..续本文上一页onfusion. It”s like the water of a river. It naturally flows downhill. It never flows uphill. That”s its nature. If we were to go and stand on the bank of a river, and seeing the water flowing swiftly down its course, foolishly want it to flow back uphill, we would suffer. We would suffer because of our wrong view, our thinking "against the stream." If we had right view, we would see that the water must flow downhill. Until we realize and accept this fact, we will always be agitated and never find peace of mind. Our body is like the river that must flow downhill. It passes through youth, old age and finally dies. Don”t let us go wishing it were otherwise. It”s not something we have the power to remedy. Don”t go against the stream!
Road
Wherever you are, know yourself by being natural and watchful. If doubts arise let them come and go. When you meet defilements, just see them and overcome them by letting go of them. It”s very simple - hold on to nothing. It”s as though you are walking down a road. Periodically you will run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and overcome them by letting go of them. Don”t think about the obstacles you have already passed. Don”t worry about the obstacles you have not yet met. Stick to the present. Don”t be concerned about the length of the road or about your destination. Everything is changing. Whatever you pass, do not cling to it. Eventually the mind will reach its natural balance. Then it will be still whether you sit with your eyes closed or walk around in a big city.
Rock
The teaching that people least understand and which conflicts most with their own opinions is the teaching of letting go or working with the empty mind. When we conceive this in worldly terms, we become confused and think that we can do anything we want. It can be interpreted in this way, but its real meaning is closer to this: It”s as if we were carrying a heavy rock. After a while we begin to feel its weight, but we don”t know how to let go. So we endure this heavy burden all the time. If someone tells us to throw it away, we say, "If I throw it away, I won”t have anything left!" If told of all the benefits to be gained by throwing it away, we would not believe it, but would keep on thinking, "If I throw my rock away, I will have nothing." So we keep on carrying this heavy rock until it becomes so unbearably heavy, and we become so weak and exhausted, that we just have to drop it. Having dropped it, we suddenly experience the benefits of letting go. We immediately feel better and lighter and we know for ourselves how much of a burden carrying a rock can be. Before we let go of the rock, we couldn”t possibly know the benefits of letting go. Later on we may start carrying burdens again, but now we know what the results will be, so we can now let go more easily. This understanding - that it”s useless carrying burdens around and that letting go brings ease and lightness - is an example of knowing ourselves. Our pride, our sense of self that we depend on, is the same as that heavy rock. Like that rock, if we think about letting go of self, we are afraid that without it there would be nothing left. But when we can finally let it go we realize for ourselves the ease and comfort of not clinging.
Screw
If you clearly see the truth through meditation, then suffering will become unwound, just like a screw. When you unwind a screw, it withdraws. It”s not tightly fixed as when you screw it, clockwise. The mind withdraws like this. It lets go, it relinquishes. It”s not tightly bound within good and evil, within possessions, praise and blame, happiness or suffering. If we don”t know the truth, it”s like tightening the screw all the time. You screw it down until it crushes you and you suffer over everything. …
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