..续本文上一页nt. When this discernment arises, it can give us knowledge about ourselves — of how the body got to be the way it is and how the mind got to be the way it is. This is called knowledge of form and name or of physical and mental phenomena.

　　Discernment is like a sail on a sailboat: The wider it”s spread, the faster the boat will go. If it”s tattered and torn, it won”t catch the wind, and the boat will have to go slowly or might not even reach its goal at all. But if the sail is in good shape, it will take the boat quickly to its destination. The same holds true with our discernment. If our knowledge is only in bits and pieces, it won”t be able to pull our minds up to the current of the Dhamma. We may end up sinking or giving up because we aren”t true and sincere in what we do. When this is the case, we won”t be able to get any results. Our good qualities will fall away and sink into our bad ones. Why will they sink

　　 Because our sails don”t catch the wind. And why is that

　　 Because they”re torn into shreds. And why are they torn

　　 Because we don”t take care of them, so they wear out fast and end up tattered and torn.

　　This is because the mind spends all its time entangled with thoughts and ideas. It doesn”t settle down into stillness, so its discernment is tattered and torn. When our discernment is in bits and pieces like this, it leads us down to a low level — like a log or post that we leave lying flat on the ground, exposed to all sorts of dangers: Termites may eat it or people and animals may trample all over it, because it”s left in a low place. But if we stand it up on its end in a posthole, it”s free from these dangers, apart from the minor things that can happen to the part buried in the ground.

　　The same holds true with the mind. If we let it drift along in its ideas, instead of catching hold of it and making it stand firmly in one place — i.e., if we let it make its nest all the time in concepts and thoughts — it”s bound to get defiled and sink to a low level. This is why the Buddha taught us to practice centering the mind in concentration so that it will stand firm in a single object. When the mind is centered, it”s free from turmoil and confusion, like a person who has finished his work. The body is soothed and rested, the mind is refreshed — and when the mind is refreshed, it becomes steady, still, and advances to a higher level, like a person on a high vantage point — the top of a mountain, the mast of a boat, or a tall tree — able to see all kinds of things in every direction, near or far, better than a person in a low place like a valley or ravine. In a low place, the sun is visible for only a few hours of the day, and there are corners where the daylight never reaches at all. A mind that hasn”t been trained to stand firm in its goodness is sure to fall to a low level and not be bright. But if we train our minds to a higher and higher level, we”ll be sure to see things both near and far, and to meet up with brightness.

　　These are some of the rewards that come from centering the mind in concentration. When we start seeing these rewards, we”re bound to develop conviction. When we feel conviction, we become inspired to pull our minds even further — in the same way that a sail that isn”t torn can take a boat to its destination without any trouble. This is one point I want to make.

　　Another point is that discernment can also be compared to an airplane propeller. When we sit here stilling our minds, it”s as if we were flying an airplane up into the sky. If the pilot is sleepy, lazy, or in a blur, we”re not safe. No matter how fantastic the plane may be, it can still crash us into a mountain or the forest wilds, because the pilot doesn”t have any mindfulness or alertness. So when we sit meditating, it”s like we”re flying an ai…

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