..续本文上一页rain the mind to contemplate each object in the light of whether it is wholesome or unwholesome. When you experience other mind-objects, because you see them as desirable, your mind rushes to grasp at them. So that which knows” has to teach it over and over again, using wise reflection, until it is able to cast them aside. This is how you can develop the calmness of the mind. You will come to see that whatever you grasp hold of is inherently undesirable. The result is that the mind stops right there without any further proliferation. It loses any desire to pursue such objects, because it has come under a constant barrage of insults and criticism. You really have to give it a hard time. You have to torture it until the words penetrate to your very heart. That is the way to train the mind.
Ever since I went into the forest to practice, I trained in that way. Whenever I teach the monastic community, I teach that way – because I want you to see the truth. I don”t want you just to see what”s in the books. I want you to see for yourselves, in your own minds, whether you have been liberated from your defiled thoughts or not. Once you have been liberated, you know. As long as you have still not freed yourself, you must use wise reflection to penetrate and understand the truth. If you really have insight into the true nature of thoughts, you will automatically transcend them. If later on something else comes up and you get stuck on that, you must reflect on that and as long as you haven”t transcend it, you can”t give up, otherwise there can be no progress. You must keep working with the problem over and over again and not let the mind get away. This is the way I practice with my own mind. The Buddha taught: paccatam veditabbo vinnuhi – the wise ones are those who know for themselves. It means that you have to do the practice yourself and gain insight from your own experience. You must know and understand this very self.
If you have confidence in and trust yourself, you can feel at ease. Both when people are criticizing you, and when they are praising you, your mind remains at ease. Whatever they say about you, you remain calm and untroubled. Why can you stay so relaxed
Because you know yourself. If other people praise you when you are actually worthy of criticism, are you really going to believe what they say
No you don”t simply believe what other people say, you do your own practice and judge things for yourself. When people who have no foundation in practice get praised, it puts them in a good mood. They get intoxicated with it. Likewise, when you receive criticism, you have to look inwards and reflect for yourself. It might not be true. Maybe they say you are wrong, but actually, they are mistaken and you aren”t really at fault at all. If so, there”s no need to get angry with them, because they aren”t speaking according to the truth. On the other hand, if what they say is the truth and you really are wrong, then again there”s no reason to be angry with them. If you can reflect this way, you can feel completely at ease, because you are seeing everything as Dhamma, rather than blindly reacting to your opinions and preferences. This is the way I practice. It”s the shortest most direct way to practice. Even if you were to come and try to argue with me about theories of the Dhamma or Abhidhamma, I wouldn”t join in. Rather than argue, I would just give you reasoned reflection.
The important thing is to understand the Buddha”s teaching that the heart of practice is letting go. But it”s letting go with awareness, not letting go without awareness, like buffaloes and cows who don”t pay much attention to anything. That”s not the right way. You let go because you have insight into the world of conventions and concepts and you have insight into…
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