..续本文上一页l all stop, and attachment won”t exist. This is the way of the Noble Path.
Most of us tend to flow along in the direction of what”s bad more than in the direction of what”s good. When people try to convince us to do good, they have to give us lots of reasons, and even then we hardly budge. But if they try to talk us into doing bad, all they have to do is say one or two words and we”re already running with them. This is why the Buddha said, "People are foolish. They like to feed on bad preoccupations." And that”s not all. We even feed on things that have no truth to them at all. We can”t be bothered with thinking about good things, but we like to keep clambering after bad things, trying to remember them and keep them in mind. We don”t get to eat any meat or sit on any skin, and yet we choke on the bones.
"We don”t get to eat any meat:" This means that we gather up imaginary things to think about, but they don”t bring us any happiness. A person who opens his mouth to put food in it at least gets something to fill up his stomach, but a person who clambers around with his mouth open, craning his neck to swallow nothing but air: That”s really ridiculous. His stomach is empty, without the least little thing to give it weight. This stands for thoughts that have no truth to them. We keep searching them out, gathering them up, and elaborating on them in various ways without getting any results out of them at all, aside from making ourselves restless and distracted. We never have any time to sit still in one place, and instead keep running and jumping around until the skin on our rears has no chance to make contact anywhere with a place to sit down. This is what is meant by, "We don”t get to sit on any skin." We can”t lie down, we can”t stay seated — even though our bodies may be seated, our minds aren”t seated there with them. We don”t get to eat any meat and instead we choke on the bones. We try to swallow them, but they won”t go down; we try to cough them up, but they won”t come out.
When we say, "We choke on the bones," this refers to the various bad preoccupations that get stuck in the heart. The "bones" here are the five Hindrances.
(1) Sensual desire: The mind gets carried away with things it likes.
(2) Ill will: Things that displease us are like bones stuck in the heart. The mind fastens on things that are bad, on things we dislike, until we start feeling animosity, anger, and hatred. Sometimes we even gather up old tasteless bones that were thrown away long ago — like chicken bones that have been boiled to make stock: The meat has fallen off, the flavor has been boiled away, and all that”s left are the hard, brittle bones they throw to dogs. This stands for old thoughts stretching back 20 to 30 years that we bring out to gnaw on. Look at yourself: Your mind is so impoverished that it has to suck on old bones. It”s really pitiful.
(3) Torpor & lethargy: When the mind has been feeding on trash like this, with nothing to nourish it, its strength is bound to wane away. It becomes sleepy and depressed, oblivious to other people”s words, not hearing their questions or understanding what they”re trying to say.
(4) Restlessness & anxiety: The mind then gets irritable and distracted, which is followed by —
(5) Uncertainty: We may decide that good things are bad, or bad things are good, wrong things are right, or right things are wrong. We may do things in line with the Dhamma and not realize it, or contrary to the Dhamma — but in line with our own preconceptions — and not know it. Everything gets stuck in our throat, and we can”t decide which way to go, so our thoughts keep running around in circles, like a person who rows his boat around in a lake for hours and hours without getting anywhere.
This is called harming yourse…
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