..续本文上一页that it”s nice and tight,

　　2) stock our boat with enough provisions, and

　　3) learn how to distill fresh water from salt water.

　　The "boat" here stands for our body. It”s not a big boat -- if it were larger than this, we human beings would have lots of problems. The body is a fathom long, a cubit wide, and a span thick. This is a boat that we have to caulk so that it”s nice and tight. Caulking the boat here stands for restraint of the senses: restraining the eye -- being careful not to give rise to bad kamma because of the eye, not letting barnacles build up on it; restraining the ear -- don”t let anything evil come in by way of the ear, for anything that”s evil is like a barnacle. The same holds true with our nose, tongue, body, and mind: we shouldn”t take an interest in anything evil or bad, for things of that sort are like barnacles or insects that will bore into the wood of our boat and destroy it.

　　This is why we”re taught to practice restraint over our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. We abstain from doing whatever shouldn”t be done. We have to protect ourselves and practice restraint, considering things thoroughly before we act. If we let barnacles develop all over our body, this boat of ours -- this Body Ship -- will wear out and sink into the ocean.

　　As for the mind, we have to be careful so that defilements don”t arise in the heart. We have to exercise restraint like this at all times, continually caulking our six sense media, caulking our eyes with the right sights, our ears with the right sounds, our nose with the right smells, our tongue with the right flavors, our body with the right tactile sensations, and our mind with the Dhamma.

　　Caulking the eye means that if we see a lack anywhere that will give us a chance to develop merit and skillfulness -- whether it”s inside the monastery or out -- we shouldn”t be indifferent to it. We should fill up the lack as we can, step by step. This is called caulking the eye.

　　Caulking the ear means that when we hear people say anything -- regardless of whether they have the intention of telling or teaching us -- when their voices come scraping into our ears, we should tell ourselves that the sound is a chance for us to develop our goodness so that the sound will be useful to us. No matter what kind of person is speaking -- child or adult; monk, novice, or nun; tall, short, black, white, whatever: we should choose to pay attention only to the things that will be of use to us. This is called using sounds as pitch for caulking for the ears.

　　When we encounter smells passing by our nose, we should search only for smells that will make us cheerful, that will give rise to skillful mental states as a way of caulking our nose. This is what will bring happiness and peace to the mind.

　　Caulking the body stands for the way we sit here quietly listening to the Dhamma without moving around or making any disturbance. It also stands for sitting in meditation, sitting and chanting, performing a candle circumambulation ceremony, using the body to bow down to the Buddha. All of these things count as caulking for the body.

　　As for caulking the mind, that stands for dhamma-osatha: the medicine of the Dhamma. We caulk the mind by the way we think. If, when we think of something, the mind sours, we shouldn”t think about that thing. Whether it”s a matter of the world or of the Dhamma, if thinking about it gives rise to anger or delusion in the mind, we shouldn”t pay it any attention. We should think instead of the good that we”ve done in the past. For example, we can think of the good things we did together in the celebration of the year 2500 B.E. Even though we”ve parted ways since then, we”ve come back together to do skillful and meritorious things once more. This is a caulking for the m…

《Crossing the Ocean of Life》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…