..续本文上一页 it up and look: it”s a flashlight. Now I can put it down. That”s holding but not tightly. If we are told not to hold to anything at all, then what can we do

　　 We won”t know what to do. We will think we shouldn”t practise sitting or walking meditation. So at first we have to hold on and grasp, but without tight attachment. You can say this is tanhā, but it will become pāramī. For instance, you came here to Wat Pah Pong; before you did that, you had to have the desire to come. With no desire, you wouldn”t have come. We can say you came with desire; it”s like holding. Then you will return; that”s like not grasping. Just like having some uncertainty about what this object is, then picking it up, seeing it”s a flashlight, and putting it down. This is holding but not grasping, or to speak more simply, knowing and letting go. Picking up to look, knowing and letting go; knowing and putting down. Things may be said to be good or bad, but you merely know them and let them go. You are aware of all good and bad phenomena, and you are letting go of them. You don”t grasp them with ignorance. You grasp them with wisdom and put them down.

　　In this way the postures can be even and consistent. It means the mind is able. The mind has awareness, and wisdom is born. When the mind has wisdom, then what could there be beyond that

　　 It picks things up but there is no harm. It is not grasping tightly, but knowing and letting go. Hearing a sound, we will know, ””The world says this is good,”” and we let go of it. The world may say ””This is bad,”” but we let go. We know good and evil. Someone who doesn”t know good and evil attaches to good and evil and suffers as a result. Someone with knowledge doesn”t have this attachment.

　　Let”s consider: We are living in this world; for what purpose are we living

　　 We do our work; what do we want to get from our work

　　 In the worldly way, people do their work because they want certain things, and this is what they consider logical4. But the Buddha”s teaching goes a step beyond this. It says, do your work without desiring anything. In the world, you do this to get that; you do that to get this - you are always doing something in order to get something else as a result. That”s the way of worldly folk. The Buddha says to work for the sake of work without wanting anything.

　　Whenever we work with the desire for something, we suffer. Check this out.

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　　Footnotes

　　... glot 1

　　Glot: traditional forest monks” umbrella.

　　... house 2

　　Ajahn Chah is here talking about his trip to England, France and the USA in 1979

　　... Ehk 3

　　Nak Tham Ehk: The third and highest level of examinations in Dhamma and Vinaya in Thailand.

　　... logical 4

　　In terms of cause and result

《Right Restraint》全文阅读结束。