..续本文上一页ow we abide - alert, acting with precision and always mindfully comprehending with wisdom.

　　Still, Flowing Water

　　Have you ever seen flowing water

　　 Have you ever seen still water

　　 If your mind is peaceful, it will be just like still, flowing water. Have you ever seen still, flowing water

　　 There! You”ve only seen flowing water or still water haven”t you

　　 When your mind is peaceful, you can develop wisdom. Your mind will be like flowing water, and yet still, It”s almost as if it were still, and yet it”s flowing. So I call it "still, flowing water." Wisdom can arise here.

　　Sweet Fruit

　　Even though a fruit is sweet, we must first taste it before we know what its taste is like. Yet, that fruit, even though no one tastes it, is still sweet. But nobody knows it. The Dhamma of the Buddha is like this. Even though it”s the truth, it isn”t true for those who don”t really know it. No matter how excellent or fine it may be, it is worthless to them.

　　Thermos Bottle

　　Read yourself, not books. Truth isn”t outside. That”s only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you don”t fill it, it”s useless.

　　Thirsty Man

　　A man comes walking along a road. He is very thirsty from his journey and is craving for a drink of water. He stops at a place beside the road and asks for a drink. The owner of the water says, "You can drink this water if you like. The color is good, the smell is good, the taste is good, too, but if you drink it, you will become ill. It”ll make you sick enough to die or nearly die." The thirsty man does not listen. He”s as thirsty as a person after an operation who has been denied a good drink of water for a while. He”s crying for water! So he dips out a bit of water and swallows it down, finding it very tasty. He drinks his fill and gets so sick that he almost dies. He didn”t listen to the warning that was given to him because of his overpowering desire.

　　This is how it is for a person caught in the pleasures of the senses. The Buddha taught that they are poisonous but he is thirsty and so he doesn”t listen. He drinks in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations and mind-objects and they are all delicious. So he drinks without stopping, and there he remains stuck fast until the day he dies.

　　Thorn

　　All things are just as they are. They don”t cause suffering to anybody. It”s just like a thorn, a really sharp thorn. Does it make you suffer

　　 No, it”s just a thorn. It doesn”t bother anybody. But if you go and stand on it, you”ll suffer. Why is there suffering

　　 Because you stepped on the thorn. The thorn is just minding its own business. It doesn”t harm anybody. It”s because of we ourselves that there”s pain. Form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness . . . all the things in this world are simply as they are. It”s we who pick fights with them. And if we hit them, they hit us back. IF they”re left alone, they won”t bother anybody. Only the drunkard gives them trouble.

　　Trap

　　The Buddha taught that the objects of the senses are a trap, a trap of Mara”s. It is a hunter”s trap and the hunter is Mara. If animals are caught in a hunter”s trap, it”s a sorrowful predicament. They are caught fast and are held waiting for the owner of the trap. Have you ever snared birds

　　 The snare springs and - boop! - caught by the neck! A good strong string holds it fast. Wherever the bird flies, it cannot escape. It flies here and flies there, but it”s held tight, waiting for the owner of the snare to come. When the hunter comes along, that”s it! The bird is struck with fear and there is no escape. The trap of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch and mind-objects is the same. They catch us and bind us fast.

　　Traveler

　　Naturally people who wish to reach their home are not those who merely sit …

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