..续本文上一页wn to their level, this will cause you to lose your money, your reputation, and whatever virtue you may have. Thus, each of these activities is classed as an evil — a doorway to ruin and to the lower realms — so you should make a persistent effort to abandon each of them completely.

　　B. Make a persistent effort to prevent evil from arising; and use restraint to put a halt to whatever evil may be in the process of arising — as when greedy desires that go against the principles of fairness appear within you. For instance, suppose you have a ten-acre plot of land that you haven”t utilized fully, and yet you go infringing on other people”s property: This is classed as greedy desire, a path to trouble and suffering for yourself and others. Now, this doesn”t mean that you aren”t allowed to eat and live, or that you aren”t allowed to work and search for wealth. Actually, those who have the enterprise to make whatever land or wealth they own bear fruit, or even increasing fruit, were praised by the Buddha as "utthana-sampada," enterprising, industrious people who will gain a full measure of welfare in this lifetime. Greedy desires, here, mean any desires that go beyond our proper limits and infringe on other people. This sort of desire is bound to cause harm and so is classed as a kind of evil. When such a desire arises in the heart, you should use restraint to put a halt to it. This is what is meant by preventing evil from arising.

　　Another example is anger, arising from either good or bad intentions that, when unfulfilled, lead to feelings of irritation and dissatisfaction. Such feelings should be stilled. Don”t let them flare up and spread, for anger is something you don”t like in other people, and they don”t like it in you. Thus it”s classed as a kind of evil. You should exert restraint and keep your mind on a steady and even keel. Your anger won”t then have a chance to grow and will gradually fade away. This is what”s meant by making a persistent effort to keep evil from taking root and sprouting branches.

　　Or take delusion (moha) — knowledge that doesn”t fit the truth: You shouldn”t jump to conclusions. Restrain yourself from making snap judgments so that you can first examine and consider things carefully. For instance, sometimes you understand right to be wrong, and wrong to be right: This is delusion. When right looks wrong to you, your thoughts, words, and deeds are bound to be wrong, out of line with the truth, and so can cause you to slip into ways that are evil. When wrong looks right to you, your thoughts, words, and deeds are also bound to be wrong and out of line with the truth. Suppose that a black crow looks white to you; or an albino buffalo, black: When people who see the truth meet up with you, disputes can result. This is thus a form of evil. Or suppose that you have good intentions but act out of delusion: If you happen to do wrong — for example, giving food to monks at times when they aren”t allowed to eat, all because of your own ignorance and delusion — you”ll end up causing harm. Therefore, you should be careful to observe events and situations, searching for knowledge so as to keep your thoughts and opinions in line. Delusion then won”t have a chance to arise. This is classed as making an effort to exercise restraint so that evil won”t arise.

　　As for whatever evil you”ve already abandoned, don”t let it return. Cut off the evil behind you and fend off the evil before you. Evil will thus have a chance to fade away.

　　C. Make a persistent effort to give rise to the good within yourself. For example —

　　1. Saddha-sampada: Be a person of mature conviction — conviction in the principle of cause and effect; conviction that if we do good we”ll have to meet with good, if we do evil we”ll have to meet with evil. Whether o…

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