..续本文上一页upposition, you have to take care of them. If you don”t take care of them, you suffer. Like a cup, for instance. At some point in the future the cup is going to break. If it breaks, no big deal—but as long as you”re alive you should take good care of it because it”s your utensil. If it breaks, you”ll be put to trouble. If it”s going to break, let it be broken in a way that can”t be helped.

　　The same goes for the four supports that we”re taught to contemplate. They”re requisites for those who”ve gone forth. Understand them but don”t cling to them to the point where the clinging becomes a big lump of craving and defilement in the heart and makes you suffer. Use them just for the purpose of keeping alive, and that”s enough.

　　Suppositions and release are related like this continually. Even though we use suppositions, don”t place your trust in them as being true. They”re true only on the level of supposing. If you cling to them, suffering will arise because you don”t understand them in line with what they really are. The same holds for issues of right and wrong. Some people see wrong as right and right as wrong, but whose right and wrong they are, nobody knows. Different people make different suppositions about what”s right and wrong, so we have to know these things in every case. But the Buddha was afraid that it would lead to suffering if we got into arguments, because issues of this sort never come to closure. One person says, “right,” another says, “wrong.” One says “wrong,” another says “right.” But actually we don”t really know right and wrong at all! All we need is to learn how to use them for our comfort, so that we can put them to work in a proper way. Don”t let them harm you or harm others. Keep things neutral in this way. That serves our purposes.

　　In short, both suppositions and release are simply dhammas. One is higher than the other, but they”re synonyms. There”s no way we can guarantee for sure that this has to be this, or that has to be that, so the Buddha said to just put it down as “not for sure.” No matter how much you like something, you have to know that it”s not for sure. No matter how much you dislike something, you have to understand that it”s not for sure. And these things really aren”t for sure. Keep practicing until they”re dhammas.

　　Past, present, or future: Make them all an affair of Dhamma practice. And it comes to closure at the point where there”s nothing more. You”ve let go. Everything ends when you”ve put down the burden. I”ll give you an analogy. One person asks, “Why is the flag fluttering

　　 It must be because there”s wind.” Another person says, “It”s fluttering because there”s a flag.” This sort of thing never comes to an end. The same as the old riddle, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg

　　” This never comes to an end. It just keeps spinning around in its circles.

　　All these things are simply suppositions. They arise from our supposing. So you have to understand suppositions and conventions. If you understand them, you”ll understand inconstancy, stress, and not-self. This is a preoccupation that leads straight to nibbana.

　　Training and teaching people is really hard, you know. Some people have their opinions. You tell them something, and they say No. You tell them the truth and they say it”s not true. “I”ll take what”s right for me; you take what”s right for you.” There”s no end to this. If you don”t let go, there”ll be suffering.

　　I”ve told you before about the four men who go into the forest. They hear a chicken crowing, “Ekkk-i-ekk-ekkkk!” One of them comes up with the question, “Who says that”s a rooster

　　 Who says it”s a hen

　　” For the fun of it, three of them put their heads together and say it”s a hen. The other one says it”s a rooster. They argue back and forth like this without stoppin…

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