..续本文上一页 He didn”t get over-pleased or unduly upset about these things. His mind was firmly established in the activity of contemplation.

　　There! Añña Kondañña had received the Eye of Dhamma. He saw Nature, which we call sankharas, according to truth. Wisdom is that which knows the truth of sankharas. This is the mind which knows and sees Dhamma, which has surrendered.

　　Until we have seen the Dhamma we must have patience and restraint. We must endure, we must renounce! We must cultivate diligence and endurance. Why must we cultivate diligence

　　 Because we”re lazy! Why must we develop endurance

　　 Because we don”t endure! That the way it is. But when we are already established in our practice, have finished with laziness, then we don”t need to use diligence. If we already know the truth of all mental states, if we don”t get happy or unhappy over them, we don”t need to exercise endurance, because the mind is already Dhamma. The ”One who knows” has seen the Dhamma, he is the Dhamma.

　　When the mind is Dhamma, it stops. It has attained peace. There”s no longer a need to do anything special, because the mind is Dhamma already. The outside is Dhamma, the inside is Dhamma. The ”One who knows” is Dhamma. The state is Dhamma and that which knows the state is Dhamma. It is one. It is free.

　　This Nature is not born, it does not age nor sicken. This Nature does not die. This Nature is neither happy nor sad, neither big nor small, heavy nor light; neither short nor long, black nor white. There”s nothing you can compare it to. No convention can reach it. This is why we say Nirvana has no color. All colors are merely conventions. The state which is beyond the world is beyond the reach of worldly conventions.

　　So the Dhamma is that which is beyond the world. It is that which each person should see for himself. It is beyond language. You can”t put it into words, you can only talk about ways and means of realizing it. The person who has seen it for himself has finished his work.

　　"...Regardless of time and place, the whole practice of Dhamma comes to completion at the place where there is nothing. It”s the place of surrender, of emptiness, of laying down the burden..."

　　Convention and Liberation

　　The things of this world are merely conventions of our own making. Having established them we get lost in them, and refuse to let go, giving rise to clinging to our personal views and opinions. This clinging never ends, it is samsara, flowing endlessly on. It has no completion. Now, if we know conventional reality then we”ll know Liberation. If we clearly know Liberation, then we”ll know convention. This is to know the Dhamma. Here there is completion.

　　Take people, for instance. In reality people don”t have any names, we are simply born naked into the world. If we have names, they arise only through convention. I”ve contemplated this and seen that is you don”t know the truth of this convention it can be really harmful. It”s simply something we use for convenience. Without it we couldn”t communicate, there would be nothing to say, no language.

　　I”ve seen the Westerners when they sit in meditation together in the West. When they get up after sitting, men and women together, sometimes they go and touch each other on the head! 19 When I saw this I thought, "Ehh, if we cling to convention it gives rise to defilements right there." If we can let go of convention, give up our opinions, we are at peace.

　　Like the generals and colonels, men of rank and position, who come to see me. When they come they say, "Oh, please touch my head." 20 If they ask like this there”s nothing wrong with it, t, hey”re glad to have their heads touched. But if you tapped their heads in the middle of the street it”d be a different story! This is because of clinging. So…

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