..续本文上一页 the thought of bowing down to his teacher, he remembered Sariputta”s meditation instructions, and so he started to practice jhana, stilling his mind in concentration. When his mind grew still, he reflected on death, thinking, "Tomorrow they”re going to get me for sure. There”s no doubt about that." So he reflected further: "Where is death

　　 Where does death happen

　　" And he came to the realization that death lies at the end of your nose: If the breath stops, that”s it. But as long as you”re still breathing, then even if you”re being brutally tortured, you”re not dead.

　　So he started to practice mindfulness of breathing. As soon as he got focused on the breath, the breath grew absolutely still and his blood stopped flowing from his wounds. When the blood stopped flowing, his wounds closed up and healed. When his wounds were healed, he felt a sense of rapture and joy over how much his meditation had been able to overcome the pain.

　　So he surveyed the parts of his body — hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin — back and forth, over and over again, until all the severed parts of his body connected back up again. When the parts of his body gained strength like this, he was able to sit up in full lotus on the tips of the spears and to enter into jhana: the first jhana, the second, the third, and the fourth. On entering into the fourth jhana, his body became as light as a tuft of cotton and stronger than the wood and iron spears. The tips of the spears couldn”t penetrate his body any more. Finally, his mind entered fixed penetration and he made a vow: "If I escape with my life, I”m going back to live with my teacher." He focused his mind in the fourth jhana, with its two factors. The first was singleness of preoccupation: not involved with anything at all; the thought that they were going to execute him had disappeared completely. The second factor was mindfulness, bright and dazzling. And in that light of mindfulness he was able to see his teacher. So he made another determination: "I”m going to go stay with my teacher." As soon as he made this determination, his body levitated up into the air and went to where Sariputta was. After rejoining his teacher, he vowed he would never do anything evil ever again. So he practiced meditation and came out of the whole affair alive. He didn”t become an arahant or anything, but he did come out alive.

　　This goes to show that even though the goodness we develop doesn”t meet with our expectations right away, we shouldn”t underestimate it. Goodness is like fire. You shouldn”t underestimate fire, for a single match can destroy an entire city. Goodness has power in just the same way. This is why the Buddha taught us not to underestimate the goodness we develop. Even though it seems to be just a tiny bit, it has the power to ward off unfortunate events, to turn heavy into light, and to keep us safe and secure. This is one point to remember.

　　Another point is that people are like plants. Say that you plant some squash seeds in the ground: You want the seeds to grow and give you squash right away, but they can”t do that. Still, the nature of what you”ve planted will grow bit by bit, and after a while will give you the squash you want. But if you sit there and watch it to see how much the squash plant grows in a day, an hour, a minute, to see how many centimeters the shoot will grow, can you measure it

　　 No, of course not. But do you believe that it”s growing every day

　　 Sure. If it weren”t growing, how would it get so long over time

　　 The same holds true with however much or little goodness we develop: Even though we don”t see the results right away, they”re sure to come. You can”t measure how much good you”ve done in a day, or how much goodness has resulted from your actions in a day, but if yo…

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