..续本文上一页l haven”t seen the Dhamma””. To practice with this kind of attitude can not be called ””developing the heart””. It is called ””developing disaster””.

　　If, at this time, you are like this, if you are a meditator who still doesn”t know, who doesn”t see, if you haven”t renewed yourself yet, it”s because you”ve been practicing wrongly. You haven”t been following the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha taught like this: ””Ananda, practice a lot! Develop your practice constantly! Then all your doubts, all your uncertainties, will vanish””. These doubts will never vanish through thinking, nor through theorizing, nor through speculation, nor through discussion. Nor will doubts disappear by not doing anything. All defilements will vanish through developing the heart, through right practice only.

　　The way of developing the heart as taught by the Buddha is the exact opposite of the way of the world, because his teachings come from a pure heart. A pure heart, unattached to defilements, is the Way of the Buddha and his disciples.

　　If you practice the Dhamma, you must bow your heart to the Dhamma. You must not make the Dhamma bow to you. When you practice this way. suffering arises. There isn”t a single person who can escape this suffering. So when you commence your practice suffering is right there.

　　The duties of meditators are mindfulness, collectedness and contentment. These things stop us. They stop the habits of the hearts of those who have never trained. And why should we bother to do this

　　 If you don”t bother to train your heart, then it remains wild, following the ways of nature. It”s possible to train that nature so that it can be used to advantage. This is comparable to the example of trees. If we just left trees in their natural state, then we would never be able to build a house with them. We couldn”t make planks or anything of use in building a house. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees such as these. He would take this raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built.

　　Meditation and developing the heart are similar to this. You must take this untrained heart, the same as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train this natural heart so that it is more refined, so that it”s more aware of itself and is more sensitive. Everything is in its natural state. When we understand nature, then we can change it, we can detach from it, we can let go of it. Then we won”t suffer anymore.

　　The nature of our heart is such that whenever it clings and grasps there is agitation and confusion. First it might wander over there, then it might wander over here. When we come to observe this agitation, we might think that it”s impossible to train the heart and so we suffer accordingly. We don”t understand that this is the way the heart is. There will be thought and feelings moving about like this even though we are practicing, trying to attain peace. That”s the way it is.

　　When we have contemplated many times the nature of the heart, then we will come to understand that this heart is just as it is and can”t be otherwise. We will know that the heart”s ways are just as they are. That”s its nature. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don”t have to add on anything more by constantly having to tell ourselves that ””that”s just the way it is””. When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will still be there, but that very thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.

　　This is similar to a child who likes to play and frolic in ways that annoy us, to the extent that we scold or spank him. We should understand that it”s natural for a child to act that way. Then we could let…

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