..续本文上一页consciousness that goes out to listen to sounds

　　 Is it the consciousness of some little animal lurking in our ears

　　 Or is it the consciousness of some being that doesn”t even have a body

　　 Or is it really our own consciousness

　　 Examine things carefully so that you know this before anything else. You can tell from the results: There are some kinds of sounds that you like to hear, but you know that they”re not right, and yet you still like to listen to them. You should realize when this happens that it”s not your consciousness that”s listening, because it”s not loyal to you. There are other kinds of sounds that are good and right, but you don”t like them. That”s another case when it”s not your consciousness. Something else has probably infiltrated and gotten in the way.

　　You have to watch out for this carefully, because there are a lot of different groups of consciousness with their own agendas. Sometimes you listen to other people speaking: What they say is true and right, but you don”t like it. So you go assuming that this business of liking and disliking is yours. You never stop to think that consciousness is not-self. The fact that you don”t stop to think is why your ears are so deaf. You”re not listening. Some hungry ghost is listening in your stead, without your even realizing it. So how are you going to remember anything

　　 Your mind isn”t here with the body in the present, so it”s not listening. Hungry ghosts are listening, dead spirits are listening, angry demons are in the way, so as a result you yourself don”t know, don”t understand, what”s being said. Ghosts and demons are doing all the listening and thinking, but you assume it”s all you. This is why the Buddha said that ignorance blinds our eyes and deafens our ears. It”s all an affair of consciousnesses.

　　"Cakkhu-dhatu, rupa-dhatu, cakkhu-viññana-dhatu": There are these three things. The instant the eye sees a form, what consciousness goes out to look

　　 Have you ever stopped to take notice

　　 No. Never. So you don”t know whether it”s really your own consciousness or the consciousness of an animal lurking in your eye, whether it”s an animal with a body or one without a body. You don”t even know whether these things really exist. When you don”t know this, what can you hope to know

　　 "Sota-dhatu, sadda-dhatu, sota-viññana-dhatu": You don”t know this one either. And so on down the list: "Ghana-dhatu": The nose is where smells are known and nose-consciousness arises. Sometimes our consciousness likes certain kinds of smells, smells that are proper in line with the Dhamma. So we search out and find those smells to make merit. Other times we give up. We like the smells, but we don”t follow through. We don”t carry through with our own thoughts. Then there are certain kinds of smells that we don”t like, but we still go after them. Some kinds we like, but we don”t follow through. There are all kinds of issues surrounding smells. Smells appear in our nose, and consciousness appears in our nose as well. Who knows how many hundreds of kinds of consciousness are living in there

　　 Sometimes they know things before we do. They send us all kinds of false reports to deceive us. They whisper to us, keeping us misinformed so that we believe them. As a result, we close our eyes and follow along with them, like a bear getting honey from a bee”s nest. It just closes its eyes and keeps slurping away, slurping away at the honey. It can”t open its eyes because the bees are going to sting out its eye sockets. The same with us: when consciousness comes whispering, "Go. Go," we go along with it, thinking that we”re the ones who feel the need to go. Actually, we don”t know what it is that comes slipping in to pull us around, like a medium possessed by a spirit.

　　Jivha-dhatu: The…

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