..续本文上一页 non-attachment.
The Buddha taught that in the beginning you should practice a lot, cultivate a lot and attach a lot. You should attach to the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha as firmly as you can. He taught to begin practice in this way. Attach with sincerity and determination and keep attaching. It”s similar to his teaching on not envying others. He said that when making a living people should depend on the fruits of their own labors. You should support yourself from your own stock of cows and buffaloes, and from your own land and fields – there”s no unwholesome kamma to be made when you do this. If you earn a living by taking other peoples property, you make bad kamma. Many people heard this teaching and believed it, so they made their living working their own property to it”s full extent. But of course this involved some difficulty and suffering. There was suffering because they had to work with their own sweat on their own property. So then they went to the Buddha and recounted their tale of suffering, complaining that if you own anything it”s just a source of complications and unhappiness. Previously, he taught them that their difficulties and hassles arose from competitiveness, trying to acquire things which really belonged to other people. So they understood that if they followed the teaching that they should make a living from their own resources rather than exploiting those of others, then all their problems would be solved. However, when they tried doing this, they found that in fact their hassles and difficulties still existed. So then the Buddha shifted his teaching to a different level. He said that in fact, if you attach to and give undue importance to things of any kind, is doesn”t matter whose they are, suffering is the result. If you touch fire in someone else”s house it”s hot; if you touch fire in your house it”s also hot – that is the nature of attachment.
The Buddha could only teach according to the level of understanding and wisdom of each inpidual, because it was like having to teach crazy people. That”s the way you teach crazy people – sometimes it”s appropriate to give them an electric shock, so you do it. As long as peoples minds are at such a coarse level, they don”t have the mindfulness or wisdom to understand the teaching. Having finished his own practice, the Buddha got to grips with our problems and would come up with various skilful means or teach people according to their circumstances.
In my own practice I tried every possible means of reflection and investigation to gain insight, I staked my whole life on the practice, because I had confidence in the Buddhist teaching that magga, phala and nibbana (enlightenment) actually exist. These things actually do exist, just as it says in the teaching, and they actually do arise through good practice. They arise from a mind that is bold enough to give the defilements a hard time; bold enough to reflect and train; bold enough to fundamentally change; bold enough to do the practice.
What does doing the practice mean
It means going against the tendencies of your mind. When your mind starts thinking this way, the Buddha has it go that way; it starts thinking that way, he has it go this way. Why did the Buddha teach about going against the grain
Because in the past, for so long, your mind has been covered with defilement. He taught that the mind is unreliable because it”s still untrained and has not yet been transformed by the Dhamma. Because of this, he said you can”t trust it. As long as it hasn”t merged with sila and Dhamma – because it”s still not pure and lacks clear insight – how can you trust it
He taught not to rely on the unenlightened mind because it”s defiled. At first it”s the servant of the defilements, but over time it gradually gets polluted and bec…
《The Key to Liberation》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…