..续本文上一页inciples of virtue. Most of us, though, tend to be too contemptuous of virtue to put it to use in our work and activities, which is why we act as a deadweight and can”t keep up with the progress of the world.

　　A person whose thoughts, words and deeds are not governed by virtue is like a person covered with germs or soot: Whatever work he or she touches is soiled and will rarely succeed in its aims. Even if it does succeed, its success won”t be lasting. The same holds true for speech: A person whose speech isn”t consistently virtuous will usually be distrusted and despised by his listeners. If he tries to talk them out of their money, it will come with difficulty; once he gets it, it won”t stay with him for long. And so it is with the mind: If a person doesn”t have virtue in charge of his heart, his thinking is darkened. Whatever projects he contemplates will succeed with difficulty and — even if they do succeed — will be neither good nor lasting.

　　People who want to keep their thoughts, words, and deeds in a state of normalcy have to be mindful. In other words, they have to keep check over their actions in all they do — sitting, standing, walking, and lying down — so they can know that they haven”t done anything evil. A person who doesn”t keep his actions in check is like a person without any clothes: Wherever he goes, he offends people. There”s even the story of the man who was so absent-minded that he went out wearing his wife”s blouse and sarong, which goes to show what happens to a person who doesn”t keep his actions in check.

　　A person who doesn”t keep his speech in check is like a rice pot without a lid. When the water boils, it will overflow and put out the fire. A person who doesn”t always keep his thoughts in check — thinking endlessly of how to make money, of how to get rich, until he loses touch with reality — is bound to do himself harm. Some people think so much that they can”t eat or sleep, to the point where they damage their nerves and become mentally unbalanced, all because their thinking has nothing to act as a basis, nothing to keep it in check.

　　Thus people who lack mindfulness can harm themselves, in line with the fact that they are at the same time people without virtue.

　　This ends the discussion of the second topic.

　　3. The third question — "How many kinds of virtue are there

　　" — can be answered as follows: To pide them in precise terms, there are five kinds, corresponding to the five precepts, the eight precepts, the ten guidelines, the ten precepts, and the 227 precepts. To pide them in broad terms, there are two: The virtues for laypeople on the one hand, and for monks and novices on the other.

　　From another standpoint, there are three: those dealing with bodily action, those dealing with speech, and those dealing with the mind.

　　From another standpoint, there are two: primary virtues (adi-brahma-cariya-sikkha), i.e., the five basic precepts that have to be studied and observed first, such as the precepts against taking life; and then, once these are mastered, the next level: mannerly behavior (abhisamacara) dealing with personal conduct in such areas as having one”s meals, etc.

　　From still another standpoint, there are two sorts of virtue: mundane (lokiya) and transcendent (lokuttara). Transcendent virtues can be either the lay virtues or the virtues for monks. If a person, lay or ordained, has attained true normalcy of mind, his or her virtues are transcendent. The virtues of a person who has yet to attain the normalcy of stream-entry, though — no matter whether that person is a layperson or a monk, strict in observing the precepts or not — are merely mundane. Mundane virtues are by nature inconstant, sometimes pure and sometimes not; some people who observe them go to heaven, others who do go to hell. …

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