..續本文上一頁s don”t last, well, let them dissolve. If it”s impermanent, then let is all disperse. However, whatever endures will last and prevail. What is it that prevails

　　 It is that which knows, which is the heart. There! It”s the one who knows standing out distinctly all the time.

　　The results will definitely be like this once you have successfully trained yourself in the way of mindfulness and wisdom. But if your mindfulness and wisdom are deficient then the heart will remain feeble and easily discouraged. All kinds of suffering will then converge into the heart because it is the heart itself that accumulates suffering through its own stupidity. Weakness, therefore, is certainly not the path that leads away from harm and danger. It has to be accomplished through diligence and hard work, with a warrior spirit armed with mindfulness and wisdom. Nothing else can bring victory and preeminence, goodness and virtue, excellence and distinction; nothing else brings bravery and fearlessness to arise within the heart.

　　Please consider it in this way: Suppose that we return home without a teacher or instructor. Well, what teaching have we already received and what are we really missing

　　 The teacher is still present in his teaching, and it”s there that we”ll find the Tathagata and the Dhamma. We are with the Dhamma, with the Lord Buddha, and with the Sangha at all times because of the Teaching that we train ourselves with. We do not lack a teacher or an instructor. We live with a refuge in having mindfulness, wisdom, faith, and energy out fighting to destroy those things that are our enemy. How can we say we are without a teacher when we exist with our teacher! So we must strive to gain knowledge together with this teacher.

　　This is the way to practice, without loneliness or wavering but endowed with firmness and steadfastness in the truth of Dhamma. The teacher”s instructions are constantly embraced as the internal guide within the heart. Wherever we may be, we can say that we are with a teacher, with an instructor, with the Lord Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha — because the real Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are within the heart. It is only the heart that can be with Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, or the whole essence of Dhamma.

　　The body doesn”t know anything. How on earth can it ever know anything about the Lord Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha

　　 Feeling also doesn”t know; while perception just remembers and then it”s gone; and thought processing imagines and then vanishes. How can there be any basis in them sufficient to accommodate the Lord Buddha

　　 The one who can truly receive, is that which really understands the Lord Buddha. The real Buddho is just this heart.

　　So, investigate the heart to your utmost. Don”t be weak or discouraged. In any case, all of us must eventually enter into this battle. It”s unavoidable. All we can do is to help ourselves, and it”s very certain that we will need to help ourselves. When the time of necessity is upon us, nobody else can help. Whether father or mother, son or daughter, husband or wife, they can only stand by and watch with affection, sympathy, and yearning. They all long to help but when the time comes, they are powerless.

　　The only things that can help us transcend suffering and torment, and to be free from all bondage, are mindfulness, wisdom and our own effort. There is nothing else. We must therefore be strict with ourselves, be firm at heart, even if the body is nearing its end. From this moment on, this is something to keep close to your heart. Then you won”t lose out later on.

　　However the aggregates might display themselves, the one certain thing is that they aren”t above death. Whether they appear often or not, they will come to die. So the one who knows knows till death, at which time the body dissolves and that which knows is rid of all problems and obligations. Let”s get down to the crux of the matter. Right to the essence of truth, of cause and effect. Then we will arrive at the real and genuine Dhamma within the heart.

　　This Dhamma presentation seems enough; so I”ll finish here.

　　Notes

　　1. paaramii

　　2. citta-bhaavanaa

　　3. The next day Khun Pow was due to return to home... and hospital.

　　4. sotaapatti-magga and -phala

　　5. sakadaagaamii

　　6. anaagaamii

　　7. arahatta-phala

　　8. ti-lakkha.na

　　9. sammuti

　　10. panyaa and sanyaa

　　11. vinyaa.na khandha

　　12. pa.tisandhi-vinyaana

　　13. mano

　　14. va.t.ta

　　15. sammuti

　　16. ruupa

　　17. vedanaa

《To the Last Breath - 6· The Final Night — Fare Thee Well》全文閱讀結束。