..续本文上一页ed, keep them from stopping there. So when one person has arrived but others are somewhere else, they won”t be able to make any sense of what he may say about it. They might have some intellectual understanding of the words, but this is not real understanding or knowledge of the truth.

　　Usually when we talk about practice we talk about entering and leaving, increasing (the positive) and removing (the negative). But the final result is that all of these are done with. There is the sekha puggala, the person who needs to train in these things, and there is the asekha puggala, the person who no longer needs to train in anything. This is talking about the mind: when the mind has reached this level (of full realization), there is nothing more to practice. Why is this

　　 Because such a person doesn”t have to make use of any of the conventions of teaching and practice. It”s spoken of as someone who has gotten rid of the defilements.

　　The sekha person has to train in the steps of the path, from the very beginning to the highest level. When he has completed this, he is called asekha, meaning he no longer needs to train, because everything is finished. The things to be trained in are finished. Doubts are finished. There are no qualities to be developed. There are no defilements to remove. Such people dwell in peace. Whatever good or evil there is will not affect them; they are unshakeable no matter what they meet. It is talking about the empty mind. Now you will really be confused.

　　You don”t understand this at all. “If my mind is empty, how can I walk

　　” Precisely because the mind is empty. “If the mind is empty, how can I eat

　　 Will I have desire to eat if my mind is empty

　　” There”s not much benefit in talking about emptiness like this when people haven”t trained properly. They won”t be able to understand it.

　　Those who use such terms have sought a way to give us some feeling that can lead us to understand the truth. For example, these sankhara that we have been accumulating and carrying from the time of our birth until this moment—the Buddha said that in truth they are not our selves and they do not belong to us. Why did he say such a thing

　　 There”s no other way to formulate the truth. He spoke in this way for people who have discernment, so that they could gain wisdom. But this is something to contemplate carefully.

　　Some people will hear the words, “Nothing is mine,” and they will get the idea they should throw away all their possessions. With only superficial understanding, people will get into arguments about what this means and how to apply it. “This is not my self” doesn”t mean you should end your life or throw away your possessions. It means you should give up attachment. There are the level of conventional reality and the level of ultimate reality--supposition and liberation. On the level of convention, there are Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. M., Mr. N., and so on. We use these suppositions for convenience in communicating and functioning in the world. The Buddha did not teach that we shouldn”t use these things, but that we shouldn”t be attached to them. We should realize that they are empty.

　　It”s hard to talk about.

　　We have to depend on practice and gain understanding through practice. If you want to get knowledge and understanding by studying and asking others, you won”t really understand the truth. It”s something you have to see and know for yourself through practicing. Turn inwards to know within yourself. Don”t always be turning outwards. But when we talk about practicing, people become argumentative. Their minds are ready to argue, because they have learned this or that approach to practice and have one-sided attachment to what they have learned. They haven”t realized the truth through practice.

　　Did you notice the Thai people we met the …

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