..續本文上一頁 want to investigate. Whenever suffering occurs, wisdom can arise there, if we investigate.

　　Wherever pleasant or unpleasant experience happens, wisdom can arise there. If we know happiness and suffering for what they really are, then we know the Dhamma. If we know the Dhamma, we know the world clearly; if we know the world clearly, we know the Dhamma.

　　Actually, for most of us, if something is displeasing, we don”t really want to know about it. We get caught up in the aversion to it. If we dislike someone, we don”t want to look at their face or get anywhere near them. This is the mark of a foolish, unskillful person; this is not the way of a good person. If we like someone, then of course we want to be close to them, we make every effort to be with them, taking delight in their company. This is foolishness, also. They are actually the same, like the palm and back of the hand. When we turn the hand up and see the palm, the back of the hand is hidden from sight. When we turn it over, then the palm is not seen. Pleasure hides pain, and pain hides pleasure from our sight. Wrong covers up right, right covers wrong. Just looking at one side, our knowledge is not complete.

　　Let”s do things completely, while we still have life. Keep on looking at things, separating truth from falsehood, noting how things really are, getting to the end of it, reaching peace. When the time comes, we will be able to cut through and let go completely. Now we have to firmly attempt to separate things, keep trying to cut through.

　　The Buddha taught about hair, nails, skin and teeth. He taught us to separate here. A person who does not know about separating only knows about holding them to himself. Now while we have not yet parted from these things, we should be skillful in meditating on them. We have not yet left this world, so we should be careful. We should contemplate a lot, make copious charitable offerings, recite the scriptures a lot, cultivate a lot: cultivate impermanence, cultivate unsatisfactoriness, cultivate selflessness. Even if the mind does not want to listen, we should keep on breaking things up like this and come to know in the present. This can most definitely be done, people. One can realize knowledge that transcends the world. We are stuck in the world. This is a way to ”destroy” the world, through contemplating and seeing beyond the world so that we can transcend the world in our being. Even while we are living in this world, our view can be above the world.

　　In a worldly existence, one creates both good and evil. Now we try to practice virtue and give up evil. When good results come, then you should not be ”under” that good, but be able to transcend it. If you do not transcend it, then you become a slave to virtue and to your concepts of what is good. It puts you in difficulty, and there will not be an end to your tears. It does not matter how much good you have practiced, if you are attached to it, then you are still not free, and there will be no end to tears. But one who transcends good as well as evil has no more tears to shed. They have dried up. There can be an end. We should learn to use virtue, not to be used by virtue.

　　To put the teaching of the Buddha in a nutshell, the point is to transform one”s view. It is possible to change it. It only requires looking at things, and then it happens. Having been born, we will experience aging, illness, death and separation. These things are right here. We don”t need to look up at the sky or down at the earth. The dhamma that we need to see and to know can be seen right here within us, every moment of every day. When there is a birth, we are filled with joy. When there is a death, we grieve. That”s how we spend our lives. These are the things we need to know about, but we still have no…

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