..续本文上一页d to defilements, is the Way of the Buddha and His Disciples.
If you practice the Dhamma, you must bow your heart to the Dhamma. You must not make the Dhamma bow to you. When you practice this way. suffering arises. There isn”t a single person who can escape this suffering. So when you commence your practice suffering is right there.
The duties of meditators are mindfulness, collectedness and contentment. These things stop us. They stop the habits of the hearts of those who have never trained. And why should we bother to do this
If you don”t bother to train your heart, then it remains wild, following the ways of nature. It”s possible to train that nature so that it can be used to advantage. This is comparable to the example of trees. If we just left trees in their natural state, then we would never be able to build a house with them. We couldn”t make planks or anything of use in building a house. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees such as these. He would take this raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built.
Meditation and developing the heart are similar to this. You must take this untrained heart, the same as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train this natural heart so that it is more refined, so that it”s more aware of itself and is more sensitive. Everything is in its natural state. Wen we understand nature, then we can change it, we can detach from it, we can let go of it. Then we won”t suffer anymore.
The nature of our heart is such that whenever it clings and grasps there is agitation and confusion. First it might wander over there, then it might wander over here. When we come to observe this agitation, we might think that it”s impossible to train the heart and so we suffer accordingly. We don”t understand that this is the way the heart is. There will be thought and feelings moving about like this even though we are practicing, trying to attain peace. That”s the way it is.
When we have contemplated many times the nature of the heart, then we will come to understand that this heart is just as it is and can”t be otherwise. We will know that the heart”s ways are just as they are. That”s its nature. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don”t have to add on anything more by constantly having to tell ourselves that "that”s just the way it is." When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will still be there, but that very thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.
This is similar to a child who likes to play and frolic in ways that annoy us, to the extent that we scold or spank him. We should understand that it”s natural for a child to act that way. Then we could let go and leave him to play in his own way. So our troubles are over. How are they over
Because we accept the ways of children. Our outlook changes and we accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We have "Right Understanding."
If we have wrong understanding, then even living in a deep, dark cave would be chaos, or living high up in the air would be chaos. The heart can only be at peace when there is "Right Understanding." Then there are no more riddles to solve and no more problems to arise.
This is the way it is. You detach. You let go. Whenever there is any feeling of clinging, we detach from it, because we know that that very feeling is just as it is. It didn”t come along especially to annoy us. We might think that it did, but in truth it is just that way. If we start to think and consider it further, that too, is just as it is. If we let go, then form is merely form, sound is merely sound, odour is merely od…
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