..续本文上一页is not the Buddhist way just to accept something on faith. We should put everything to the test and decide for ourselves whether to have faith in it. So there is a relationship between action and faith in the buddhadharma. That”s why I encourage you to put this practice to the test. You can start by taking a look and seeing for yourself where you spend most of your life. In bed

　　 On your feet

　　 On your seat

　　 And while you”re there, what is it that you are doing

　　 What do you long for

　　 Everything to change

　　 Nothing to change

　　Somewhere deep within most of us we”re not convinced that we can really make a shift or change. When we hear a teaching such as this, something inside of us is conditioned to reject it and say it”s just another fantasy we shouldn”t take seriously. So I don”t know what it takes. Our conditioning is so strong that maybe the rug has to be pulled from beneath our feet, or the whole floor has to drop away. Believe me, I know from my own experience. Even when I was in the hospital after a cancer operation, I was still smoking. Can you believe it

　　 That”s how stupid we are! I had a carton of cigarettes in my lower drawer. That”s how much I was in denial and unaware of addiction. But whatever we practice is what we get. It”s really true. So if you”re practicing abusing yourself, all I can say is that it”s not beneficial to yourself or others.

　　That”s why I want to encourage you to try. Even though your delusion practice is excellent and maintains its energy, exhausting and undermining you at the end of the day, and you get carried away with it every time, you should still try. At least during meditation practice, when it comes up, you can be aware of it. And gradually in your world, in the big zendo in action, you can become aware of it. You have some way to work with your conditioning, your life and your world: some real way that is not abstract but solid, to help you stay on the train.

《View From a Moving Train》全文阅读结束。