..續本文上一頁tching our food, like a pig lying next to its hay and then climbing up to lie on the chopping block. As for the Dhamma, we have no hope of winning it. Any meditation monk who is ”clever” in this way is bound to go under in this way without a doubt.

　　To have mindfulness and discernment, we have to think. However much of the necessities of life we may have, we must find tactics for keeping the mind in shape, to keep wary and uncomplacent like a deer wary of danger.

　　In places where you don”t have to be wary of food like this, the mind goes about thinking in another way to reform itself. There, where will you get an excess of anything

　　 Everything is lacking. Insufficient. Some days you get enough alms to eat, some days you don”t. ”This way there”s nothing to be concerned about, because you”ve been full and been hungry before. Even if you go without food for one or two days, you won”t die.”

　　This is how the heart deals with the problem, and so it isn”t concerned about food or anything else. If there”s nothing but rice, you eat rice — and you don”t see that you”re concerned about it. ”After all, you”ve come to a place like this, so what”s wrong with eating whatever”s available

　　 Where are you going to find anything to go with the rice

　　 You”ve been fed rice ever since the day you were born, so what”s wrong with eating just rice

　　 Can you eat other things without rice

　　 If eating other things is really special, you”ve already eaten a lot of them, so why aren”t you ever full

　　 You”ve come looking for the Dhamma, not for food. Why are you so worked up about your stomach

　　 You”ve already eaten a lot, and yet nothing special has ever come of it. You”re looking for the extraordinary Dhamma, so what business do you have getting worked up about food

　　 An expert in Dhamma isn”t an expert in eating.” The mind deals with the situation in the flash of an eye, and the end result is that it isn”t concerned. This is how a meditation monk subdues himself — or in other words, subdues his greed for the necessities of life.

　　And as a result of correcting itself in the matter of eating or not eating, the mind keeps spinning. You sit in meditation without getting tired. With no food in your stomach, what is there to get drowsy about

　　 If you don”t eat at all, you”re not drowsy at all and can meditate with ease.

　　This is a tactic in teaching monks to practice the Dhamma ”rukkhamula-senasanam” — under the shade of trees, in the mountains, in the forest, in lonely places where it”s scary — ahara-sappaya, where the food is amenable. ”Amenable” here means that it doesn”t disrupt the body, that it isn”t harmful or toxic to the body; and that it doesn”t disrupt the mind as well. ”Amenable food” means nothing but rice sometimes, or just a little food, so that our meditation goes well. It”s amenable for those intent on the Dhamma.

　　But those of us who are intent on nourishing the stomach for the sake of the body can”t do this at all. Otherwise we”ll die — don”t say I didn”t warn you. Normally if we eat a lot, with nothing but good dishes to eat, then we sleep like pigs. How can this be amenable

　　 It”s amenable for the defilements, not for winning the Dhamma. It”s amenable for the affairs of defilements and the affairs of pigs.

　　The term ”amenable food” has to refer to eating in a way that serves a purpose. To eat just a little serves a purpose: Wherever we sit in meditation, the mind is really solid. If we”re involved with concentration, the mind is solid. If we”re involved with discernment, it keeps spinning with much more agility than normal.

　　The Dhamma tends to arise in places where things are lacking, in difficult places where we”re cornered, at the end of our rope. It doesn”t arise where things are overflowing, where our needs are met. It doesn”t arise in comfortable places because we just get complacent. This is the way we tend to be.

　　The Lord Buddha lived in a royal palace — for how long

　　 — and then left it to take up the homeless life. Who ever suffered more than he

　　 ”Buddha” — Awakening — tends to arise in situations like that. His disciples came from all sorts of families — the families of kings, financiers, landowners — listen to this — wealthy people. When they went out to become ”sons of the Sakyan, sons of the victorious Buddha,” how did they live

　　 ”If we”re going to die, then we die. We”re not going to worry or be bothered with anything at all except for the Dhamma.” There! They gained the Dhamma in difficult places, just like the Buddha.

　　So which way are we going to take

　　 The Buddha has already shown us the way. The Dhamma arises in that sort of place — in tight spots where things are difficult. The Dhamma arises from a heap of suffering. If there”s no heap of suffering, then mindfulness and discernment don”t arise. If we don”t think, we don”t gain mindfulness and discernment. The Dhamma doesn”t appear. If there”s a lot of stress, it”s a whetstone for discernment, which probes for clear insight into the affairs of stress. This way we can live through it and come out superlative people.

　　So then. Evam.

《Straight from the Heart - At the End of Ones Rope》全文閱讀結束。