..续本文上一页mind is starting to experience calm. The senses being quietened down; for one is guarding them. What are they being guarded from
They are being guarded from involvement in the world, which tends to excite and disturb our minds.
The Buddha said that if one practices sense restraint one will experience a very pleasurable, pure and beautiful result a quiet, peaceful, and settled happiness. Those who practice seriously, and particularly those who live in quiet places should be able to realise this delightful state of peace. One should reflect and notice that happiness.
One is following the Buddha”s teachings by delighting in wholesome states of mind. It is only unwise and unprofitable to delight in unwholesome states, in the satisfactions of the world of the five senses. That is where the Buddha said one will find danger. But as for the peace and happiness born of pure virtue and pure sense restraint, delight in it, enjoy it, indulge in it, and celebrate it. Do it out of faith in the Lord Buddha.
Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension
In the gradual training sense restraint first gives rise to mindfulness and clear comprehension. Here the mind starts to feel its first experience of being in control, of being at the helm. Usually in our lives the senses are in control, and we have no freedom. As soon as there”s a delightful object, straight away the senses go to it. When an attractive person of the opposite sex passes by, the eyes go in that direction. As soon as a nice smell drifts up from the kitchen, the nose goes straight to it. As soon as there is an interesting conversation or pleasant music, the ears go straight to it. The senses are in control, not the mind, not wisdom.
However, when one develops self-control and guarding of the senses, mindfulness finds room to grow. The mind acquires the power to know what is really going on, to direct the attention to that which is skilful and useful, and to resist getting lost in pointless entanglements and compulsive activities. When sense restraint gives rise to this mindfulness and clear comprehension, one starts to develop the foundation for the marvellous states of concentration where at last one sees the mind clearly for what it truly is.
Concentration and Insight: Whatever You Think It Is, It”s Something Else
In the Suttas, we sometimes come across little phrases of great significance. One such phrase is: "Whatever you imagine it to be, it”s always something else." 2 This is one of the most profound descriptions of the Dhamma. we can find. Whatever one conceives it to be, it”s going to be something else. It is as true for Jhana and insight as it is for Nibbana itself. After having experienced one of these states, one realises how completely different the experience actually is from what you thought, read, and expected it to be.
The conceptual mind cannot reach these refined aspects of mind. All the concepts in the world are just built up of the bricks of one”s worldly experience. How could such a crude and coarse apparatus as the conceptual mind reach these states
This is good to remember because it takes away one”s trust and confidence in the conceptual mind. We tend to put far too much trust in our ability to conceive, so much so that we waste our time arguing about concepts, about who is right and who is wrong, instead of actually embarking upon the practice that will enable us to see and know the truth beyond concepts.
Out of faith in the Lord Buddha one”s job and duty is to use that conceptual mind where it is appropriate, and drop it where it has no place, where it does not reach, and where it does not belong. Where it does not belong is in the realm of those states that are beyond the ordinary human experience (Uttari manussa Dhamma.): the Jhanas, the states of ins…
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