..续本文上一页fetime of meditation. See the rest of your life as the span of meditation rather than this ten-day retreat. You may think: “I meditated for ten days. I thought I was enlightened but somehow when I got home I didn”t feel enlightened any more. I”d like to go back and do a longer retreat where I can feel more enlightened than I did last time. It would be nice to have a higher state of consciousness.” In fact, the more refined you go the more coarse your daily life must seem. You get high, and then when you get back to the mundane daily routines of life in the city, it”s even worse than before, isn”t it
Having gone so high, the ordinariness of life seems much more ordinary, gross and unpleasant. The way to insight wisdom is not making preferences for refinement over coarseness, but recognizing that both refined and coarse consciousness are impermanent conditions, that they”re unsatisfactory, their nature will never satisfy us, and they”re anatta, they”re not what we are, they”re not ours.
Thus the Buddha”s teaching is a very simple one. What could be more simple than “what is born must die”
It”s not some great new philosophical discovery, even illiterate tribal people know that. You don”t have to study in university to know it.
When we”re young we think: “I”ve got so many years left of youth and happiness.” If we”re beautiful we think, “I”m going to be young and beautiful for-ever,” because it seems that way. If we”re twenty years old, having a good time, life is wonderful and somebody says, “You are going to die some day”, we may think, “What a depressing person. Let”s not invite him again to our house.” We don”t want to think about death, we want to think about how wonderful life is, how much pleasure we can get out of it.
So as meditators we reflect on getting old and dying. This is not being morbid or sick or depressing, but it”s considering the whole cycle of existence; and when we know that cycle, then we are more careful about how we live. People do horrible things because they don”t reflect on their deaths. They don”t wisely reflect and consider, they just follow their passions and feelings of the moment, trying to get pleasure and then feeling angry and depressed when life doesn”t give them what they want.
Reflect on your own life and death and the cycles of nature. Just observe what delights and what depresses. See how we can feel very positive or very negative. Notice how we want to attach to beauty or to pleasant feelings or to inspiration. It”s really nice to feel inspired, isn”t it
“Buddhism is the greatest religion of them all” or “When I discovered the Buddha I was so happy, it”s a wonderful discovery!” When we get a little bit doubtful, a little bit depressed, we go and read an inspiring book and get high. But remember, getting high is an impermanent condition, it”s like getting happy, you have to keep doing it, sustaining it and after you keep doing something over and over again you no longer feel happy with it. How many sweets can you eat
At first they make you happy — and then they make you sick.
So depending on religious inspiration is not enough. If you attach to inspiration, then when you get fed up with Buddhism you”ll go off and find some new thing to inspire you. It”s like attaching to romance, when it disappears from the relationship you start looking for someone else to feel romantic towards. Years ago in America I met a woman who”d been married six times, and she was only about thirty-three. I said, “You”d think you would have learned after the third or fourth time. Why do you keep getting married
” She said, “It”s the romance. I don”t like the other side but I love the romance.” At least she was honest, but not terribly wise. Romance is a condition that leads to disillusionment.
Romance, i…
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