..續本文上一頁our way. He had misunderstood completely. He had thought it an easy matter just to sit and make everything clear.
If we talk about understanding Dhamma then both study monks and practice monks use the same words. But the actual understanding which comes from studying theory and that which comes from practicing Dhamma is not quite the same. It may seem to be the same, but one is more profound. One is deeper than the other. The kind of understanding which comes from practice leads to surrender, to giving up. Until there is complete surrender we persevere -- we persist in our contemplation. If desires or anger and dislike arise in our mind, we aren”t indifferent to them. We don”t just leave them but rather take them and investigate to see how and from where they arise. If such moods are already in our mind, then we contemplate and see how they work against us. We see them clearly and understand the difficulties which we cause ourselves by believing and following them. This kind of understanding is not found anywhere other than in our own pure mind.
It”s because of this that those who study theory and those who practice meditation misunderstand each other. Usually those who emphasize study say things like this, "Monks who only practice meditation just follow their own opinions. They have no basis in their Teaching." Actually, in one sense, these two ways of study and practice are exactly the same thing. It can help us to understand if we think of it like the front and back of our hand. If we put our hand out, it seems as if the back of the hand has disappeared. Actually the back of our hand hasn”t disappeared anywhere, it”s just hidden underneath. When we say that we can”t see it, it doesn”t mean that it has disappeared completely, it just means that it”s hidden underneath. When we turn our hand over, the same thing happens to the palm of the hand. It doesn”t go anywhere, it”s merely hidden underneath.
We should keep this in mind when we consider practice. If we think that it has "disappeared," we”ll go off to study, hoping to get results. But it doesn”t matter how much you study about Dhamma, you”ll never understand, because you won”t know in accordance with Truth. If we do understand the real nature of Dhamma, then it becomes letting go. This is surrender -- removing attachment (Upadana), not clinging anymore, or, if there still is clinging, it becomes less and less. There is this kind of difference between the two ways of study and practice.
When we talk about study, we can understand it like this: our eye is a subject of study, our ear is a subject of study -- everything is a subject of study. We can know that form is like this and like that, but we attach to form and don”t know the way out. We can distinguish sounds, but then we attach to them. Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily feelings and mental impressions are all like a snare to entrap all beings.
To investigate these things is our way of practicing Dhamma. When some feeling arises we turn to our understanding to appreciate it. If we are knowledgeable regarding theory, we will immediately turn to that and see how such and such a thing happens like this and then becomes that...and so on. If we haven”t learned theory in this way, then we have just the natural state of our mind to work with. This is our Dhamma. If we have wisdom then we”ll be able to examine this natural mind of ours and use this as our subject of study. It”s exactly the same thing. Our natural mind is theory. The Buddha said to take whatever thoughts and feelings arise and investigate them. Use the reality of our natural mind as our theory. We rely on this reality.
Insight Meditation (Vipassana)
If you have faith it doesn”t matter whether you have studied theory or not. If our believing mind…
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