..续本文上一页rough not thinking. The first level of thinking is called appropriate attention (yoniso manasikara). When we hear the Dhamma, we have to use appropriate attention to consider things before we”re asked to believe them. For instance, suppose we want to make merit. We simply hear the word "merit" and we want some, but usually without stopping to think about what sorts of things are appropriate to give as donations, and what sorts of people are appropriate to receive our meritorious offerings. You have to consider things carefully: consider yourself, then consider the object you want to give, and then consider the recipient of the object, to see if all these things go together. Even if they don”t, you can still go ahead and give the object, of course, but it”s best that you know what you”re doing, that you”re not acting out of delusion, not simply acting out of desire. If you want merit and simply act without giving appropriate attention to things, you”re lacking the kind of discernment that comes from thinking, cintamaya-pañña. You have to reflect on things on many levels if you want your act of merit-making to lead to purity. This is called doing good based on discernment. This is what”s meant by kusala dhamma, the quality of skillfulness. Kusala dhamma is a name for discernment, but we usually don”t translate that way in Thai. We think of kusala as just another word for merit. Actually, kusala can be a noun, and it can also be an adjective. As a noun, it means the demeanor by which a person acts in good ways, in body, speech, and mind. As an adjective, it refers to this and that kind of act leading to this and that kind of purity. When we apply it to discernment, it means kusalopaya, a skillful strategy. When we do anything at all, we have to use our discernment to consider things from every angle before we act, so that our actions will give complete results. This is called having a skillful strategy for giving rise to goodness within ourselves in full purity.

　　This is why the Buddha taught us to start out by using appropriate attention in considering things over and over, around and around many times. Only then — when things are really clear in the mind — should we act. It”s the nature of things that the more you walk back and forth on a path, the more smooth it gets worn. When the path gets worn really smooth, you can see the door at the far end. If you walk back and forth many times, the grass and weeds on the path all die. And knowledge arises: you learn which plants growing on the side of the path can be eaten and which ones can”t. As the path gets worn more and more smooth, you gain all sorts of benefits. One, it doesn”t hurt your feet to walk on it. Two, you learn what”s growing along the side of the path, which plants can be eaten, and what uses there are for the plants that can”t. You might be able to make them into compost. As for the plants that can be eaten, if there”s more than enough for you to eat, you can take what”s left and sell it on the market. These are called side benefits. In addition, when you”re in a hurry, you can run easily along the path. If you need to rest, it doesn”t hurt to sit on it. If you”re sleepy, and the path is really smooth, you can lie right down on it. If a snake or an enemy crosses your path, you can run quickly in the other direction. So there are all sorts of good benefits. In the same way, when we plan to make merit or do anything skillfully, we should think things over, back and forth, many, many times before acting, and we”ll get good results. This is the first level of thinking, called cintamaya-pañña.

　　The next level goes deeper. It”s called directed thought (vitakka) and evaluation (vicara). This level isn”t said to be a part of cintamaya-pañ&ntil…

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