..續本文上一頁eople say, I”d tell myself, "Not sure." Whatever I saw, I told myself, "Not sure," or when the tongue contacted sweet, sour, salty, pleasant or unpleasant flavors, or feelings of comfort or pain arose in the body, I”d tell myself, "This is not a sure thing"! And so I lived with Dhamma.

　　In truth it”s all uncertain, but our desires want things to be certain. what can we do

　　 We must be patient. The most important thing is khanti, patient endurance. Don”t throw out the Buddha, what I call "uncertainty" -- don”t throw that away.

　　Sometimes I”d go to see old religious sites with ancient monastic buildings, designed by architects, built by craftsmen. In some places they would be cracked. Maybe one of my friends would remark, "Such a shame, isn”t it

　　 It”s cracked." I”d answer, "If that weren”t the case then there”d be no such thing as the Buddha, there”d be no Dhamma. It”s cracked like this because it”s perfectly in line with the Buddha”s teaching." Really down inside I was also sad to see those buildings cracked but I”d throw off my sentimentality and try to say something which would be of use to my friends, and to myself. Even though I also felt that it was a pity, still I tended towards the Dhamma.

　　"If it wasn”t cracked like that there wouldn”t be any Buddha!"

　　I”d say it really heavy for the benefit of my friends... or perhaps they weren”t listening, but still I was listening.

　　This is a way of considering things which is very, very useful. For instance, say someone were to rush in and say, "Luang Por! Do you know what so and so just said about you

　　" or, "He said such and such about you..." Maybe you even start to rage. As soon as you hear words of criticism you start getting these moods every step of the way. As soon as we hear words like this we may start getting ready to retaliate, but on looking into the truth of the matter we may find that... no, they had said something else after all.

　　And so it”s another case of "uncertainty." So why should we rush in and believe things

　　 Why should we put our trust so much in what others say

　　 Whatever we hear we should take note, be patient, look into the matter carefully... stay straight.

　　It”s not that whatever pops into our heads we write it all down as some sort of truth. Any speech which ignores uncertainty is not the speech of a sage. Remember this. As for being wise, we are no longer practicing. Whatever we see or hear, be it pleasant or sorrowful, just say "This is not sure!" Say it heavy to yourself, hold it all down with this. Don”t build those things up into major issues, just keep them all down to this one. This point is the important one. This is the point where defilements die. Practicers shouldn”t dismiss it.

　　If you disregard this point you can expect only suffering, expect only mistakes. If you don”t make this a foundation for your practice you are going to go wrong... but then you will come right again later on, because this principle is a really good one.

　　Actually the real Dhamma, the gist of what I have been saying today, isn”t so mysterious. Whatever you experience is simply form, simply feeling, simply perception, simply volition, and simply consciousness. There are only these basic qualities, where is there any certainty within them

　　If we come to understand the true nature of things like this, lust, infatuation and attachment fade away. why do they fade away

　　 Because we understand, we know. We shift from ignorance to understanding. Understanding is born from ignorance, knowing is born from unknowing, purity is born from defilement. It works like this.

　　Not discarding aniccam, the Buddha -- This is what it means to say that the Buddha is still alive. To stay that the Buddha has passed into Nibbana is not necessarily true. In a more profound sense the Buddha…

《Food for the Heart》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…