..续本文上一页. To sum it up, there is no happiness-- there”s only dukkha. We recognize suffering as suffering when it arises. Then when it ceases, we consider that to be happiness. We see it and designate it as such, but it isn”t. It”s just dukkha ceasing. Dukkha arises and ceases, arises and ceases, and we pounce on it and catch hold of it. Happiness appears and we are pleased. Unhappiness appears and we are distraught. It”s really all the same, mere arising and ceasing. When there is arising, there”s something, and when there is ceasing, it”s gone. This is where we doubt. Thus it”s taught that dukkha arises and ceases, and outside of that, there is nothing. When you come down to it, there is only suffering. But we don”t see clearly.

　　We don”t recognize clearly that there is only suffering because when it stops, we see happiness there. We seize on it and get stuck there. We don”t really know what”s going on, which is just arising and ceasing.

　　The Buddha summed things up by saying that there are only arising and ceasing, and there”s nothing outside of that. This is difficult to listen to. But one who truly has a feel for the Dharma doesn”t need to take hold of anything and dwells in ease. That”s the truth.

　　The truth is that in this world of ours, there is nothing that does anything to anybody. There is nothing to be anxious about. There”s nothing worth crying over, nothing to laugh at. Nothing is inherently tragic or delightful. But such is what”s ordinary for people.

　　Our speech can be ordinary, relating to others according to the ordinary way of seeing things. That”s OK. But if we are thinking in the ordinary way, that leads to tears.

　　In truth, if we really know the Dharma and see it continuously, nothing is anything at all; there are only arising and passing away. There”s no real happiness or suffering. The heart is at peace then, when there is no happiness or suffering. When there is happiness and suffering, there is becoming and birth.

　　We usually create one kind of karma, which is trying to stop suffering to give rise to happiness. That”s what we want. But what we want is not real peace; it”s happiness and suffering. The aim of the Buddha”s teaching is to practice to create a type of karma that is beyond happiness and suffering and that will bring peace. But we aren”t able to think like that. We can only think that having happiness will bring us peace. If we have happiness, we think that”s good enough.

　　Thus we humans wish for things in abundance. If we get a lot, that”s good. Generally that”s how we think. Doing good is supposed to bring good results, and if we get that, we”re happy. We think that”s all we need to do, and we stop there. But where does good come to conclusion

　　 It doesn”t remain. We keep going back and forth, experiencing good and bad, trying day and night to seize on what we feel is good.

　　The Buddha”s teaching is that first we should give up evil, and then we practice what is good. Second, he said that we should give up evil and give up the good as well, not having attachment to it, because that is also one kind of fuel. When there is something that is fuel, it will eventually burst into flame. Good is fuel. Bad is fuel.

　　Speaking on this level kills people. People aren”t able to follow it. So we have to turn back to the beginning and teach morality. Don”t harm each other. Be responsible in your work, and don”t harm or exploit others. The Buddha taught this, but just this much isn”t enough to stop.

　　Why do we find ourselves here, in this condition

　　 It”s because of birth. As the Buddha said in his first teaching, the Discourse on Turning the Wheel of Dharma, "Birth is ended. This is my final existence. There is no further birth for the Tathagata." So what does it mean to be really practicing Dharma

　　 We …

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