..續本文上一頁son the tiger in a good strong cage made of mindfulness, energy, patience, and endurance. Then we can let it starve to death by not feeding its habitual desires. We do not have to take a knife and butcher it.

　　Or defilements are like a cat. If you feed it, it will keep coming around. Stop feeding it, and eventually it will not bother to come around any more.

　　We will unavoidably be hot and distressed in our practice at first. But remember, only the defilements are hot. People think, ”1 never had problems like this before. What”s wrong

　　" Before, when we fed our desires, we were at peace with them, like a man who takes care of an internal infection by dressing only the external sores.

　　Resist defilements. Do not give them all the food or sleep they want. Many people consider this the extreme of self-torture, but it is necessary to become inwardly strong. See for yourself. Constantly watching the mind, you may think you are seeing only effects and wonder about the causes. Suppose parents have a child who grows up to be disrespectful. Distressed by his behaviour, they may ask, ”Where has this child come from

　　" Actually, our suffering comes from our own wrong understanding, our attachment to various mental activities. We must train our mind like a buffalo: the buffalo is our thinking, the owner is the meditator, raising and training the buffalo is the practice. With a trained mind, we can see the truth, we can know the cause of our self and its end, the end of all sorrow. It is not complicated, you know.

　　Everyone has defilements in his practice. We must work with them, struggling when they arise. This is not something to think about but to do. Much patience is necessary. Gradually we have to change our habitual ways of thinking and feeling. We must see how we suffer when we think in terms of me and mine. Then we can let go.

　　Happiness and Suffering

　　A young Western monk had just arrived at one of Achaan Chah”s forest monasteries and asked permission to stay and practice.

　　I hope you”re not afraid of suffering" was Achaan Chah”s first response.

　　Somewhat taken aback, the young Westerner explained that he did not come to suffer but to learn meditation and to live peacefully in the forest.

　　Achaan Chah explained, ””There are two kinds of suffering: the suffering that leads to more suffering and the suffering that leads to the end of suffering. If you are not willing to face the second kind of suffering, you will surely continue to experience the first."

　　Achaan Chah”s way of teaching is usually straightforward and direct. When he meets his monks on the monastery grounds, he often asks, "Are you suffering much today

　　" If one answers yes, he replies, ”Well, you must have many attachments today," and then laughs with the monk about it.

　　Have you ever had happiness

　　 Have you ever had suffering

　　 Have you ever considered which of these is really valuable

　　 If happiness is true, then it should not dissolve, should it

　　 You should study this point to see what is real, what is true. This study, this meditation, leads to right understanding.

　　The Discriminating Mind

　　Right understanding ultimately means non-discrimination-seeing all people as the same, neither good nor bad, neither clever nor foolish; not thinking that honey is sweet and good and some other food is bitter. Although you may eat several kinds of food, when you absorb and excrete them, they all become the same. Is it one or many

　　 Is a glass big

　　 In relation to a little cup, yes; when placed next to a pitcher, no.

　　Our desire and ignorance, our discrimination color everything in this way. This is the world we create. Again, a pitcher is neither heavy nor light; we just feel that it is one way or the other. In the Zen koan of the flag in the wind, two persons are watching a flag: on…

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