..續本文上一頁at all of the marvels I have mentioned here were simply an affair of unawareness. They had simply been a support, a way-station, a seed that had produced conviction step by step, but after that — if you were to say they were good, they were good; but if you”re aiming at the subtle Dhamma, this goodness is the goodness of unawareness. It”s not genuine goodness, not pure goodness. It”s goodness mixed with evil, with suffering and stress, because stress still has a chance to arise. We have to keep slashing in, slashing in until everything is smithereens in the heart. Whatever is a seed of anything counterfeit in the heart, wash it away, scrub it away, until nothing is left, and that”s all. The entire mind that is assumed to be ”this” or ”that” is all gone.
This is where the mind reaches absolute purity, where it reaches complete freedom from all conventional realities. That”s really ”all”! It”s astounding. If it weren”t astounding, it wouldn”t be release from stress. This is a Dhamma apart — a Dhamma beyond conventions.
Whether what I”ve described here is difficult or not, consider it for yourselves. Sometimes I”d feel ready to pass out. Sometimes I”d feel as if the entire body were on fire. When the pain was really fierce, it seemed to fill the entire body. But ultimately I was able to pass through these things, to resolve them using mindfulness and discernment.
So if we put them to use, mindfulness and discernment are never at the end of their rope. We human beings aren”t fated always to be stupid, you know. When we come to the end of our rope, we”re sure to be able to save ourselves. Who should be willing to go under when we have the mindfulness and discernment to remedy things, or when there”s an opening through which we can escape, through which we can force our way out
Who would willingly be buried to death
We can”t help but manage to find a way out.
When the pain is so piled on that we can”t see any way to cure it other than using mindfulness and discernment to explore and find a way out, discernment doesn”t depend on this person or that. When the time comes for the mind to investigate when it”s cornered, it gathers its forces and manages to save itself.
The Buddha thus taught us to live in ”crucial” places — places where we”re cornered, at the end of our rope — where we live simply, so that mindfulness and discernment can work full steam ahead and see their own capabilities, rather than simply waiting for help from others. Time and place can help give rise to mindfulness and discernment. If we live in a scary place, mindfulness is strong. Discernment is sharp. Whatever we investigate, they are adroit and audacious. If we live in a comfortable place, we get lazy. We eat a lot and sleep a lot. This is the way it is with the mind. If we live in ordinary circumstances, we”re very lazy, very inert, very apathetic and listless. If we live in places that aren”t scary, we become heedless and revert to being complacent, to sleeping like pigs.
If we live in a scary place, we”re always alert. When we”re alert, we”re always self-aware, because alertness is what it means to be mindful. Mindfulness appears within us, always self-aware, always engaged in persistent effort. Whatever makes contact, we understand because we”re not complacent, because we”re always alert. This is why we”re taught to live in whatever places are appropriate, because they can give good encouragement or support to our persistent effort.
If we have comfortable huts in which to live — as we have here — everything cares for our every need. Food overflows our bowls. We”re flooded day and night with fruit juice, soft drinks, cocoa, and coffee. Main course dishes and desserts come pouring in from every direction. If we lack mindfulness and discernment, we lie clu…
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