..續本文上一頁tion, which doesn”t really correspond to that reality. But even though it doesn”t correspond, you can be assured that the difference is just like that, between the mind imprisoned and the mind released from all coercion, completely free and independent. They”re different in just the way that we”ve said.

　　So be earnest and intent. You”ve come here for the purpose of learning and finding things of substance and value for yourselves. Investigate so as to see clearly in line with the principles of inconstancy, stress, and not-self as I have mentioned, because they underlie the way everything is throughout the three levels of the cosmos. There”s nothing splendid enough for us to feel regret at leaving it. The only thing splendid is release. It”s a nature truly splendid. We don”t have to confer titles on it, because it”s its own nature. It has had enough of everything of every sort. This is what is meant when we say that the flavor of the Dhamma excels all other flavors. Whatever kinds of flavors we may have experienced, the flavor of the Dhamma excels them all, lets them all go, because no other flavor can match it. Even this flavor, it isn”t attached to. This flavor we say is supreme isn”t attached to itself. It”s simply a principle of truth, and that”s all.

　　So. Be earnest, meditators. Don”t get discouraged. Give your life to the Buddha. Even though we may have never said that we”ve given our life to defilement, that”s what we”ve done for an infinitely long time, to the point where we can”t count the times. Even in the single lifetime of an inpidual, we can”t count the times. Take the realm of the present that”s visible to us and work back to infinity: It”s all come from the avijja-paccaya sankhara embedded here in the heart for countless lifetimes. Nothing else in the cosmos has caused us to experience becoming and birth, and to carry the mass of all sufferings, other than this avijja-paccaya sankhara.

　　For this reason, when they say the mind of a person who dies is annihilated, just where is it annihilated

　　 Use the practice to get a hold on the matter. Don”t speak simply in line with the tricks and deceits of defilement that close off our ears and eyes. Defilement says that death is followed by annihilation. See

　　 It”s blinded us completely. As for the defilement that causes people to take birth and die, where is it annihilated

　　 If we want to see through its tricks and deceits, why don”t we take its arrows to shoot it in return

　　 It causes living beings to lie buried in the cycle, so where is defilement annihilated

　　 And what does it coerce, if it doesn”t coerce the mind

　　 If the mind is annihilated, how can defilement coerce it

　　 The mind isn”t annihilated, which is why defilement has been able to coerce it into birth, aging, illness, and death all along without ceasing. So why do we fall for the deceits of defilement when it says that death is followed by annihilation, without having the sense to see the harm of its deceits

　　 This sneaky defilement has fooled living beings into falling for it and grabbing at suffering for a long, infinitely long time.

　　So investigate down to the truth. Find out what is and isn”t annihilated. That”s when you can be called skilled at the Dhamma, skilled at exploring and investigating down to the truth. That”s how the Buddha proclaimed and taught the Dhamma. He taught the Dhamma using the truth he had already practiced by making the causes absolutely complete and attaining results satisfactory to his heart, and then taking that Dhamma to teach the world. So where did he ever say that death is followed by annihilation, just where

　　 He taught nothing but birth, aging, illness, and death, birth, aging, illness, and death, over and over. All of the Buddhas taught like this. They never differed, because the…

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