..续本文上一页 a tree stump...Thud!..."Ouch!" ... Where”s the problem

　　 Who kicked who anyway

　　 Who are you going to blame

　　 It”s your own fault. Even our own mind can be displeasing to us. If you think about it, you”ll see that this is true. Sometimes we do things that even we don”t like. All you can say is "Damn!", there”s no-one else to blame.

　　Merit or boon in Buddhism is giving up that which is wrong. When we abandon wrongness then we are no longer wrong. When there is no stress there is calm. The calm mind is a clean mind, one which harbors no angry thoughts, which is clear.

　　How can you make the mind clear

　　 Just by knowing it. For example, you might think, "Today I”m in a really bad mood, everything I look at offends me, even the plates in the cupboard." You might feel like smashing them up, every single one of them. Whatever you look at looks bad, the chickens, the ducks, the cats and dogs... you hate them all. Everything your husband says is offensive. Even looking into your own mind you aren”t satisfied. What can you do in such a situation

　　 Where does this suffering come from

　　 This is called "having no merit." These days in Thailand they have a saying that when someone dies his merit is finished. But that”s not the case. There are plenty of people still alive who”ve finished their merit already... those people who don”t know merit. The bad mind just collects more and more badness.

　　Going on these merit-making tours is like building a beautiful house without preparing the area beforehand. In no long time the house will collapse, won”t it

　　 The design was no good. Now you have to try again, try a different way. You have to look into yourself, looking at the faults in your actions, speech and thoughts. Where else are you going to practice, other than at your actions, speech and thoughts

　　 People get lost. They want to go and practice Dhamma where it”s really peaceful, in the forest or at Wat Ba Pong. Is Wat Ba Pong peaceful

　　 No, it”s not really peaceful. Where it”s really peaceful is in your own home.

　　If you have wisdom wherever you go you will be carefree. The whole world is already just fine as it is. All the trees in the forest are already just fine as they are: there are tall ones, short ones, hollow ones...all kinds. They are simply the way they are. Through ignorance of their true nature we go and enforce our opinions onto them..."Oh, this tree is too short! This tree is hollow!" Those trees are simply trees, they”re better off than we are.

　　That”s why I”ve had these little poems written up in the trees here. Let the trees teach you. Have you learnt anything from them yet

　　 You should try to learn at least one thing from them. There are so many trees, all with something to teach you. Dhamma is everywhere, in everything in Nature. You should understand this point. Don”t go blaming the hole for being too deep...turn around and look at your own arm! If you can see this you will be happy.

　　If you make the merit or virtue, preserve it in your mind. that”s the best place to keep it. Making merit as you have done today is good, but it”s not the best way. Constructing buildings is good, but it”s not the best thing. Building your own mind into something good is the best way. This way you will find goodness whether you come here or stay at home. Find this excellence within your mind. Outer structures like this hall here are just like the "bark" of the "tree," they”re not the "heartwood."

　　If you have wisdom, wherever you look there will be Dhamma. If you lack wisdom, then even the good things turn bad. Where does this badness come from

　　 Just from our own minds, that”s where. Look how this mind changes. Everything changes. Husband and wife used to get on all right together, they could talk to each other quite happily. But there comes a day …

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