..续本文上一页or you, but it does for me, because the tendency is to push dukkha away. That”s my conditioning, my personality. Suffering

　　 Push it away; I don”t want it. With somebody else”s suffering , I don”t want to go near them, I want to push away from them. There”s a problem - ”Ajahn Sumedho, I”ve got a problem” - I don”t want a problem. This is my character tendency, to do that. I don”t want to know about suffering; tell me about the good things. ”How are you today

　　” ”I”m fine, Ajahn Sumedho. I just love it here at Amaravati. I love being a monk. I just adore the Dhamma and the Theravada form and the Vinaya. I love the whole thing.” Oh, that makes me feel so good. Tell me more. And I go to somebody else -”How are you this morning

　　” ”Ugh! This life is such a dreary, miserable thing. I”m fed up. I want to disrobe.” I don”t want to hear that; don”t tell me that. We go around trying to make people make us feel good. Tell me the good things, because that makes me feel good. Don”t tell me the bad stuff, because that makes me feel bad. I don”t want to feel bad. I don”t want suffering; I don”t welcome it, I want to get rid of it. Therefore, I”m going to try and live my life so that I can get as much of the good stuff as I can and push away the bad stuff. But in this new translation of ”There”s suffering and suffering should be welcomed,” it changes, doesn”t it

　　 You see the suffering, your own, or somebody else”s problems, as things to welcome rather than as things to run away from or push away.

　　We”ve been on retreat for the past week: I really like formal practice. I like to sit here and face the shrine. I like the temple; it”s a very pleasant place to sit. I sit on a triangular cushion that supports the spine, so I can sit very comfortably for long periods of time. I look at the shrine and the mind goes very still and quiet. Then when I look around and face you... What happens when I”m looking at all of you

　　 This is just a way of contemplating. When I look at the shrine, all the things on the shrine bring peace and calm; the candles, incense and Buddha image, they aren”t dukkha for me, they inspire, they”re pleasing. They aren”t irritating or causing me any kind of unpleasant feelings. If I don”t particularly want to look at them, I can just close my eyes and not look at anything. But then turning around and you”re all here - what happens

　　 It brings up a sense of there being so many possibilities, with all these different people, some of whom I don”t even know. I”ve got views about some of you - you”re like this and you”re like that. Each person will bring up certain memories, some pleasant, some unpleasant; you have different ways of moving and saying things that brings up different feelings in my mind. If I think, ”Oh, I can”t bear this.” I have to immediately turn around and look at the shrine again. Or if I”m looking at the shrine, I can begin to allow awareness to take me to non-grasping, to the reality of non-attachment, and really know this; not merely depend on the lack of stimulation for this or turning away from the community in order to get it, but really turning towards the community and realising it”s something here. It”s not dependent on facing any direction. So beginning to awaken to reality rather than being dependent upon a conditioned experience.

　　The refuge in Sangha we can define in terms of the four pairs, the eight kinds of noble beings. How many of you fit into that description

　　 How many of your egos can think of yourself as sotapanna-magga, sotapanna-phala, sakadagami-magga, sakadagami-phala, anagami-magga, anaagami-phala, arahatta-magga, arahatta-phala*

　　 Which one are you

　　 How can I take refuge in ”four pairs and eight kinds of noble beings”

　　 It”s very abstract; sages, ideal beings who are somewhere - maybe. Or are they here: this monk, or that nun

　　 What”s the refuge in Sangha then

　　 Is it up to me to decide who”s a sotapanna, sakadagami and so forth, to figure out who I can take refuge with

　　 Then it”s just a matter of my ego again. Here I am trying to decide what somebody else is. Rather take these words like Sangha and make them work for you. Make it practical. Our refuge is in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, not in personal attitudes or habits, or views and opinions. When we see each other in terms of Sangha or as devaluates, it”s a way of looking at each other that is beginning to appreciate, respect and get beyond just personal preference and reactivity. But we”re not trying to annihilate those either because the dukkha we welcome is this personal reactivity. Why I feel angry, why I feel jealous or why I feel rejected; it”s not trying to dismiss this. But as we trust in this awakened state, then we can welcome our own feelings - foolish feelings or neurotic habits - we can welcome these things in terms of a Noble Truth rather than as personal faults.

　　(*These are the 8 kinds of noble beings, in respective order - One realising the path of stream-entry, one realising the fruition of stream-entry; one realising the path of once-return, one realising the fruition of once-return; one realising the path of non-return, one realising the fruition of non-return; one realising the path of arahatship, one realising the fruition of arahatship.)

　　Forest Sangha Newsletter: October 2002, Number 62

《Suffering Should be Welcome》全文阅读结束。