..续本文上一页ey take us to anxiety and despair; life seems much more difficult and painful than it really is.

　　But when we just observe life for what it is, then it”s all right: the delights, the beauty, the pleasures, are just that. The pain, the discomfort, the sickness, is what they are. We can always cope with the way life moves and changes. The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable. The mind of the ignorant person is conditioned and fixed. Whatever we fix on is going to be miserable. Being a man, or being a woman, as a permanent belief, is always going to make life difficult. Any class we identify with - middle class, working class, American, British, Buddhist, Theravadin Buddhist - grasping to any of these will produce some kind of complication, frustration and despair.

　　Yet conventionally, one can be all these things - a man, an American, a Buddhist, a Theravadin; these are merely perceptions of mind. They are adequate for communication; but they”re nothing more than that. They”re what is called sammuttidhamma - ”conventional reality”. When I say, ”I”m Ajahn Sumedho,” that”s not a self, not a person; it”s a convention. Being a Buddhist monk is not a person - it”s a convention; being a man is not a person, it”s a convention. Conventions are as they are. When we attach to them out of ignorance, we become bound and limited. That”s the sticky web! We”re blinded; being deluded by the convention.

　　When we let go of the conventions, we don”t throw them away. I don”t have to kill myself or disrobe; the conventions are all right. There”s no suffering involved in any of these if there is the awakened mind seeing them for what they are; they just are as they are. They”re merely a convenience; expedient to time and place.

　　With the realization of ”ultimate reality” (paramatthadhamma), there is the freedom of Nibbana. We are free from the delusions of desire and fear; this freedom from conventions is the Deathless. But to realize this we have to really look at what attachment is. What is it all about

　　 What is suffering, and attachment to the ”I am” process

　　 What is it

　　 We”re not asking anybody to deny themselves; attachment to the view of being nobody is still somebody. It”s not a matter of affirmation or negation but of realization; of seeing. To do this we use mindfulness.

　　With mindfulness we can open to the totality. In the beginning of this retreat, we open to the whole two months. On the first day, we”ve already accepted in full awareness all possibilities: sickness and health, success and failure, happiness and suffering, enlightenment or total despair. We”re not thinking, ”I”m only going to get. .., I only want to have. .., I want to have only the nice things happen to me. And I”ve got to protect myself so that I”ll have an idyllic retreat; be perfectly safe and tranquillized for two months.” That in itself is a miserable state, isn”t it

　　 Instead, we take all the possibilities, from the best to the worst. And we”re doing this consciously. That means: everything that happens during these two months is part of the retreat - it”s a part of our practice. The Way Things Are is Dhamma for us: happiness and suffering, enlightenment or total despair - everything!

　　If we practise this way, then despair and anguish take us to calm and peace. When I was in Thailand I had a lot of negative states - loneliness, boredom, anxiety, doubt, worry and despair. But accepted as they are, they cease. And what”s left when there”s no more despair

　　The Dhamma that we”re looking at now, is subtle. Not subtle in the sense that it”s high up - it”s so ordinary, so very much here and now that we don”t notice it. Just like the water for the fish. Water is so much a part of its life the fish doesn”t notice it; even though it”s swimming in it. Sensory consciousness is here, now. It”s this way. It”s not distant. It”s not really difficult. It”s just a matter of paying attention to it. The way out of suffering is the way of mindfulness: mindful - awareness or wisdom.

　　So we keep bringing our attention to the way things are. If you have nasty thoughts, or feel resentful, bitter or irritated, then notice what it feels like in your heart. If we”re frustrated and angry during this time, it”s all right because we”ve already allowed for that to happen. It”s a part of the practice; it”s the way things are. Remember, we”re not trying to become angels and saints -we”re not trying to get rid of all our impurities and coarseness and just be happy. The human realm is like this! It can be very coarse and it can be pure. Pure and impure are a pair. To know purity and impurity is mindfulness-wisdom. To know that impurity is impermanent and not-self is wisdom. But the minute we make it personal - ”Oh, I shouldn”t have impure thoughts! ” - we”re stuck again in the realm of despair. The more we try to have only pure thoughts, the more the impure thoughts keep coming. That way we make sure we”re going to be miserable for the whole two months; guarantee it. Out of ignorance we create a realm for ourselves that can only be miserable.

　　So in mindfulness, or full-mindedness, all misery and all happiness are of equal value: no preferences. Happiness is this way. Misery is this way. They arise and they cease. Happiness is still happiness; it”s not misery. And misery is still misery; it”s not happiness. But it is what it is. And it”s nobody”s and it”s only that much. And we don”t suffer from it. We accept it, we know it and we understand it. All that arises ceases. All dhamma is not self.

　　So I offer this for your reflection.

《The Way It Is》全文阅读结束。