..續本文上一頁 causality, karma, rebirth, and the four noble truths, how will you act

　　 What kind of life will you lead

　　 Won”t you tend to be more responsible and compassionate

　　 If, on the other hand, you were to believe in any of the alternatives—such as a doctrine of an impersonal fate or a deity who determined the course of your pleasure and pain, or a doctrine that all things were coincidental and without cause—what would those beliefs logically lead you to do

　　 If you acted consistently in line with them, would they allow you to put an end to suffering through your own efforts

　　 Would they allow any purpose for effort at all

　　 If, on the other hand, you refused to commit to a coherent idea of what human action can do, would you be likely to pursue a demanding path of practice all the way through to the end

　　 This was the kind of reasoning that the Buddha used to inspire faith in his Awakening and in its relevance to our own search for true happiness. The fourth simile stresses the importance of not settling for anything less than the genuine thing:

　　A man searching for heartwood goes into a forest and comes to a tree containing heartwood, but instead of taking the heartwood, he takes home some sapwood, branches, or bark.

　　Faith in the possibility of nirvana—the heartwood of the path—is what keeps you from getting waylaid by the pleasures of the sapwood and bark: the gratification that comes from being generous and virtuous, the sense of peace, interconnectedness, and oneness that comes with strong concentration. Yet, nirvana isn”t connected to anything we”ve ever experienced. It”s already there, but hidden by all our desires for physical and mental activity. To touch it, we have to abandon our habitual attachment to activity. To believe that such a thing is possible, and that it”s the ultimate happiness, is to take a major leap. Many in the Buddha”s time many were willing to take the leap, while many others were not, preferring to content themselves with the branches and sapwood, wanting simply to learn how to live happily with their families in this life and go to heaven in the next. Nirvana, they said, could wait. Faced with this honest and gentle resistance to his teaching on nirvana, the Buddha was happy to comply.

　　But he was less tolerant of the stronger resistance he received from Brahmas, heavenly deities who complacently felt that their experience of limitless oneness and compassion in the midst of samsara—their sapwood—was superior to the heartwood of nirvana. In their case he used all the psychic and intellectual powers at his disposal to humble their pride, for he realized that their views totally closed the door to Awakening. If you see your sapwood as heartwood, you won”t look for anything better. When your sapwood breaks, you”ll decide that heartwood is a lie. But if you realize you“re using bark and sapwood, you leave open the possibility that someday you”ll go back and give the heartwood a try.

　　Of course, it”s even better if you can take the Buddha”s teachings on nirvana as a direct challenge in this lifetime—as if he were saying, “Here”s your chance. Can you prove me wrong

　　”

　　The fifth simile:

　　An experienced elephant hunter, searching for a big bull elephant, comes across a large elephant footprint in the forest. However, he doesn”t jump to the conclusion that it”s the footprint of a big bull elephant. Why

　　 Because there are dwarf female elephants with big feet. It might be one of theirs. He follows along and sees some scratch marks and tusk marks high up on the trees, but still doesn”t jump to the conclusion that he”s on the trail of a big bull elephant. Why

　　 Because there are tall female elephants with tusks. The marks might be theirs. He follows along and finally sees a big bull elephant under a tree or in a clearing. Tha…

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