..續本文上一頁 is true, and you go telling other people, you”re bragging. If it turns out to be false, it can backfire on you. This is why those who truly know say that knowledge is the essence of stress: It can hurt you. Knowledge is part of the flood of views and opinions (ditthi-ogha) over which we have to cross. If you hang onto knowledge, you”ve gone wrong. If you know, simply know, and let it go at that. You don”t have to be excited or pleased. You don”t have to go telling other people.

　　People who”ve studied abroad, when they come back to the rice fields, don”t tell what they”ve learned to the folks at home. They talk about ordinary things in an ordinary way. The reason they don”t talk about the things they”ve studied is because (1) no one would understand them; (2) it wouldn”t serve any purpose. Even with people who would understand them, they don”t display their learning. So it should be when you practice meditation. No matter how much you know, you have to act as if you know nothing, because this is the way people with good manners normally act. If you go bragging to other people, it”s bad enough. If they don”t believe you, it can get even worse.

　　So whatever you know, simply be aware of it and let it go. Don”t let there be the assumption that "I know." When you can do this, your mind can attain the transcendent, free from attachment.

　　* * *

　　Everything in the world has its truth. Even things that aren”t true are true -- i.e., their truth is that they”re false. This is why we have to let go of both what”s true and what”s false. Once we know the truth and can let it go, we can be at our ease. We won”t be poor, because the truth -- the Dhamma -- will still be there with us. We won”t be left empty-handed. It”s like having a lot of money: Instead of lugging it around with us, we keep it piled up at home. We may not have anything in our pockets, but we”re still not poor.

　　The same is true with people who really know. Even when they let go of their knowledge, it”s still there. This is why the minds of the Noble Ones aren”t left adrift. They let things go, but not in a wasteful or irresponsible way. They let go like rich people: Even though they let go, they”ve still got piles of wealth.

　　As for people who let things go like paupers, they don”t know what”s worthwhile and what”s not. When they throw away the things that are worthwhile, they”re simply heading for disaster. For instance, they may see that there”s no truth to anything -- no truth to the khandhas, no truth to the body, no truth to stress, its cause, its disbanding, or the path to its disbanding, no truth to Liberation. They don”t use their brains at all. They”re too lazy to do anything, so they let go of everything, throw it all away. This is called letting go like a pauper. Like a lot of modern-day sages: When they come back after they die, they”re going to be poor all over again.

　　As for the Buddha, he let go only of the true and false things that appeared in his body and mind -- but he didn”t abandon his body and mind, which is why he ended up rich, with plenty of wealth to hand down to his descendants. This is why his descendants never have to worry about being poor.

　　So we should look to the Buddha as our model. If we see that the khandhas are worthless -- inconstant, stressful, not-self, and all that -- and simply let go of them by neglecting them, we”re sure to end up poor. Like a stupid person who feels so repulsed by a festering sore on his body that he won”t touch it and so lets it go without taking care of it: There”s no way the sore is going to heal. As for intelligent people, they know how to wash their sores, put medicine and bandages on them, so that eventually they”re sure to recover.

　　In the same way, when people see only the drawbacks to the khandhas…

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