment arise in the mind. Thus the Buddha came to give us all the various Teachings. All the Enlightened Ones have taught the way out of suffering and Their recorded Teachings we call the theoretical Teachings. This theory originally came from the practice, but it has become merely book learning or words.

　　The real Factors of Enlightenment have disappeared because we don”t know them within ourselves, we don”t see them within our own minds. If they arise they arise out of practice. If the arise out of practice them they are factors leading to Enlightenment of the Dhamma and we can use their arising as an indication that our practice is correct. If we are not practicing rightly, such things will not appear.

　　If we practice in the right way, then we can see Dhamma. So we say to keep on practicing, feeling your way gradually and continually investigating. Don”t think that what you are looking for can be found anywhere other than right here.

　　One of my senior disciples had been learning Pali at a study Temple before he came here. He hadn”t been very successful with his studies so he thought that, since monks who practice meditation are able to see and understand everything just by sitting, he would come and try this way. He came here to Wat Pah Pong with the intention of sitting in meditation so that he would be able to translate Pali scriptures. He had this kind of understanding about practice. So I explained to him about …

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