..续本文上一页 reflective — it is absorbed into the quality of that object. The reflective ability of the mind comes through mindfulness; whole-mindedness. You are not filtering out or selecting. You are just noting whatever arises ceases. You contemplate that if you are attached to anything that arises, it ceases. You have the experience that even though it might be attractive while it is arising, it changes towards cessation. Then it”s attractiveness diminishes and we have to find something else to absorb into.

　　The thing about being human is that we have to touch the earth, we have to accept the limitations of this human form and planetary life. And just by doing that, then the way out of suffering isn”t through getting out of our human experience by living in refined conscious states, but by embracing the totality of all the human and Brahma realms through mindfulness. In this way, the Buddha pointed to a total realisation rather than a temporary escape through refinement and beauty. This is what the Buddha means when he is pointing the way to Nibbana.

　　THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

　　AS A REFLECTIVE TEACHING

　　In this Eightfold Path, the eight elements work like eight legs supporting you. It is not like: 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8 on a linear scale; it is more of a working together. It is not that you develop pa

　　a first and then when you have pa

　　a, you can develop your sila; and once your sila is developed, then you will have samadhi. That is how we think, isn”t it: You have to have one, then two and then three.” As an actual realisation, developing the Eightfold Path is an experience in a moment, it is all one. All the parts are working as one strong development; it is not a linear process — we might think that way because we can only have one thought at a time.

　　Everything I have said about the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths is only a reflection. What is really important is for you to realise what I am actually doing as I reflect rather than to grasp the things that I am saying. It is a process of bringing the Eightfold Path into your mind, using it as a reflective teaching so that you can consider what it really means. Don”t just think you know it because you can say, ”Samma ditthi means Right Understanding. Samma sankappa means Right Thought.” This is intellectual understanding. Someone might say, ”No, I think samma sankappa means ...” And you answer ”No, in the book it says Right Thought. You”ve got it wrong.” That is not reflection.

　　We can translate samma sankappa as Right Thought or Attitude or Intention; we try things out. We can use these tools for contemplation rather than thinking that they are absolutely fixed, and that we have to accept them in an orthodox style; any kind of variation from the exact interpretation is heresy. Sometimes our minds do think in that rigid way, but we are trying to transcend that way of thinking by developing a mind that moves around, watches, investigates, considers, wonders and reflects.

　　I am trying to encourage each one of you to be brave enough to wisely consider the way things are rather than have someone tell you whether you are ready or not for enlightenment. But actually, the Buddhist teaching is one of being enlightened now rather than doing anything to become enlightened. The idea that you must do something to become enlightened can only come from wrong understanding. Then enlightenment is merely another condition dependent upon something else — so it is not really enlightenment. It is only a perception of enlightenment. However, I am not talking about any kind of perception but about being alert to the way things are. The present moment is what we can actually observe: we can”t observe tomorrow yet, and we can only remember yesterday. But Buddhist practice is very immediate to the here and now, looking at the way things are.

　　Now how do we do that

　　 Well, first we have to look at our doubts and fears — because we get so attached to our views and opinions that these take us into doubt about what we are doing. Someone might develop a false confidence believing that they are enlightened. But believing that you are enlightened or believing that you are not enlightened are both delusions. What I am pointing to is being enlightened rather than believing in it. And for this, we need to open to the way things are.

　　We start with the way things are as they happen to be right now — such as the breathing of our own bodies. What has that to do with Truth, with enlightenment

　　 Does watching my breath mean that I am enlightened

　　 But the more you try to think about it and figure out what it is, the more uncertain and insecure you”ll feel. All we can do in this conventional form is to let go of delusion. That is the practice of the Four Noble Truths and the development of the Eightfold Path.

《The Four Noble Truths - The Fourth Noble Truth》全文阅读结束。