..续本文上一页 We just leave it at that. If you can do this, then even though you”re as old as you are now, you can be young. You can get a lot younger.

　　You don”t have to carry these things over your shoulder. I”ve seen some old monks wandering dhutanga-style, but I don”t know what they”re going for. They carry huge umbrella tents. Old monks don”t like small umbrella tents the way young monks do, you know. They like to carry around big umbrella tents. In the morning they fold up their umbrella tents. As soon as the sun comes up, they fold up their tents. They can”t leave them up in the open fields to protect themselves from the wind, for the tents won”t stand up to the wind. So they fold up their tents and carry them off under the hot sun. Then in the evening they put their umbrella tents up again. I don”t know why — there”s no more sun. They wake up the next day and fold up their tents and carry them off under the hot sun again.

　　I did this sort of thing until I got sick and tired of it. I went wandering dhutanga-style but ended up suffering in the jungle. Then I realized that it wasn”t for the purpose of suffering in the jungle, so I kept finding my way out of the jungle. That”s why I became a find-your-way-out-of-the-jungle monk.[1]

　　Actually, the reason why the Buddha taught us to go into the wilderness is for us to gain discernment. You encounter suffering, you encounter reality, so that you can see and understand it, and eventually you get tired of the actions that cause it. It”s not that going into the wilderness isn”t good. It is good. It gives rise to discernment.

　　Speaking of dhutanga, it”s not a matter of slinging your bowl and umbrella tent over your shoulder, exposing yourself to the sun and wind until you”re about to die, the way farmers go to sell water buffaloes in the Central Plains. It”s a matter of the practice. You learn to be content with little. You learn a sense of moderation in eating, a sense of moderation in sleep. You get to grow thin, to make things shrink, make them shorter, gather them in well. It”s like casting a net for fish. You gather one end firmly under your belt and then you gradually gather the net in, gather it in, gradually, gradually. You tie off one end and then, when you”ve got your fish, you quickly tie off the other. Tie up the fish behind the gills and you”ve got it.

　　You don”t have to look elsewhere. You don”t have to read a lot of books. Watch your own mind. The basic principles lie right here. This way you can meditate without getting deluded.

　　If people speak to you in a way that grates against your ears, that makes you mad, tell yourself, "It”s not for sure. It”s inconstant." If you eat something delicious and think, "Mmm. It”s really good," remind yourself that it”s not for sure. Whatever comes your way, tell yourself, "It”s not for sure." Why

　　 Because that”s where the Dhamma lies. Gather things in, in the direction of the Buddha, the direction of inconstancy. Inconstancy — that things aren”t for sure: That”s the Buddha on the level of the mind.

　　If you really see inconstancy, you see the Dhamma. Why wouldn”t you see it

　　 — for the truth lies right there. If you see the Dhamma, you see the Buddha. These things go in both directions. If you see the Buddha, you see the Dhamma. When you see in this way, you can live anywhere at all. When you sit, the Buddha is giving you a sermon. When you lie down, he”s giving you a sermon. Whatever you do, he”s giving you a sermon. The Dhamma arises and the Dhamma looks after those who practice it, so that they don”t fall into the evil path.

　　When the Dhamma is in charge, the mind is always aware of things. It knows that "This is wrong. This is right. This is good. This is evil. This is suffering. This is the cause of suffering. This is the disbanding of suffer…

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