..續本文上一頁 suitability and limits.

　　Sustaining the heart with Dhamma is done by declining to admit entrance to the world”s poison to disturb the heart through contact between the sense organs and external objects. Every contact made with forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile and mental objects should always be contemplated in the light of Dhamma. Neither a warm welcome nor a hostile rejection should be allowed, for that would bring hardship for the heart. A Dhamma-imbued investigation will provide and sustain the heart with the essence of Dhamma; and it will be gladdened and delighted through both the heart”s serenity and its wisdom and discernment. There will then be no seeking after poisonous objects that are ruinous for the heart, rather it will be constantly nourished with Dhamma.

　　In the light of Dhamma, always try to push the investigation of every contact made between the sense organs and the sense objects towards true understanding and emancipation. Never contemplate in a worldly-minded way, for that will be the taking in of fire to burn oneself with, and it can only cause the heart to overheat. Constantly screen and feed the heart only with objects of Dhamma, and this Dhamma essence will nourish the heart, steadily sustaining and protecting it. What I”ve been talking about here is one more kind of right livelihood.

　　The sixth path factor was stated as being right exertion.27 There are four ways of exertion:

　　The effort involved in preventing the accumulation of unwholesomeness within one”s character and make up; in getting rid of anything unwholesome that has arisen; in developing and bringing up wholesomeness; and the effort in maintaining that wholesomeness that has already arisen.

　　These must be drawn inwards28 by applying them to the level of Dhamma that you are actually practicing in, where they will be ready to add to whatever basis of samadhi and wisdom is necessary.

　　First: Devote yourself to caring for the heart that is so liable to become obsessed and infatuated with the flow of craving. This is based in ignorance and will drag the heart away.

　　Second: Try to develop precepts, samadhi and wisdom, for these are the dhammas capable of rectifying every type of defilement. If you aspire for Nibbana, totally extinguish your burning anxiety.

　　Third: Don”t allow your standard of precepts, samadhi and wisdom to fall back and slip away through negligence. You will need to develop and nourish them to full maturity and to their transmutation into the supramundane knowledge of the Path,29 which erases all defilements, including those lying latent. The sphere of Freedom30 and Nibbana, previously perceived as beyond one”s capacity, will arise within the heart the instant all the defilements are cleared out.

　　The seventh path factor was stated as being right mindfulness.31 This is setting up mindfulness to attend to your exertion. Whatever you fix on as the heart”s meditation object — "Buddho" or mindfulness of breathing for instance — should be the place where mindfulness is established. If you settle on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness — whether as a basis for samadhi or in the development of wisdom — you must constantly have awareness minding and attending to every round of practice. This is one section of right mindfulness.

　　The eighth path factor was stated as being right samadhi, which is the heart rightly and firmly established in calm. This refers to the samadhi that is imbued with wisdom and not that stump-like samadhi. Also, it isn”t the addictive sort of samadhi that sticks both day and night and is loath to investigate by way of wisdom. That sort of samadhi may seem, in itself, to be an adequately exalted dhamma but wisdom will end up being dismissed as phoney. Samadhi, in this case, is called incorrect or wrong samadhi3…

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