..续本文上一页s just like a farmer who hasn”t yet finished his field. Every year he plants rice, but this year he still hasn”t gotten his planting finished, so his mind is always stuck on that. His mind can”t rest happily because he knows his work is not yet finished. Even when he”s with friends, he can”t relax. He”s all the time nagged by the thought of his unfinished field. Or it”s like a mother who leaves her baby upstairs in the house while she goes to feed the animals below. She”s always got her baby on her mind, for fear something might happen to it. Even though she may be doing other things, her baby is never far from her thoughts. It”s just the same for us in our practice. We should never forget it. Even though we may be doing other things, our practice should never be far from our thoughts. It should constantly be with us, day and night. It has to be like this if we”re really going to make progress.

　　Football

　　Even though simply listening to the Dhamma might not lead to realization, it is beneficial. There were, in the Buddha”s time, those who did realize the Dhamma, even became arahants, while listening to a discourse. They could be compared to a football. When a football gets air pumped into it, it expands. Now the air in that football is all pushing to get out, but there”s no hole for it to do so. As soon as a needle punctures the football, however, all the air comes rushing out. This is the same as the minds of those disciples who were enlightened while listening to the Dhamma. As soon as they heard the Dhamma and it hit the right spot, wisdom arose. They immediately understood and realized the true Dhamma.

　　Friends

　　The Buddha didn”t want us to follow this mind. He wanted us to train it. If it goes one way, go the other way. In other word, whatever the mind wants, don”t let it have. It”s like having been friends with someone for years, but we finally reach a point where our ideas are no longer the same. We no longer understand each other. In fact, we even argue too much and so we split up and go our separate ways. That”s right, don”t follow your mind. Whoever follows his mind follows its likes and desires and everything else. This means that that person has not yet practiced at all.

　　Fruit in Hand

　　It”s of great importance to practice the Dhamma. If we don”t practice it, then all our knowledge is only superficial knowledge, just the outer shell of it. It”s as if we have some sort of fruit in our hand, but we don”t eat it. Even though we have that fruit in our hand, we get no benefit from it. Only through the actual eating of the fruit will we really know its taste.

　　Fruit Tree

　　A tree matures, blossoms, and fruit appear and ripen. They then rot and the seeds go back into the ground to become new fruit trees. The cycle starts once more. Eventually there are more fruit which ripen and fall, rot, sink into the ground as seeds, and grow once more into trees. This is how the world is. It doesn”t go very far. It just revolves around the same old things. Our lives these days are the same. Today we are simply doing the same old things we”ve always done. We think too much. There are so many things for us to get interested in, but none of them leads to true completion.

　　Garbage Can

　　Sometimes teaching is hard work. A teacher is like a garbage can that people throw their frustrations and problems into. The more people you teach the bigger the garbage disposal problem. Don”t worry. Teaching is a wonderful way to practice Dhamma. The Dhamma can help all those who genuinely apply it in their lives. Those who teach grow in patience and in understanding.

　　Going Astray

　　People think that doing this and memorizing that, studying such-and-such, will cause suffering to end. But it”s just like a person who wants a lot of things. He tries …

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