..续本文上一页 line with their defilements as they arise. For example, when they feel strong anger they can”t bear it. They have to let it show, to the point where they can get really ugly and do things that fly right in the face of morality. Stream-winners, although they do have defilements, can say no to them. Why
Because they have the discipline of mindfulness embedded within them, enabling them to tell right from wrong.
When the mind wavers in a good direction, they”re aware of it. When it wavers in a bad direction, they”re aware of it. They see, hear, smell aromas, taste flavors, feel tactile sensations just like ordinary people, but they don”t let these things make inroads on the heart. They have the self-control that enables them to withstand their defilements, like a person who is able to carry a bowlful of water while running, without spilling a single drop. Even though stream-winners may be ”riding a bicycle” — i.e., sitting, standing, walking, lying down, speaking, thinking, eating, opening or closing their eyes — the permanent quality of their hearts never gets overturned. This is a quality that never disappears, although it may waver sometimes. That wavering is what can cause them to be reborn. But even though they may be reborn, they”re reborn in good states of being, as human or heavenly beings.
As for ordinary people, they take birth without any real rhyme or reason, and they keep doing it over and over again. Stream-winners, however, understand birth. Although they experience birth, they let it disband. In other words, they have no use for shoddy impulses. They respond weakly to shoddy impulses and strongly to good ones. Ordinary people respond strongly to bad impulses and weakly to good ones. For example, a person who decides to go do good at a monastery — if someone then makes fun of him, saying that people who go to the monastery are old-fashioned or have hit rock-bottom — will hardly feel like going at all. But no matter how other people may try to talk him into doing good, he hardly responds. This is because the level of the mind has fallen very low.
As for stream-winners, no matter how many times shoddy impulses may occur to them, the goodness of nibbana acts as a magnet on their hearts. This is what draws them to keep on practicing until they reach the end point. When they reach the end point, there can be no more birth, no more aging, no more illness, no more death. Sensations stop, feelings stop, concepts stop, fashionings stop, consciousness stops. As for the six properties, they also stop. Earth stops, water stops, wind stops, fire stops, space stops, consciousness stops. The properties, khandhas, and sense media all stop. There”s no mental label alluding to any of the khandhas. Mental labels are the media that let the khandhas come running in. When mental labels stop, there”s nobody running. And when everyone has stopped running, there”s no pushing and shoving, no colliding, no conversing. The heart looks after itself in line with its duties.
As for the properties, khandhas, and sense media, each is independent in its own area, each is in charge of its own affairs. There”s no trespassing on anyone else”s property. And once there”s no trespassing, what troubles will there be
Like a match left lying alone in a match box: What fires can it cause
As long as its head isn”t struck on anything abrasive, fire won”t have a chance to arise. This doesn”t mean that there”s no fire in the match. It”s there as it always was, but as long as it doesn”t latch onto anything combustible it won”t flare up.
The same is true of a mind that no longer latches on to the defilements. This is what is meant by nibbana. It”s the ultimate good, the ultimate point of the religion, and our own ultimate point as well. If we don”t progress i…
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