..續本文上一頁 fixed place to eat or sleep, swinging from branch to branch as we feel like it. What this means is that our minds have no firm place to stay, no concentration. We wander here and there in the past and future in our thoughts and moods, with no time to stop and stay in place. This is what it means to act like a monkey.

　　As for tigers, they”re violent and fierce. This stands for the anger that arises in the human heart and erupts outward, smothering whatever goodness we may have.

　　As for elephants, they like to hear nothing but sweet words and praise. They can”t take criticism at all. This is like people who, when they do something wrong, can”t stand to be told that it”s wrong. If they do something right and get a little praise, they smile until their cheeks hurt. This is what it means to be like an elephant.

　　So we have to get rid of the monkeys, tigers, and elephants in ourselves so that we can turn into human beings. That way we can look at our mountain and realize that if we want valuable things, we”ll be able to get valuable things out of it. If we want worthless things, we”ll get worthless things out of it. We can then gather all kinds of treasures. We can level the dirt and turn it into fields. We can take the rocks and extract the silver and gold. As for the trees, we can cut them down and turn them into firewood or charcoal so that we can cook our food and fire our smelter, or else turn them into posts and boards so that we can build ourselves a home.

　　All of these things we”ll be able to get from our mountain, but we have to apply ourselves and really be persistent. If we want silver and gold, we have to set up a smelter and heat the rocks to see which elements are there in a pure form (the Unconditioned) and which ones are mixed (the Conditioned). This is how we do it: (1) We have to get a lot of fuel; (2) we have to set up a furnace; and (3) we have to start a fire. Only then will we be able to extract the ore from our rock.

　　Finding lots of fuel means being willing to let go of things both inside and out. As for setting up a furnace, we have to find a place with good, solid ground and a roof that doesn”t leak. This stands for our persistence. Once we”ve got our furnace, we start a fire. This refers to the ardency of our practice. Once our practice is ardent, the various elements in our rock — the body — will melt and separate out on their own, just as when they melt down minerals, the silver, lead, and tin, etc., will separate out on their own. The same holds true with the body. When it undergoes ardent inspection by the mind, the pure ore and the various impurities will separate out of their own accord.

　　But most meditators nowadays want to separate things out even before they”ve put their rock into the smelter. They think things out on their own without a single one of the tools needed for smelting. No fuel, no furnace, no fire, a leaky roof and a piece of caved-in ground: What are they going to smelt

　　 They say that the transcendent has to be like this, insight meditation has to be like that, stream-entry has to be like this; you have to let go like this and that in order to reach this and that stage; the stages of once-returning, nonreturning, and arahantship have to be reached in this and that way; the four levels of jhana have to be done in this and that way. They try to separate things out in line with their own ideas, but no matter how much they try, they can”t get things to separate, because they don”t have any fuel, any fire, any furnace. Where are they going to get any results

　　Results don”t come from thinking. They come from the qualities we build into the mind. So don”t try to separate things out in line with your own notions. Some people see a person carrying a big hunk of rock to his home and think that h…

《The Skill of Release - Why Meditate

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