..續本文上一頁t overflows uselessly. If their bottle was empty there would be somewhere to put the water, and both the giver and the receiver would benefit.
In this way, when people are really interested in Dhamma and sit quietly, listening carefully, I feel more inspired to teach. If people don”t pay attention it”s just like the man with the bottle full of water... there”s no room to put anymore. It”s hardly worth my while talking to them. In situations like this I just don”t get any energy arising to teach. You can”t put much energy into giving when no-one”s putting much energy into receiving.
These days giving talks tends to be like this, and it”s getting worse all the time. People don”t search for truth, they study simply to find the necessary knowledge to make a living, raise families and look after themselves. They study for a livelihood. There may be some study of Dhamma, but not much. Students nowadays have much more knowledge than students of previous times. They have all the requisites at their disposal, everything is more convenient. But they also have a lot more confusion and suffering than before. Why is this
Because they only look for the kind of knowledge used to make a living.
Even the monks are like this. Sometimes I hear them say, "I didn”t become a monk to practice the Dhamma, I only ordained to study." These are the words of someone who has completely cut off the path of practice. There”s no way ahead, it”s a dead end. When these monks teach it”s only from memory. They may teach one thing but their minds are in completely different place. Such teachings aren”t true.
This is how the world is. If you try to live simply, practicing the Dhamma and living peacefully, they say you are weird and anti-social. They say you”re obstructing progress in society. They even intimidate you. Eventually you might even start to believe them and revert to the worldly ways, sinking deeper and deeper into the world until it”s impossible to get out. Some people say, "I can”t get out now, I”ve gone in to deeply." This is how society tends to be. It doesn”t appreciate the value of Dhamma.
The value of Dhamma isn”t to be found in books. those are just the external appearances of Dhamma, they”re not the realization of Dhamma as a personal experience. If you realize the Dhamma you realize your own mind, you see the truth there. When the truth becomes apparent it cuts off the stream of delusion.
The teaching of the Buddha is the unchanging truth, whether in the present or in any other time. The Buddha revealed this truth 2,500 years ago and it”s been the truth ever since. This teaching should not be added to or taken away from. The Buddha said, "What the Tathagata has laid down should not be discarded, what has not been laid down by the Tathagata should not be added on to the teachings." He "sealed off" the Teachings. Why did the Buddha seal them off
Because these Teachings are the words of one who has no defilements. No matter how the world may change these Teachings are unaffected, they don”t change with it. If something is wrong, even if people say it”s right doesn”t make it any the less wrong. If something is right, it doesn”t change any just because people say it”s not. Generation after generation may come and go but these things don”t change, because these Teachings are the truth.
Now who created this truth
The truth itself created the truth! Did the Buddha create it
No, he didn”t. The Buddha only discovered the truth, the way things are, and then he set out to declare it. The truth is constantly true, whether a Buddha arises in the world or not. The Buddha only "owns" the Dhamma in this sense, he didn”t actually create it. It”s been here all the time. However, previously no-one had searched for and found the Deathless, then taug…
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