..续本文上一页 an orchard, and then ran into difficulties, such as a drought. When this happens, there are things that have to be done: finding water, for instance, or repairing the dikes in the rice field. When a person who has received help from you in the past learns of your difficulties, but can”t carry the water to you or help with the repair work, he”ll spread thoughts of good will.

　　Spreading thoughts of good will is something subtle and hard to perceive, like the energy that flows out of our eyes. The eyes of every person shoot beams of energy out into the air, the same way that the beams of car headlights light up a road. The energy from our eyes, though, is refined. No matter where we look, we don”t see the energy flowing past because the current is subtle. It”s because the current is subtle, though, that it can flow far. If the current were blatant, it would go only a short distance. This is why, when people develop solid concentration, they”re able to see many subtle worlds. In other words, the nature of eye-energy has no limit, but we simply get no use out of it. Why

　　 Because our minds aren”t still. If our minds aren”t still, we”re like a person preoccupied, all wrapped up in his work. When the mind is wrapped up in confusion this way, then even though the eyes have potential energy, we can”t get any use out of it because it”s very subtle. The energy can go very far, but the problem is that the mind isn”t quiet. If the mind were really quiet, we could immediately see very far. That”s clairvoyance.

　　This is something ordinary and natural that exists in every human being. If the mind is weak, then outside currents cut off the energy coming from our eyes. If the mind is strong and resilient, the currents of the world can”t cut off that energy. Such people can see far regardless of whether their eyes are open or closed. This is a quality that exists in the human body -- something of very high quality by its nature, but we can”t get any use out of it because our minds are distracted and restless. When our minds are distracted and restless, we”re like people who are dead drunk: even though drunk people may have tools in their possession, they can”t put them to any use other than as weapons to kill one another. Only if they”re good and sober will they be able to use those tools to amass wealth and provide for their physical well-being. But if they”re mentally unbalanced, you give them a knife and they”ll use it to slice somebody”s head open. As a result, they end up in prison. Even if they don”t end up in prison, they”ll have to get caged or locked up at home.

　　The same is true with the human beings born in this world: even though they”re endowed with good things by nature, their minds aren”t at normalcy. And so the good things within them end up causing various kinds of harm.

　　Here we”ve been talking about physical nature. When we talk about subtle matters, like merit or the mind, they”re much more refined than the body. For this reason, helping people by way of the mind is something much more profound. When a person trains his own mind, and trains it well, to the point where he experiences happiness and peace, and then hears that other people are suffering and that there”s a way he can be of help, he uses the strength of the mind. He cultivates the mind until it”s firmly established and then can send that clean current to be of immediate help.

　　The hearts of ordinary people, though, are like salt water in the ocean. If you use it to bathe, you”re not really comfortable -- although it can help you get by in a pinch. If you try to drink it, it doesn”t nourish the body. You use it only if you really don”t have anything else at all.

　　In the same way, the hearts of human beings in this world are adrift in the ocean: the flood of sensua…

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