..续本文上一页er the trees. The boys saw a lot of baby chicks running around, but before they could catch them, the chicks scurried into a large pile of fallen leaves. There they hid themselves and lay absolutely still. The boys took a stick and stirred around in the leaves, but the chicks didn”t move. They didn”t even make a peep. Although the boys kept looking for a while, they couldn”t find even a single chick. I knew that the chicks hadn”t gone anywhere. They had just pretended to be fallen leaves. So as it turned out, of all those little tiny chicks, we couldn”t catch a one.
Thinking about this, I was struck by their instincts for self-preservation, and how clever they were: They simply kept themselves quiet in a pile of fallen leaves. And so I made a comparison for myself: "When you”re in the wilds, then if you can keep your mind still like the baby chicks, you”re sure to be safe and to free yourself from dying." This was another good lesson.
In addition to the animals, there are other aspects of nature — such as trees and vines — that can set you thinking. Take vines, for instance. There are some that don”t turn in any direction but right. Observing this, I”ve made it a lesson for myself. "If you”re going to take your mind to the highest good, you”ll have to act like the vines: i.e., always to the right, for the Buddha taught, "Kaya-kammam, vaca-kammam, mano-kammam padakkhinam" — going to the right in thought, word and deed. You”ll always have to go right — by keeping yourself above the defilements that flare up and consume the heart. Otherwise you”ll be no match even for a vine."
Some kind of trees make themselves quiet in ways we can see: We say that they "sleep." At night, they fold up their leaves. If you go lie under them, you”ll have a clear view of the stars in the nighttime sky. But when day comes, they”ll spread out their leaves and give a dense shade. This is a good lesson for the mind: When you sit in meditation, close only your eyes. Keep your mind bright and alert, like a tree that closes its leaves and thus doesn”t obstruct our view of the stars.
When you can think in this way you see the value of living in the forest. The mind becomes confident. Dhamma that you have studied — or even that you haven”t — will make itself clear because nature is the teacher. It”s like the sciences of the world, which every country has used to develop amazing powers. None of their inventions or discoveries came out of a textbook. They came because scientists studied the principles of nature, all of which appear right here in the world. As for the Dhamma, it”s just like science: It exists in nature. When I realized this I no longer worried about studying the scriptures, and I was reminded of the Buddha and his disciples: They studied and learned from the principles of nature. None of them followed a textbook.
For these reasons I”m willing to be ignorant when it comes to texts and scriptures. Some kinds of trees sleep at night and are awake during the day. Others sleep by day and are awake by night. The same is true of forest animals.
Living in the forest, you also learn from the vapors that each plant exudes. Some plants are good for your health, some are bad. Sometimes, for example, when I”ve been feverish, I”ve gone to sit under certain kinds of trees and my fever has disappeared. Sometimes when I”ve been feeling well I”ve gone to sit under certain kinds of trees and the elements in my body have become disturbed. Sometimes I”ve been hungry and thirsty, but as soon as I go sit under certain kinds of trees, my hunger and thirst disappear. Learning from trees in this way has caused me to think about the traditional doctors who keep a statue of a hermit on their altars. Those hermits never studied medical textbooks, but were able to teach a…
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