..续本文上一页”re afraid we”ll run out of money. This is why rich people tend to be stingy and drown in their wealth. As for poor people, they can give away everything and then work to replace it. They can give offerings and be generous, with rarely any sense of regret. Their arms and legs aren”t too big, so they can come to the monastery with no trouble at all.
The edge of pleasure is very sharp, because wherever you get your pleasure, that”s where you get stuck. If your pleasure comes from your friends, you”re stuck on your friends. If your pleasure comes from your children or grandchildren, you”re stuck on your children and grandchildren. If your pleasure comes from eating, sleeping, or going out at night, then that”s where you”re stuck. You”re not willing to trade in your pleasure for the sake of inner worth because you”re afraid of letting your pleasure fall from your grasp. You can”t observe the five or eight precepts because they make you force and deny yourself. If you observe the eight precepts, you can”t go see a movie or show and can”t sleep on a nice soft mattress. You”re afraid that if you miss one evening meal, you”ll get hungry or weak. You don”t want to sit and meditate because you”re afraid your back will hurt or your legs will go numb. So this is how the edge of pleasure destroys your goodness.
As for the edge of praise, this too is razor sharp. When people are praised, they start floating and don”t want to come down. They hear praise and it”s so captivating that they forget themselves and think that they”re already good enough — so they won”t think of making the effort to make themselves better in other ways.
All four of these edges are weapons that kill our goodness. They”re like the paint people use on houses to make them pretty: something that can last only a while and then has to fade and peel away. If you can view these things simply as part of the passing scenery, without getting stuck on them, they won”t do you any harm. But if you latch onto them as really being your own, the day is sure to come when you”ll have to meet with disappointment — loss of wealth, loss of status, criticism, and pain — because it”s a law of nature that however far things advance, that”s how far they have to regress. If you don”t lose them while you”re alive, you”ll lose them when you die. They can”t stay permanent and lasting.
Once we realize this truth, then when we meet with any of the good edges of the world we shouldn”t get so carried away that we forget ourselves; and when we meet with any of the bad edges we shouldn”t let ourselves get so discouraged or sad that we lose hope. Stick to your duties as you always have. Don”t let your goodness suffer because of these eight ways of the world.
Putting yourself first: This means acting, speaking and thinking whatever way you like without any thought for what”s right or wrong, good or bad. In other words, you feel you have the right to do whatever you want. You may see, for instance, that something isn”t good, and you know that other people don”t like it, but you like it, so you go ahead and do it. Or you may see that something is good, but you don”t like it, so you don”t do it. Sometimes you may like something, and it”s good, but you don”t do it — it”s good, but you just can”t do it.
When you”re practicing the Dhamma, though, then whether or not you like something, you have to make yourself do it. You have to make the Dhamma your life, and your life into Dhamma if you want to succeed. You can”t use the principle of giving priority to your own likes at all.
Putting the Dhamma first: This is an important principle for those who practice. The duties of every Buddhist are (1) to develop virtue by observing the precepts, (2) to center the mind in concentration, and (3) to use discernment to …
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