The Savor of the Dhamma

　　December 13, 1981

　　The mind constantly coerced or oppressed at all times and the mind absolutely released from that coercion and oppression are two very different things -- so different that there is no conventional reality that can be compared to the mind released. This sort of mind doesn”t lie in the realm of conventional reality in such a way that anything may rightly be compared to it in keeping with the reality of its nature. Even though some comparisons can be made, they”re simply a manner of speaking. They aren”t really in line with the truth of that nature as it exists. We have to make comparisons simply because the world has its conventions and analogies.

　　We see prisoners in jail who are coerced and oppressed, who are deprived of their freedom at all times beginning from the day of their imprisonment to the day of their release. What sort of happiness do they have

　　 Even though they may have their laughter, in line with the things that may make them laugh, it”s still the laughter of prisoners. Just hearing the word ”prisoner” is enough to tell us that happiness isn”t what produces their laughter. Their penalty is what produces their laughter. It keeps coercing and oppressing them. So where can we find any happiness and pleasure among them

　　We can take this and compare it inwardly to the state of affairs between the mind and the defilements that coerce and oppress it. These things control and coerce it with every mental moment. Even when the mind isn”t forming any thoughts, it”s still controlled and coerced in this way, in line with its nature. When this is the case, where can it find any true happiness

　　 The happiness it does have is happiness like the food fed to prisoners. And what sort of food is that

　　 Even though we may never have been imprisoned, we know what sort of food is fed to prisoners. Is there anything satisfying about it, the food they feed prisoners

　　The foods -- the temptations -- with which the defilements feed the mind, if we were to speak in the way of the world, are simply to keep it from dying, in the same way that prisoners are fed. The defilements feed the mind so that it can be put to work, in the same way that prisoners are fed so that they can be put to work, so that we can get the fruits of their labor. The food for the mind that the defilements bring to sustain us is thus like the food fed to prisoners. There”s no difference at all. If we compare them, that”s the way they are.

　　But if we look from a different angle, we can see that prisoners are still better off than we are, because they know that they eat their food out of necessity. They don”t eat it out of satisfaction with it or its taste or anything, because there”s nothing at all gratifying about the food they are fed. But we meditators are still content to be attached to the flavor of worldly pleasures, so we”re said to be stuck. When we”re attached to visual objects, it”s because we find flavor in them. When we”re attached to sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, it”s simply because we find flavor in them. It”s not the case that the only flavor is the flavor we taste with the tongue. All forms of contact -- with the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind -- have their flavor, and we”ve been attached to them in such a way that we haven”t even realized our attachment for aeons and aeons.

　　The mind is attached, bound, and feels love for these things without knowing that they are flavors that tie us down, that they are all matters of defilement: the flavors of defilement. So we are attached to the point where we will never know the harm of these flavors at all if we don”t use mindfulness and discernment to investigate them wisely. Regardless of how many aeons may pass, we will have to be attached t…

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