..续本文上一页 joy, as if you were given the gift. Even more importantly, check to see whether the Dharma is true or not. See whether this discipline of your mind sustains you or not; if that clean way to happiness is really the most noble way of obtaining happiness or not. Does it really bring you that feeling of deep sanity inside, or not

　　 These are all questions for us to examine.

　　When we examine this, we can recognize: "Ah, yes! Now is not like yesterday. Now I”m feeling very sane inside. Yes, today I am feeling very cheerful. Today I feel sustained by my discipline of rejoicing. I feel touched by my own good mind and good heart. Today I feel much better off than when I”ve gained anything in the past. Today I feel like I have an indestructible discipline inside myself rather than being dependent on outside circumstances.”

　　When you begin to feel this way, seeing your mind in this light, and really get the nectar from the goodness of your mind to sustain yourself, then next time you”ll be even more interested to do that again.

　　So, part of the teacher”s job is to introduce this view to clarify confusions. When you are caught up in confusion, and don”t know which direction to go that will bring you to a place of sanity and freedom from your neurosis, then you”re just lacking information. You”ve simply been deprived of the wisdom that the Enlightened Ones have discovered.

　　To find this kind of wisdom on one”s own, without education, is very difficult. The Buddha went through so much hardship to gain this knowledge and wisdom of how to develop our qualities and good heart to sustain our well-being, not just for ourselves but to contribute to the well-being of others. He went through great hardship for just one single bit of such information. Now all this information that the Buddha has cultivated through so much hardship, he has given to us as a gift. Without that gift we are bound to be in confusion.

　　For instance, when you have diabetes, when your blood sugar really drops way down and you”re about to die, if you can get a little sugar in your mouth, it actually brings you back. Isn”t that true

　　 But if you didn”t know that, you would be doomed to die. Once you know that, then it”s easy to find a little sugar and pop it in your mouth. So if that can save your life, that information is incredibly valuable for someone with diabetes.

　　So when you lack information, you”re bound to the confusions. But when you have this information, and it really makes sense to you about finding a path of happiness through the Dharma and the discipline of your mind—finding gentleness, kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy—then you can practice in small ways, such as when your friend receives earrings and you don”t. When you can see that you can do it, to get out of your habit, out of the rut, away from that inflexible mind that reacts in the old way, then you become very excited and deeply enthusiastic about bringing down the habit of samsara, along with the habit of ignorant mind and confusion. This is where the path begins.

《The Indestructible Wisdom of Caring for Others》全文阅读结束。