..续本文上一页 but sometimes as soon as you awake you say to yourself "get up!" and it won”t budge! You may have to say to yourself, "One... Two... if I reach the count three and still don”t get up may I fall into hell!" You have to teach yourself like this. When you get to three you”ll get up immediately, you”ll be afraid of falling into hell.

　　You must train yourself, you can”t dispense with the training. You must train yourself from all angles. Don”t just lean on your teacher, your friends or the group all the time or you”ll never become wise. It”s not necessary to hear so much instruction, just hear the teaching once or twice and then do it.

　　The well trained mind won”t dare cause trouble, even in private. In the mind of the adept there is no such thing as "private" or "in public." All Noble Ones have confidence in their own hearts. We should be like this.

　　Some people become monks simply to find an easy life. Where does ease come from

　　 What is its cause

　　 All ease has to be preceded by suffering. In all things it”s the same: you must work before you get rice. In all things you must first experience difficulty. Some people become monks in order to rest and take it easy, they say they just want to sit around and rest awhile. If you don”t study the books do you expect to be able to read and write

　　 It can”t be done.

　　This is why most people who have studied a lot and become monks never get anywhere. Their knowledge is of a different kind, on a different path. They don”t train themselves, they don”t look at their minds. They only stir up their minds with confusion, seeking things which are not conducive to calm and restraint. The knowledge of the Buddha is not worldly knowledge, it is supramundane knowledge, a different way altogether.

　　This is why whoever goes forth into the Buddhist monkhood must give up whatever level or status or position they have held previously. Even when a king goes forth he must relinquish his previous status, he doesn”t bring that worldly stuff into the monkhood with him to throw his weight around with. He doesn”t bring his wealth, status, knowledge or power into the monkhood with him. The practice concerns giving up, letting go, uprooting, stopping. You must understand this in order to make the practice work.

　　If you are sick and don”t treat the illness with medicine do you think the illness will cure itself

　　 Wherever you are afraid you should go. Wherever there is a cemetery or charnel ground which is particularly fearsome, go there. Put on your robes, go there and contemplate, Anicca vata sankhara... [46] Stand and walk meditation there, look inward and see where your fear lies. It will be all too obvious. Understand the truth of all conditioned things. Stay there and watch until dusk falls and it gets darker and darker, until you are even able to stay there all night.

　　The Buddha said, "Whoever sees the Dhamma sees the Tathagata. Whoever sees the Tathagata sees Nibbana." If we don”t follow his example how will we see the Dhamma

　　 If we don”t see the Dhamma how will we know the Buddha

　　 If we don”t see the Buddha how will we know the qualities of the Buddha

　　 Only if we practice in the footsteps of the Buddha will we know that what the Buddha taught is utterly certain, that the Buddha”s teaching is the supreme truth.

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　　Sense Contact -- the Fount of Wisdom

　　All of us have made up our minds to become bhikkhus and samaneras [47] in the Buddhist Dispensation in order to find peace. Now what is true peace

　　 True peace, the Buddha said, is not very far away, it lies right here within us, but we tend to continually overlook it. People have their ideas about finding peace but still tend to experience confusion and agitation, they still te…

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