..續本文上一頁 to the heart.
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External merit — generosity and virtue — is like the skin of a fruit. Internal merit — meditation — is like the flesh of the fruit. You can”t have one without the other. If fruit doesn”t have skin, its flesh won”t grow. If it has skin but no flesh, you can”t eat it. Each helps the other, but they differ in quality. External merit is what protects internal merit, while the internal merit nourishes merit outside.
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Today I”m going to talk about how to drill a well. This is a difficult skill, not like simply digging or plowing.
We all want happiness, but we don”t really know what happiness is. Real happiness is nothing other than the inner worth and skillfulness of the heart. So where are we going to find inner worth
Inner worth is like a well. The first kind of well is simply a depression in the ground for catching rain water, like a pond. We can”t get too much use out of this kind of well because there are times when water buffaloes, cattle, and other animals get in the water to bathe and drink, making it muddy. If you want to use the water, you have to filter it many times. This kind of well is like generosity, which gives only shallow rewards, like the water in a shallow depression.
The second kind of well is like a deep reservoir. Cattle can”t bathe or drink in it. The only animals that go into the reservoir are toads and frogs, but even so, if we want to use the water we have to filter it first. This kind of well is like the virtue of observing the precepts, which gives deeper rewards than generosity.
The third kind of well is an artesian well with a constantly running spring. No matter how much water you use, it never runs dry. This kind of well is so deep that even mosquitoes (your defilements) can”t get down into the water. To drill this kind of well you need to use a drill with a diamond bit and a strong steel shaft if you want to reach the underground water. This kind of well is like meditation, because you have to use strong mindfulness, discernment, persistence, and endurance if you want to succeed at drilling. Mindfulness has to be like the diamond bit; and endurance, the steel shaft. When you use your persistence to drill on down, the results will arise as inner worth and skillfulness that keep flowing in, bathing the mind, like the waters of immortality that provide the mind with a constant stream of refreshment and delight.
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If we don”t have a safe place for our inner worth, how is it going to help us
It”s like raising horses or cows but not fencing in a place for them to stay. If they go wandering off, it”s your fault, not theirs. If you don”t practice virtue, concentration, and discernment on your own, you”re going to get taken in by the symbols of refuge, and never get to the real thing. The symbols of refuge are: Buddha images, which are just symbols of the Buddha; Buddhist texts, which are symbols of the Dhamma; and Buddhist monks and nuns, who are symbols of those who have practiced rightly and well until becoming noble disciples. If you get stuck on the outer level, you”ll never meet with the real thing.
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Inner worth is like money. If your pocket has a hole, it”ll let your money slip right through. If you do things that give rise to inner worth but don”t keep that worth in your heart, it won”t stay with you. When you”re about to die and you call on it to help you, what will there be to answer your call
When this is the case, you can”t criticize all the good things you”ve done for not helping you. You have to put the blame on yourself. If you stick a dollar in your pocket but your pocket is torn, then when the time comes to buy a cup of coffee you won”t have any money to buy it. In that case, what are you going to blame: the money or your pocket
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To practice meditation …
《The Skill of Release - Why Meditate
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