..续本文上一页. Dogs, for instance, can”t jump up to claw us or bite us.

　　Or we can make a comparison with a tall mountain top. Nothing filthy or dirty can stay on a mountain top. Whether it”s rain, dew, or fog, when it comes into contact with the summit it all has to flow down to the lowlands and into the sea. It can”t stay and form puddles on the summit. At the same time, fresh breezes come blowing from all four directions, keeping the mountain top dry and free from dampness.

　　Or we can make a comparison with a tall treetop. Ordinarily, nobody — human or animal — can urinate or defecate or splash anything dirty on a tall treetop. And since the treetop is tall, its flowers and fruits are born tall. Anyone who wants to pick the topmost leaves or destroy the fruits and flowers will have a hard time of it because the height of the tree makes it hard to climb.

　　In the same way, once we”ve fed our heart full with what”s good and worthwhile, then no matter if people praise or condemn us, we won”t want anything of what they have to say. If they say we”re not good, it flows right back to them. As for what”s really good within us, it stays as it always was. A person whose heart is fed full with what”s good and worthwhile is like a person whose stomach is full of food and so is bound to be satisfied and not want to eat anything more: free from hunger and craving. No matter what fantastic food other people may bring him, he won”t want any of it. Or if anyone brings him poison, he won”t take it. In other words, we aren”t interested in the goodness or evil that comes from other people. We want only the goodness that we build up within ourselves.

　　Ignorant people think that good and evil are things we have to get from other people, and not that they come from within us — and so they close their eyes and keep on groping. They have no sense of the good that lies within them, like the person who goes groping for a mango tree without realizing that the mango tree lies in its seed. Once we realize this, though, all we have to do is take the seed and plant it, and soon it”ll sprout roots and become a tree, with leaves and branches, flowers and fruits that will keep on multiplying into hundreds of trees. In no time at all, we”ll be millionaires, because mangoes, even when they”ve grown only to the size of a thumb, already begin to fetch a price. People buy and sell mangoes from the time they”re still unripe, until they”re half-ripe, fully ripe, and even over-ripe. Sometimes mangoes that are half-rotten can still get a price, although not as much as mangoes that are still good.

　　People whose minds haven”t yet really reached a high level, when they meet with criticism, will usually keep it and brood over it. By and large, we like to think that we”re intelligent and yet we let our minds feed on bad moods and preoccupations. Bad moods are like scraps and bones that other people have spit out. If we”re really poor and starving, to the point where we have to beg others for food, we should feed on the good moods they have to offer us, which are like food that hasn”t been spit out by anyone. But even then we”re still counted as poor, as stupid and ignorant, because even though we have genuine goodness within us, we still go running off to gather good and evil from other people. This has to be wrong.

　　The right way is that no matter what anyone else may say, we let it pass. We should view what they say as their property and as none of ours. As for the goodness we”re developing, it”s bound to stay with us. Like eating a wormy mango: An intelligent person will eat only the good flesh and leave the spoiled part to the worms. In other words, don”t go moving in with the worms. To be intelligent in this way is to qualify as a human being — which means a high-minded being — just …

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