..续本文上一页another consciousness that has snuck in to trip up your consciousness so that you fall in line with it

　　 If you fall in line with it and end up doing things that you later regret, that”s called getting taken in by consciousness.

　　When the Buddha tells us that consciousness isn”t our self, that it”s anatta, we don”t understand what he says. There”s one sort of consciousness that”s really ours. The consciousness that”s really ours is loyal, honest, and true to us. Suppose that you make up your mind that tomorrow you want to go to the monastery to hear a sermon. Now, going to the monastery to hear a sermon is something good that you like to do. You really benefit from it. You”re really clear on this point. But by the time tomorrow comes, your mind has changed because — it”s simply changed. When this happens, you should realize that your consciousness has gotten mixed up with some other kind of consciousness. That”s how you have to look at things. Don”t think that it”s really your consciousness. The new thought that repeals your old thought isn”t really you. It”s cheating you. It”s not really you. Normally, if something is really you, it”s not going to cheat you. It has to be honest and loyal and devoted to you. Once you make up your mind to do something good, you have to stick with it until you succeed and feel happy afterwards. That sort of thinking is your own real consciousness. It”s honest. It doesn”t deceive you.

　　Most people, though, deceive themselves. Actually, they don”t deceive themselves. They”re perfectly all right, but these other consciousnesses seep into them, so that they end up getting deceived. This is why the Buddha teaches us, asevana ca balanam: don”t go associating with fools. If you hang around with that kind of consciousness often, you”ll end up suffering. So — panditanañca — associate with wise people. Make your mind firmly settled and established. If you think of doing something good, make it good all the way until you succeed in line with your aims. That”s you. Don”t let any other consciousnesses in to meddle with your affairs. If you run across any thoughts that would make you abandon your efforts, realize that you”ve been associating with fools, associating with consciousnesses aside from yourself. That”s how you should look at things.

　　Now, if we were to go into detail on all the consciousnesses living in our bodies, there would be lots to say. Basically, there are two kinds: those whose thoughts are in line with ours, and those whose thoughts are not. For example, when we want to do good, there are hungry ghosts and spirits that would like to do good, too, but they can”t, because they don”t have a body. So they take up residence in our body in order to do good along with us. But there are other spirits who want to destroy whatever good we”re trying to do. They were probably our enemies in past lives: We probably oppressed them, imprisoned them, or had them put to death. We got in the way of the good they were trying to do, so they”ve got some old scores to settle. They want to block the path we”re trying to practice so that we don”t make any progress. They come whispering into our ears: "Stop. Stop. You”re going to die. You”re going to starve. It”s going to rain too hard, the sun”s too hot, it”s too early, too late," they go on and on. These are the consciousnesses that come as our enemies. There are others that used to be our relatives and friends. They want to do good but they can”t, so they take up residence in our body so that they can bow down to the Buddha and chant along with us. Because of all this, there are times when our hearts are like monsters and ogres. We can”t imagine why it”s happening, and yet it”s happening, even though we don”t want it to. Then there are other times when our he…

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