..续本文上一页the first time, and then you start to wonder why it”s like that, what the meaning is. So you start thinking like this and then you will want to contemplate to find out what it really means. Teaching them, you are also teaching yourself in this way. If you have mindfulness, if you are practicing meditation, it will be like this. Don”t think that you are only teaching others. Have the idea that you are also teaching yourself. Then there is no loss.
AS: It looks like people in the world are becoming more and more equal. Ideas of class and caste are falling away and changing. Some people who believe in astrology say that in a few years there will be great natural disasters that will cause a lot of suffering for the world.... I don”t really know if it”s true.... But they think it”s something beyond our capabilities to deal with, because our lives are too far from nature and we depend on machines for our lives of convenience. They say there will be a lot of changes in nature, such as earthquakes, that nobody can foresee.
AC: They talk to make people suffer.
AS: Right. If we don”t have mindfulness, we can really suffer over this.
AC: The Buddha taught about the present. He didn”t advise us to worry about what might happen in two or three years. In Thailand, people come to me and say, ””Oh, Luang Por, the communists are coming! What will we do
”” I ask, ””Where are those communists
”” ””Well, they”re coming any day now,”” they say.
We”ve had communists from the moment we were born. I don”t try to think beyond that. Having the attitude that there are always obstacles and difficulties in life kills off the ””communists.”” Then we aren”t heedless. Talking about what might happen in four or five years is looking too far away. They say, ””In two or three years Thailand will be communist!”” I”ve always felt that the communists have been around since I was born, and so I”ve always been contending with them, right up to the present moment. But people don”t understand what I”m talking about.
It”s the truth! Astrology can talk about what”s going to happen in two years. But when we talk about the present, they don”t know what to do. Buddhism talks about dealing with things right now and making yourself well-prepared for whatever might happen. Whatever might happen in the world, we don”t have to be too concerned. We just practise to develop wisdom in the present and do what we need to do now, not tomorrow. Wouldn”t that be better
We can wait for an earthquake that might come in three or four years, but actually, things are quaking now. America is really quaking. People”s minds are so wild - that”s your quake right there. But folks don”t recognize it.
Big earthquakes only occur once in a long while, but this earth of our minds is always quaking, every day, every moment. In my lifetime, I”ve never experienced a serious earthquake, but this kind of quake is always happening, shaking us and throwing us all around. This is where the Buddha wanted us to look.
But maybe that”s not what people want to hear.
Things happen due to causes. They cease due to causes ceasing. We don”t need to be worrying about astrological predictions. We can just know what is occurring now. Everyone likes to ask these questions, though. In Thailand, the officials come to me and say, ””The whole country will be communist! What will we do if that happens
””
””We were born - what do we do about that
I haven”t thought much about this problem. I”ve always thought, since the day I was born the ””communists”” have been after me.”” After I reply like this, they don”t have anything to say. It stops them.
People may talk about the dangers of communists taking over in a few years, but the Buddha taught us to prepare ourselves right now, to be aware and contemplate the dangers we…
《Even One Word Is Enough》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…