..续本文上一页 and putting them into the ground to help make our papaya trees grown. Dung is filthy stuff, but when the trees give fruit, the papayas are so nice and sweet. Whenever doubt arises, for example, look at it, investigate right there. This will help your practice grow and bear sweet fruit.
Tape Recorder
If listening to Dhamma makes your heart peaceful, that”s good enough. You don”t need to make an effort to remember anything. Some of you may not believe this, but if your heart is peaceful and you just listen to what is being said, letting it pass by while contemplating continuously, then you”ll be like a tape recorder. After some time, when you turn on, everything will be there. Have no fear that there won”t be anything. As soon as you turn on your tape recorder, everything will be there.
Thief and Boxer
People who have wrong understanding practice meditation like a thief who, after having got caught, hires a clever lawyer to get him out of trouble. Once he is out, however, he starts stealing again. Or they are like a boxer who gets beaten up, nurses his wounds, and then goes to fight again which only brings him fresh wounds. And this cycle goes on endlessly. The purpose of meditation is more than just calming ourselves from time to time, getting ourselves out of trouble, but seeing and uprooting the causes which make us not calm to begin with.
Thieves and Murderers
Your body and mind are like a gang of thieves and murderers. They keep trying to drag you into the fire of greed, hatred, and delusion. They cheat you through the pleasures of the senses. They call in sweet melodic voices from the other side of the door, saying, "Oh, come here, please come here." And when you open the door, they shoot you.
Tightly Woven Net
Know and watch your heart. It”s pure but emotions come to color it. So let your mind be like a tightly woven net to catch emotions and feelings that come, and investigate them before you react.
Tree
Fostering the practice of Buddhism can be likened to a tree. A tree has roots, a trunk, branches and leaves. Every single leaf and branch, including the trunk, depends on the roots to absorb nutriment and send it up to them. A tree is dependent on the roots for sustenance. We are the same. Our actions and our speech are like the trunk, branches, and twigs. The mind is like the root, which absorbs nutriment and sends it out to sustain them, which in turn bears fruit. Whatever state the mind is in, be it based in wrong view or right view outwardly through our actions and speech. So nurturing Buddhism through the practical application of the Teachings is very important.
Trees Growing Outward
Does anyone order the trees to grow the way they do
They can”t talk nor can they move around, and yet they grow away from obstacles. Wherever it”s cramped and growing will be difficult, they bend outwards. Trees by nature don”t know anything. They act on natural laws, yet they do know enough to grow away from danger, to incline toward a suitable place. People are like this. We want to transcend suffering, and if that which we like and that which we don”t like are suffering, we should then not go so close to them, not be cramped by them. When we incline toward the Buddha, suffering will lessen and eventually come to a complete end.
Vanity
Worldly people usually speak out of vanity. For example, suppose there was a certain person whom you hadn”t seen for a long time, and then one day you happen to meet on the train: "Oh, I”m so glad to see you! I was just thinking to look you up!" Actually it”s not so. You hadn”t even thought of him at all, but you just say so at the time out of gladness. And so it becomes a lie. Yes, it”s lying out of heedlessness. This is a refined form of lying, and people tend to speak like…
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