..续本文上一页 You see that

　　 You”re happy already, you can stop worrying about your pen. You”re sure about it now. As you”re walking along you run your hand over your back pocket and there it is. Your mind was deceiving you all along. The worry comes from your ignorance. Now, seeing the pen, you are beyond doubt, your worries are calmed. This sort of peace comes from seeing the cause of the problem, samudaya, the cause of suffering. As soon as you remember that the pen is in your back pocket there is nirodha, the cessation of suffering.

　　So you must contemplate in order to find peace. What people usually refer to as peace is simply the calming of the mind, not the calming of the defilements. The defilements are simply being temporarily subdued, just like grass covered by a rock. In three or four days you take the rock off the grass and in no long time it grows up again. The grass hadn”t really died, it was simply being suppressed. It”s the same when sitting in meditation: the mind is calmed but the defilements are not really calmed. Therefore, samadhi is not a sure thing. To find real peace you must develop wisdom. Samadhi is one kind of peace, like the rock covering the grass...in a few days you take the rock away and the grass grows up again. This is only a temporary peace. The peace of wisdom is like putting the rock down and not lifting it up, just leaving it where it is. The grass can”t possibly grow again. This is real peace, the calming of the defilements, the sure peace which results from wisdom.

　　We speak of wisdom (pa񱡩 and samadhi as separate things, but in essence they are one and the same. Wisdom is the dynamic function of samadhi; samadhi is the passive aspect of wisdom. They arise from the same place but take different directions, different functions, like this mango here. A small green mango eventually grows larger and larger until it is ripe. It is all the same mango, the larger one and the ripe one are all the same mango, but its condition changes. In Dhamma practice, one condition is called samadhi, the later condition is called pa񱡬 but in actuality sila, samadhi, and pa񱡼/i> are all the same thing, just like the mango.

　　In any case, in our practice, no matter what aspect you refer to, you must always begin from the mind. Do you know what this mind is

　　 What is the mind like

　　 What is it

　　 Where is it

　　... Nobody knows. All we know is that we want to go over here or over there, we want this and we want that, we feel good or we feel bad... but the mind itself seems impossible to know. What is the mind

　　 The mind hasn”t any form. that which receives impressions, both good and bad, we call "mind." It”s like the owner of a house. The owner stays put at home while visitors come to see him. He is the one who receives the visitors. Who receives sense impressions

　　 What is it that perceives

　　 Who lets go of sense impressions

　　 That is what we call "mind." But people can”t see it, they think themselves around in circles..."What is the mind, what is the brain

　　" ... Don”t confuse the issue like this. What is it that receives impressions

　　 Some impressions it likes and some it doesn”t like... Who is that

　　 Is there one who likes and dislikes

　　 Sure there is, but you can”t see it. That is what we call "mind."

　　In our practice it isn”t necessary to talk of samatha (concentration) or vipassana (insight), just call it the practice of Dhamma, that”s enough. And conduct this practice from your own mind. What is the mind

　　 The mind is that which receives, or is aware of, sense impressions. With some sense impressions there is a reaction of like, with others the reaction is dislike. That receiver of impressions leads us into happiness and suffering, right and wrong. But it doesn”t have any form. We assume it to be a self, but it”s …

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