..续本文上一页stable, uncertain, and wavering, concepts arise and go flashing out -- and we go chasing after them, hoping to drag them back in. The chasing after them is where we go wrong. This is what we have to correct. Tell yourself: Nothing is wrong with your mind. Just watch out for the shadows.
You can”t improve your shadow. Say your shadow is black. You can scrub it with soap till your dying day, and it”ll still be black -- because there”s no substance to it. So it is with your concepts. You can”t straighten them out, because they”re just images, deceiving you.
The Buddha thus taught that whoever isn”t acquainted with the self, the body, the mind, and its shadows, is suffering from avijja -- darkness, deluded knowledge. Whoever thinks the mind is the self, the self is the mind, the mind is its concepts -- whoever has things all mixed up like this -- is deluded and lost, like a person lost in the jungle. To be lost in the jungle brings countless hardships. There are wild beasts to worry about, problems in finding food to eat and a place to sleep. No matter which way you look, there”s no way out. But if we”re lost in the world, it”s many times worse than being lost in the jungle, because we can”t tell night from day. We have no chance to find any brightness because our minds are dark with avijja.
The purpose of training the mind to be still is to simplify things. When things are simplified, the mind can settle down and rest. And when the mind has rested, it”ll gradually become bright, in and of itself, and give rise to knowledge. But if we let things get complicated -- if we let the mind get mixed up with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas -- that”s darkness. Knowledge won”t have a chance to arise.
When intuitive knowledge does arise, it can -- if you know how to use it -- lead to liberating insight. But if you let yourself get carried away by knowledge of the past or future, you won”t get beyond the mundane level. In other words, if you dabble too much in knowledge of physical things, without gaining wisdom with regard to the workings of the mind, it can leave you spiritually immature.
Say, for example, that a vision arises and you get hooked: You gain knowledge of your past lives and get all excited. Things you never knew before, now you can know. Things you never saw before, now you see -- and they can make you overly pleased or upset. Why
Because you take them all too seriously. You may see a vision of yourself prospering as a lord or master, a great emperor or king, wealthy and influential. If you let yourself feel pleased, that”s indulgence in pleasure. You”ve strayed from the Middle Path. Or you may see yourself as something you wouldn”t care to be: a pig or a dog, a bird or a rat, crippled or deformed. If you let yourself get upset, that”s indulgence in self-affliction -- and again, you”ve strayed from the path. Some people really let themselves get carried away: As soon as they start seeing things, they begin to think that they”re special, somehow better than other people. They let themselves become proud and conceited -- and the right path has disappeared without their even knowing it. If you”re not careful, this is where mundane knowledge can lead you.
But if you keep one principle firmly in mind, you can stay right on the path: Whatever appears, good or bad, true or false, don”t let yourself feel pleased, don”t let yourself get upset. Keep the mind balanced and neutral, and discernment will arise. You”ll see that the vision or sign displays the truth of stress: it arises (is born), fades (ages), and disappears (dies).
If you get hooked on your intuitions, you”re asking for trouble. Knowledge that proves false can hurt you. Knowledge that proves true can really hurt you. If what you know…
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