..续本文上一页is the best thing for you to be doing, and of benefit to all concerned. Then do it well, and with all the coolness and equanimity your insight provides. If, in doing something, we are motivated by desire, then we worry while doing it and we worry when we have finished; but if we do it with the guiding power of discrimination, we shall not be worried at all. This is the difference it makes.

　　It is essential, then, that we be always aware that, in reality all things are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not selves, that is, that they are not worth getting or being. If we are to become involved in them, then let us do so with discrimination and our actions will not be contaminated with desire. If we act wisely, we shall be free of suffering right from beginning to end. The mind will not blindly grasp at and cling to things as worth getting and being. We shall be sure to act with wakefulness, and be able to proceed in accordance with tradition and custom, or in accordance with the law. For example, though we may own land and property, we need not necessarily have any greedy feelings about them. We need not cling to things to the extent that they become a burden, weighing down and tormenting the mind. The law is bound to see to it that our piece of land remains in our possession. We don”t need to suffer worry and anxiety about it. It isn”t going to slip through our fingers and disappear. Even if someone comes along and snatches it from us, we can surely still resist and protect it intelligently. We can resist without becoming angry, without letting ourselves become heated with the flame of hatred. We can depend on the law and do our resisting without any need to experience suffering. Certainly we ought to watch over our property; but if it should in fact slip out of our grip, then becoming emotional about it won”t help matters at all. All things are impermanent, perpetually changing. Realizing this, we need not become upset about anything.

　　"Being" is the same. There is no need to cling to one”s state of being this or that, because in reality there is no satisfactory condition at all. All conditions bring about suffering of one kind or another. There is a very simple technique, which we must have a look at later, known as vipassana, the direct practice of Dhamma. It consists of close introspection, which reveals that there is nothing worth being, or that there is really no satisfactory state of being at all. Have a look at this question yourself; see if you can discover any satisfactory condition or state of being. Being a son

　　 a parent

　　 husband

　　 wife

　　 master

　　 servant

　　 Is any of these agreeable

　　 Even being the man with the advantage, the one with the upper hand, the winner--is that agreeable

　　 Is the condition of a human being agreeable

　　 Even the condition of a celestial being or a god--would that be agreeable

　　 When you have really come to know the what is what, you find that nothing whatsoever is in any way agreeable. We are making do with mindlessly getting and being. But why should we go risking life and limb by getting and being blindly, always acting on desire

　　 It behoves us to understand things and live wisely, involving ourselves in things in such a way that they cause a minimum of suffering, or ideally, none at all.

　　Here is another point: we must bring to our fellow men, our friends, and particularly our relatives and those close to us, the understanding that this is how things are, so that they may have the same right view as we have. There will then be no upsets in the family, the town, the country, and ultimately in the whole world. Each inpidual mind will be immune to desire, neither grasping at nor becoming wrapped up in anything or anyone. Instead everyone”s life will be guided by insight, by the ever-present, unobscured vi…

《Three Universal Characteristics》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…