..续本文上一页 this ignorance, this projection.

　　Q: How does mindfulness become a reality in one”s life in the world

　　A: Mindfulness is the ability to be awake and aware wherever you are. As lay people you don”t generally have the supporting encouragement to practise mindfulness. People around you where you work may be not interested in Dhamma at all. Whereas in a monastery you have a conventional form that encourages you: thats the advantage of monastic life.

　　But people need to be mindful of the way things are in their lives rather than making the assumption that they can”t be mindful unless they have a lot of supportive conditions for that. What you can”t expect is a lot of tranquillity and simplicity if you”re working where there”s a lot of pressure on you to be a certain way or do something. Then you”ll find these things will not be very helpful in tranquillizing your mind or in leading towards simplicity or peacefulness with the external forms. But you can be mindful of it and through that you find something within yourself that is peaceful in spite of the agitation and stressful conditions that surround you.

　　You can idealize monastic life: sometimes you have a very nice group around you where you get on well, and everybody”s quite mature and sincere in what they”re doing, and it”s very, very pleasant to have people who you can trust and respect. And you get very attached to that. Then somebody comes in who is very disruptive, and you find yourself getting angry with them and you think: "I don”t like this, we”ve got to get rid of this person so we can hold on to this nice community where everyone gets on. We don”t want any disruptive, unpleasant things coming into it." That itself is a miserable thought. So we train ourselves to expand our minds to include disruptions.

　　You can get very attached to silence, like on a meditation retreat. But in a silent room, where everybody”s still, any sound is magnified. Just the rustle of a nylon jacket ... or somebody; gulps too much, swallows too loudly or something like that, you can feel very annoyed. You think: "Oh, I wish that person would stop making those noises." What you”re doing is, you”re creating anger in your mind, aversion towards the way things are, because you want this total silence and you don”t want it to be disrupted. But when it is disrupted, You see that you”re attached to that. Yet to include all possibilities for disruption within any situation doesn”t mean you go out and try to have disrupting things happen; but you”ve already opened yourself to - the possibilities rather than held onto an idea of what you would like.

　　Mindfulness allows us to open the mind to all possibilities, both for what we like and what we don”t like. Then you can begin to more or less accept life”s flow and movement, the way it changes, without being angry or fed up when it isn”t what you want.

　　In fact, you begin to feel quite at ease with life when you can accept the whole of it as it is. A lot of people become very fussy and cowardly and timid out of just not wanting to get involved in anything that might agitate or create unpleasant feelings in their mind. You think: "Oh, I can”t go there because it”ll just upset me" But when you”re mindful then you don”t mind being Upset. Being Upset is part of living! You don”t go round seeking to be upset but it does happen. And you learn from it. It”s a part of lifes experience.

　　Q: If one looks inward, too much, does one miss out on the lessons the outside can teach

　　A: Well, because of the sensitivity of this human form, you”re impinged on by other people. But the emotional states and the sensitivity involved in being in this state are to be reflected on rather than taken personally. So you begin to see what selfishness is in your relationships. …

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