..续本文上一页hings. It should go the Ariyasangha, the Streamwinners and above, who are the guardians of Dhamma, who have preserved the precious jewels of Dhamma for so many centuries and in so many lands. So if you attain jhana, bow down and say: Buddham saranam gacchami, or chant the verses of Itipi so, Svakkhato bhagavata dhammo, or Supatipanno; chant in honour of the Triple Gem, give praise to the Triple Gem, because this is where praise is due. All the gains, all the honour, go to them, not to you. The jhanas do not belong to you; they belong to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. The jhanas aren”t your jhanas, the jhanas aren”t your attainments. Sometimes you look at yourself and ask, "Did I do that

　　" If you understand jhana, you know that you didn”t bring it about at all. You actually had to get out of the way. If you try to bring it about, you just mess everything up, so why bother praising yourself

　　 It wasn”t you who produced these things at all. Only when you completely disappear and stop doing, can things like jhanas happen. So why praise yourself for doing something you didn”t do

　　How about the Dhamma talks, the insights and wisdom which you speak, explain or write down: is it you who does that

　　 Is it you who gives the Dhamma talk

　　 Is it really Ajahn Brahm whose talks are recorded on all those CDs

　　 No, it”s just conditioning that came from Ajahn Chah and from all the great teachers whom I had the privilege to meet. All the gain, honour and fame for talks which I give goes to Ajahn Chah, not to me. He”s the one who conditioned me in this way; or you can take it all the way back to the Buddha: the Buddha, Dhamma and Ariyasangha is responsible for everything I say. I can”t take responsibility for any of it. How can I personally accept the gain, honour and fame for talks, when it”s not me talking. There”s nobody here; there”s nobody deciding to say this or not say that. It”s not my skill at all. Seen this way, how can gain, honour and fame exist for myself

　　This applies even to Nibbana: when you get enlightened, it”s not you that produces the realisation. You haven”t done anything; all you can produce is suffering and defilement. So if you think you have created something, you can be sure that all you”ve created is more attachment, more craving; so all you get is more suffering. The true disciple, through understanding Dhamma, never thinks of any attainment as: "This is my attainment. I did that. Look at me. How great I am." The true disciple sees that spiritual evolution only happens through letting go, letting go of me, mine and self. If after some attainment you think that it was you who did it, that it was you who had the great insight, that it was you who attained the great Dhamma, or the great jhana, you are simply stealing the attainment from its true owners.

　　Remember that skilful states are all based on letting go; they are based on not doing, not owning. My goodness! You have to give up so much to attain jhana; you have to give up so much of yourself, of the idea of self, of the delusion of self. It”s only through letting go that you can get to those refined places which are beyond the reach of ordinary humans. (Ordinary humans are such great doers, controllers; they are always manipulating, managing!) Finding your way into the deep meditations and realising enlightenment cannot be done by you or via you. So how on earth could you say that you are proud of your efforts

　　 It wouldn”t make any sense to a wise person. How could you say that you own those attainments, that they are yours

　　 You can”t, because you have to let go of yourself, of the delusion of self, to realise those things. As soon as you start to own them, to steal them from their rightful owners, then they are lost, they disappear, they are gone.

　　A good person never thinks that they are comprised of their attainments; they never think they are made up of their fame, their gains, or their honour. They never identify with their speeches, or feel they exist as their skill, their competence, or incompetence. These things don”t belong to anybody, they are not me, not mine, not a self. If you see this, how could gain, honour and fame ever get a hold on you

　　 There”s nothing for them to grab hold of. It would be like trying to get a foothold on a ladder with no rungs; there”s nothing there. Gain, honour and fame just fall away, like a bird trying to alight on a tree with no place to alight.

　　Whether you are frugal, whether you keep the precepts, whether you”ve given up much, whether you”ve worked hard for the Sangha, whether you give great talks, whether you are a wonderful meditator, whether you have deep wisdom, remember to give it all away. Apply yourself to this ”non-self business”, because it leads to the truth: you don”t own anything in this world. You don”t own the robe on your back, or the skin on your body, or the thoughts in your head. You don”t even own your will or your consciousness. You may think you do, but that”s just delusion. Not me, not mine, not a self; when you have this deep insight, you will understand the pleasure of gain, honour and fame; you will understand their danger; and you will understand the escape from them.

　　The talk this evening has been on a subject close to my heart for the last three weeks. It”s not every day that you say ”Hello” to a king, or have lunch with a princess, or get red carpet treatment and limousines. None of that is me, none of it is mine. All of it I give to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, out of gratitude, out of praise, out of worship to the three highest gems in the world.

　　Forest Sangha Newsletter: January 2005, Number 71

《Gain, Honour and Fame》全文阅读结束。