..续本文上一页en they get old they become regretful. These people shouldn”t eat ripe mangoes! Why do we want the mangoes to be ripe

　　 If they”re not ripe in time, we ripen them artificially, don”t we

　　 But when we become old we are filled with regret. Some people cry, they”re afraid to get old or die. If it”s like this then they shouldn”t eat ripe mangoes, better eat just the flowers! If we can see this then we can see the Dhamma. Everything clears up, we are at peace. Just determine to practice like that.

　　So today the Chief Privy Councillor and his party have come together to hear the Dhamma. You should take what I”ve said and contemplate it. If anything is not right, please excuse me. But for you to know whether it”s right or wrong depends on your practicing and seeing for yourselves. Whatever”s wrong, throw it out. If it”s right then take it and use it. But actually we practice in order to let go both right and wrong. In the end we just throw everything out. If it”s right, throw it out; wrong, throw it out! Usually if it”s right we cling to rightness, if it”s wrong we hold it to be wrong, and then arguments follow. But he Dhamma is the place where there”s nothing — nothing at all.

　　"...The Buddha was enlightened in the world, he contemplated the world. If he hadn”t contemplated the world, if he hadn”t seen the world, he couldn”t have risen above it. The Buddha”s enlightenment was simply enlightenment of this very world. The world was still there: gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness were all still there. If there weren”t these things there would be nothing to become enlightened to..."

　　Opening the Dhamma Eye

　　Some of us start to practice, and even after a year or two, still don”t know what”s what. We are still unsure of the practice. When we”re still unsure, we don”t see that everything around us is purely Dhamma, and so we turn to teachings from the Ajahns. But actually, when we know our own mind, when there is sati to look closely at the mind, there is wisdom. All times and all places become occasions for us to hear the Dhamma.

　　We can learn Dhamma from nature, from trees for example. A tree is born due to causes and it grows following the course of nature. Right here the tree is teaching us Dhamma, but we don”t understand this. In due course, it grows until it buds, flowers and fruit appear. All we see is the appearance of the flowers and fruit; we”re unable to bring this within and contemplate it. Thus we don”t know that the tree is teaching us Dhamma. The fruit appears and we merely eat it without investigating: sweet, sour or salty, it”s the nature of the fruit. And this Dhamma, the teaching of the fruit. Following on, the leaves grow old. They wither, die and then fall from the tree. All we see is that the leaves have fallen down. We step on them, we sweep them up, that”s all. We don”t investigate thoroughly, so we don”t know that nature is teaching us. Later on the new leaves sprout, and we merely see that, without taking it further. We don”t bring these things into our minds to contemplate.

　　If we can bring all this inwards and investigate it, we will see that the birth of a tree and our own birth are no different. This body of ours is born and exists dependent on conditions, on the elements of earth, water, wind and fire. It has its food, it grows and grows. Every part of the body changes and flows according to its nature. It”s no different from the tree; hair, nails, teeth and skin — all change. If we know the things of nature, then we will know ourselves.

　　People are born. In the end they die. Having died they are born again. Nails, teeth and skin are constantly dying and re-growing. If we understand the practice then we can see that a tree is no different from ourselves. If we under…

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