..续本文上一页rplane. If our mindfulness is weak and our mind keeps wandering off, our airplane may end up crashing. So we have to keep observing the body to see where at the moment it feels painful or tense; and keep check on the mind to see whether or not it”s staying with the body in the present. If the mind isn”t with the body, it”s as if the pilot isn”t staying with his airplane. The Hindrances will have an opening to arise and destroy our stillness. So when we sit and meditate, we have to make sure that we don”t get absentminded. We have to be mindful and alert at all times and not let the mind slip away anywhere else. When we can do this, we”ll develop a sense of comfort and ease, and will begin to see the benefits that come from mental stillness.

　　This insight is the beginning of discernment. This discernment is like an airplane propeller. The more we practice, the more benefits we”ll see. We”ll be able to take our plane as high as we want, land it whenever we feel like it, or try any stunts that occur to us. In other words, when we develop discernment within ourselves we can have control over our mind. If we want it to think, it”ll think. If we don”t want it to think, it won”t think. We know how to keep our own mind in line. If we can”t keep ourselves in line, there”s no way we can expect to keep anyone else in line. So if we”re intelligent, it”s like being a pilot who can keep a plane under his full control. We can keep the mind in line. For example, if it thinks of something bad, we can order it to stop and rest, and the thought will disappear. This is called keeping the mind in line. Or if we want it to think, it will be able to think and to know. Once it knows, that”s the end of the matter, and so it will then stop thinking. Whatever we want it to do, it can do for us. According to the Buddha, people like this are called sages because they have discernment: Whatever they do, they really do. They know what is harmful and what isn”t. They know how to put a stop to their thinking and as a result they very rarely meet with suffering.

　　As for stupid people, they simply fool around and drag their feet, pulling themselves back when they should go forward, and forward when they should go back, spending their days and nights thinking about all kinds of nonsense without any substance. Even when they sleep, they keep thinking. Their minds never have any chance to rest at all. And when their minds are forced to keep working like this, they”re bound to run down and wear out, and won”t give any good results when they”re put to use. When this happens, they suffer.

　　But if we have the discernment to be alert to events, we can let go of what should be let go, stop what should be stopped, and think about what needs to be thought about. We can speak when we should speak, act when we should act — or simply stay still if that”s what”s called for. People who work day and night without sleeping, without giving their bodies a chance to rest, are killing themselves. In the same way, thoughts and concepts are things that bring on the end of our life and destroy our mind — because they keep the mind working whether we”re sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. Sometimes, even when we”re just sitting alone, we keep thinking — which means we”re killing ourselves, because the mind never gets a chance to rest. Its strength keeps eroding away; and eventually, when its strength is all gone, its good qualities will have to die.

　　So when we sit here centering our minds, it”s like eating our fill, bathing ourselves till we”re thoroughly clean, and then taking a good nap. When we wake up, we feel bright, refreshed, and strong enough to take on any job at all.

　　This is why the Buddha was able to develop such strength of mind that he was able to do without food, for example, for seven full days and yet not feel tired or weak. This was because his mind was able to rest and be still in the four levels of absorption. His concentration was strong and gave great strength to his body, his speech, and his mind. The strength it gave to his body is what enabled him to wander about, teaching people in every city and town throughout Northern India. Sometimes he had to walk over rough roads through desolate places, but he was never tired in any way.

　　As for the strength of his speech, he was able to keep teaching, without respite, from the day of his Awakening to the day of his final passing away — a total of 45 years.

　　And as for the strength of his mind, he was very astute, capable of teaching his disciples so that thousands of them were able to become arahants. He was able to convince large numbers of people who were stubborn, proud, and entrenched in wrong views, to abandon their views and become his disciples. His heart was full of kindness, compassion, and sincerity, with no feelings of anger, hatred, or malice toward anyone at all. It was a pure heart, without blemish.

　　All of these qualities came from the Dhamma he had practiced — not from anything strange or mysterious — the same Dhamma we”re practicing right now. The important thing is that we have to be intent on really doing it if we want to get results. If, when we center the mind, we really do it, we”ll get real results. If we don”t really do it, we”ll get nothing but playthings and dolls. That”s how it is with the practice.

《Food for Thought - Centered Within》全文阅读结束。