..續本文上一頁rit and accumulated virtues of people naturally differ.

　　Just look at a material object, such as the wooden lions in front of the hall here. People come and look at them and can”t seem to agree: one person says, "Oh, how beautiful," while another says, "How revolting!" It”s the one lion, both beautiful and ugly. Just this is enough to know how things are.

　　Therefore the realization of Dhamma is sometimes slow, sometimes fast. The Buddha and his disciples were all alike in that they had to practice for themselves, but even so they still relied on teachers to advise them and give them techniques in the practice.

　　Now, when we listen to Dhamma we may want to listen until all our doubts are cleared up, but they”ll never be cleared up simply by listening. Doubt is not overcome simply by listening or thinking, we must first clean out the mind. To clean out the mind means to revise our practice. No matter how long we were to listen to the teacher talk about the truth we couldn”t know or see that truth just from listening. If we did it would be only through guesswork or conjecture.

　　However, even though simply listening to the Dhamma may not lead to realization, it is beneficial. There were, in the Buddha”s time, those who realized the Dhamma, even realizing the highest realization -- arahantship, while listening to a discourse. But those people were already highly developed, their minds already understood to some extent. It”s like a football. When a football is pumped up with air it expands. Now the air in that football is all pushing to get out, but there”s no hole for it to do so. As soon as a needle punctures the football the air comes bursting out.

　　This is the same. The minds of those disciples who were enlightened while listening to the Dhamma were like this. As long as there was no catalyst to cause the reaction this "pressure" was within them, like the football. The mind was not yet free because of this very small thing concealing the truth. As soon as they heard the Dhamma and it hit the right spot, wisdom arose. They immediately understood, immediately let go and realized the true Dhamma. That”s how it was. It was easy. The mind uprighted itself. It changed, or turned, from one view to another. You could say it was far, or you could say it was very near.

　　This is something we must do for ourselves. The Buddha was only able to give techniques on how to develop wisdom, and so with the teachers these days. They give Dhamma talks, they talk about the truth, but still we can”t make that truth our own. Why not

　　 There”s a "film" obscuring it. You could say that we are sunk, sunk in the water. Kamogha -- the "flood" of sensuality. Bhavogha -- the "flood" of becoming.

　　"Becoming" (bhava) means "the sphere of birth." Sensual desire is born at sights, sounds, tastes, smells, feelings and thoughts, identifying with these things. The mind holds fast and is stuck to sensuality.

　　Some cultivators get bored, fed up, tired of the practice and lazy. You don”t have to look very far, just look at how people can”t seem to keep the Dhamma in mind, and yet if they get scolded they”ll hold on to it for ages. They may get scolded at the beginning of the Rains, and even after the Rains Retreat has ended they still haven”t forgotten it. Their whole lives they still won”t forget it if it goes down deep enough.

　　But when it comes to the Buddha”s teaching, telling us to be moderate, to be restrained, to practice conscientiously... why don”t people take these things to their hearts

　　 Why do they keep forgetting these things

　　 You don”t have to look very far, just look at our practice here. For example, establishing standards such as: after the meal while washing your bowls, don”t chatter! Even this much seems to be beyond people. Even though we know t…

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