..续本文上一页, that”s all. While sleeping we breathe, eating we breathe, don”t we

　　 Why don”t we have time to meditate

　　 Wherever we are we breathe. If we think like this then our life has as much value as our breath, wherever we are we have time.

　　All kinds of thinking are mental conditions, not conditions of body, so we need simply have presence of mind, then we will know right and wrong at all times. Standing, walking, sitting and lying, there”s plenty of time. We just don”t know how to use it properly. Please consider this.

　　We cannot run away from feeling, we must know it. Feeling is just feeling, happiness is just happiness, unhappiness is just unhappiness. They are simply that. So why should we cling to them

　　 If the mind is clever, simply to hear this is enough to enable us to separate feeling from the mind.

　　If we investigate like this continuously the mind will find release, but it”s not escaping through ignorance. The mind lets go, but it knows. It doesn”t let go through stupidity, not because it doesn”t want things to be the way they are. It lets go because it knows according to the truth. This is seeing nature, the reality that”s all around us.

　　When we know this we are someone who”s skilled with the mind, we are skilled with mental impressions. When we are skilled with mental impressions we are skilled with the world. This is to be a "Knower of the World." The Buddha was someone who clearly knew the world with all its difficulty. He knew the troublesome, and that which was not troublesome was right there. This world is so confusing, how is it that the Buddha was able to know it

　　 Here we should understand that the Dhamma taught by the Buddha is not beyond our ability. In all postures we should have presence of mind and self-awareness — and when it”s time to sit meditation we do that.

　　We sit in meditation to establish peacefulness and cultivate mental energy. We don”t do it in order to play around at anything special. Insight meditation is sitting in samadhi itself. At some places they say, "Now we are going to sit in samadhi, after that we”ll do insight meditation." Don”t pide them like this! Tranquillity is the base which gives rise to wisdom; wisdom is the fruit of tranquillity. To say that now we are going to do calm meditation, later we”ll do insight — you can”t do that! You can only pide them in speech. Just like a knife, the blade is on one side, the back of the blade on the other. You can”t pide them. If you pick up one side you get both sides. Tranquillity gives rise to wisdom like this.

　　Morality is the father and mother of Dhamma. In the beginning we must have morality. Morality is peace. This means that there are no wrong doings in body or speech. When we don”t do wrong then we don”t get agitated; when we don”t become agitated then peace and collectedness arise within the mind. So we say that morality, concentration and wisdom are the path on which all the Noble Ones have walked to enlightenment. They are all one. Morality is concentration, concentration is morality. Concentration is wisdom, wisdom is concentration. It”s like a mango. When it”s a flower we call it a flower. When it becomes a fruit we call it a mango. When it ripens we call it a ripe mango. It”s all one mango but it continually changes. The big mango grows from the small mango, the small mango becomes a big one. You can call them different fruits or all one. Morality, concentration and wisdom are related like this. In the end it”s all the path that leads to enlightenment.

　　The mango, from the moment it first appears as a flower, simply grows to ripeness. This is enough, we should see it like this. Whatever others call it, it doesn”t matter. Once it”s born it grows to old age, and then where

　　 We should contemplate this.

　　Some people don”t want to be old. Wh…

《A Taste of Freedom》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…