..續本文上一頁 from its attachments, it becomes lighter and lighter, more and more at ease. The savor of the Dhamma will appear step by step, even more exquisite than on the level of concentration. When the flavor of the Dhamma surpasses the flavor of these various defilements, they have to be discarded and trampled underfoot.

　　The physical khandha -- the body -- is important. It has a really great impact on the mind. To love it is to suffer. To hate it is to suffer. To be angry with it is to suffer. The affairs connected with the body are more prominent than any others. If the mind has no stillness, there”s nowhere it can find any relief. There”s nowhere we as monks can retreat to find any pleasure. For this reason, we must try to still our minds and make use of the Dhamma to attack our defilements.

　　Don”t feel any regret for the time it takes. Don”t feel any regret for the cycles of rebirth, for the prison, for our wardens and torturers: the various kinds of defilement. These have been our greatest torturers from time immemorial. Even though we may not remember for how long, simply hold to the principle of the present as your primary guide and they”ll all be scattered. The past, no matter how long, is simply a matter of this same mass of suffering. If we can”t shed it, these things will have to continue this way forever.

　　Don”t be interested in any other matters. Keep watch of the truth -- which is within you, proclaiming itself at all times -- by using mindfulness, discernment, conviction, and persistence. Don”t let up or retreat. Don”t see anything as having greater value than the effort of extricating yourself from these things that coerce and oppress you. You”ll then be able to make something extraordinary of yourself. Whether or not you give yourself titles, make sure at least that you aren”t burdened or attached right here. This is where the Buddha says the highest savor is found. Uproot the things that involve and entangle you each step along the way. Keep cutting your way in, beginning with the physical heap -- the body -- which is one wall or one thick covering.

　　Once you”ve passed the physical heap, ransacked this physical heap and known it clearly with understanding, without any remaining ties, it”s as if you have amassed a large pile of capital, clear to your heart. You can be certain of progressing to release at one point or another in this present lifetime, with no need to anticipate it as happening in this year or that. Once the mind has attained this level, you can be sure of yourself. Persistence comes on its own. The pain and difficulties that come from making the effort are completely erased of their own accord, because the flavor of the Dhamma appearing clearly to the heart has a power far overriding the pains that come from the persistent effort. The heart becomes motivated through the principles of its nature. Persistence keeps spinning in the person who used to be lazy.

　　Laziness is a matter of the defilements resisting and fighting the Dhamma. When we start out making the effort, then laziness, weakness, discouragement, pain, and difficulty all come thronging in, oppressing us so that we can”t take a step, and we finally fall down with a crash. That shows we”ve been shot. They don”t have to shoot us a second time. One shot and we”re down -- down on the pillow, snoring away. We keep getting shot by the defilements, again and again, till we”re thoroughly mangled. Our efforts don”t amount to anything. If this is the way things are, then we”ll be sunk in the round of rebirth, sunk in the prison of the wheel of rebirth forever, with never a day when we”ll gain release, never a day when we”ll be free.

　　So slash away at the defilements, using the principles of the Dhamma that the Buddha taught and aren”t otherwise. You”…

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