..續本文上一頁ractice.

　　So knowing the Dhamma or seeing the Dhamma depends on practice. Have confidence, purify your own heart. If all the monks in this monastery put awareness into their respective minds we wouldn”t have to reprimand or praise anybody. We wouldn”t have to be suspicious of or favor anybody. If anger or dislike arise just leave them at the mind, but see them clearly!

　　Keep on looking at those things. As long as there is still something there it means we still have to dig and grind away right there. Some say "I can”t cut it, I can”t do it," -- if we start saying things like this there will only be a bunch of punks here, because nobody cuts at their own defilements.

　　You must try. If you can”t yet cut it, dig in deeper. Dig at the defilements, uproot them. Dig them out even if they seem hard and fast. The Dhamma is not something to be reached by following your desires. Your mind may be one way, the truth another. You must watch up front and keep a lookout behind as well. That”s why I say, "It”s all uncertain, all transient."

　　This truth of uncertainty, this short and simple truth, at the same time so profound and faultless, people tend to ignore. They tend to see things differently. Don”t cling to goodness, don”t cling to badness. These are attributes of the world. We are practicing to be free of the world, so bring these things to an end. The Buddha taught to lay them down, to give them up, because they only cause suffering.

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　　Transcendence

　　When the group of five ascetics [62] abandoned the Buddha, he saw it as a stroke of luck, because he would be able to continue his practice unhindered. With the five ascetics living with him, things weren”t so peaceful, he had responsibilities. And now the five ascetics had abandoned him because they felt that he had slackened his practice and reverted to indulgence. Previously he had been intent on his ascetic practices and self-mortification. In regards to eating, sleeping and so on, he had tormented himself severely, but it came to a point where, looking into it honestly, he saw that such practices just weren”t working. It was simply a matter of views, practicing out of pride and clinging. He had mistaken worldly values and mistaken himself for the truth.

　　For example if one decides to throw oneself into ascetic practices with the intention of gaining praise -- this kind of practice is all "world-inspired," practicing for adulation and fame. Practicing with this kind of intention is called "mistaking worldly ways for truth."

　　Another way to practice is "to mistake one”s own views for truth." You only believe yourself, in your own practice. No matter what others say you stick to your own preferences. You don”t carefully consider the practice. this is called "mistaking oneself for truth."

　　Whether you take the world or take yourself to be truth, it”s all simply blind attachment. The Buddha saw this, and saw that there was no "adhering to the Dhamma," practicing for the truth. So his practice had been fruitless, he still hadn”t given up defilements.

　　Then he turned around and reconsidered all the work he had put into practice right from the beginning in terms of results. What were the results of all that practice

　　 Looking deeply into it he saw that it just wasn”t right. It was full of conceit, and full of the world. There was no dhamma, no insight into anatta (not self) no emptiness or letting go. There may have been letting go of a kind, but it was the kind that still hadn”t let go.

　　Looking carefully at the situation, the Buddha saw that even if he were to explain these things to the five ascetics they wouldn”t be able to understand. It wasn”t something he could easily convey to them, because thos…

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