..續本文上一頁g else. They”re not forces that will pull you to what is auspicious. They”ll pull you to what”s inauspicious, step by step, depending on how much you believe, give in, and are overcome by their pull. Suffering will then appear in proportion to how much you unconsciously agree, give in, and are overcome by their pull. Even though there are the teachings of the religion to pull you back, the mind tends to take the lower path more than the path of the religion, which is why it is set adrift. But we”re not the type to be set adrift. We”re the type who are swimming to release using the full power of our intelligence and abilities.
Wherever you are, whatever you do, always be on the alert with mindfulness. Don”t regard the effort of the practice as tiring, as something wearisome, difficult to do, difficult to get right, difficult to contend with. Struggle and effort: These are the path for those who are to gain release from all stress and danger, not the path of those headed downward to the depths of hell, blind and in the dark by day and by night, their minds consumed by all things lowly and vile.
The Noble Ones in the time of the Buddha practiced in earnest. With the words, ”I go to the Buddha for refuge,” or ”I go to the Sangha for refuge,” we should reflect on their Dhamma, investigating and unraveling it so as to see the profundity and subtlety of their practice. At the same time, we should take their realizations into our hearts as good examples to follow, so that we can conduct ourselves in the footsteps of their practices and realizations.
”I go to the Buddha for refuge.” We all know how difficult it was for him to become the Buddha. We should engrave it in our hearts. Our Teacher was the first pioneer in our age to the good destination for the sake of all living beings. Things were never made easy for him. From the day of his renunciation to the day of his Awakening, it was as if he were in hell -- there”s no need to compare it to being in prison -- because he had been very delicately brought up in his royal home. When he renounced the household life, he faced great difficulties in terms of the four necessities. In addition, there were many, many defilements in his heart related to his treasury and to the nation filled with his royal subjects. It weighed heavily on his heart at all times that he had to leave these things behind. He found no comfort or peace at all, except when he was sound asleep.
As for us, we don”t have a following, don”t have subjects, have never been kings. We became ordained far more easily than the Buddha. And when we make the effort of the practice, we have his teachings, correct in their every aspect, as our guide. Our practice isn”t really difficult like that of the Buddha, who had to struggle on his own with no one to guide him. On this point, we”re very different. We have a much lighter burden in the effort of the practice than the Buddha, who was of royal birth.
Food, wherever we go, is full to overflowing, thanks to the faith of those who are already convinced of the Buddha”s teachings and are not lacking in interest and faith for those who practice rightly. For this reason, monks -- wherever they go -- are not lacking in the four necessities of life, which is very different from the case of the Buddha.
All of the Noble Disciples who followed in the Buddha”s footsteps were second to him in terms of the difficulties they faced. They had a much easier time as regards the four necessities of life, because people by and large had already begun to have faith and conviction in the teachings. But even so, the disciples didn”t take pleasure in the four necessities more than in the Dhamma, in making the single-minded effort to gain release from suffering and stress. This is something very pleasi…
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