..续本文上一页 Also, when the body becomes extraordinary, say it becomes very ill, or very painful, or it feels ecstatic or wonderful feelings go through it, we notice that! But just the pressure of the right foot on the ground, just the movement of the breath, just the feeling of your body sitting on the seat when there”s not any kind of extreme sensation -- those are the things we”re awakened to now. We”re bringing our attention to the way things are for an ordinary life.

　　When life becomes extreme, or extraordinary, then we find we can cope with it quite well. Pacifists and conscientious objectors are often asked this famous question, ”You don”t believe in violence, so what would you do if a maniac was attacking your mother

　　” That”s something that I think most of us have never had to worry about very much! It”s not the kind of ordinary daily occurrence in one”s life. But if such an extreme situation did arise, I”m sure we would do something that would be appropriate. Even the nuttiest person can be mindful in extreme situations. But in ordinary life when there isn”t anything extreme going on, when we”re just sitting here, we can be completely nutty, can”t we

　　 It says in the Patimokkha[5] discipline that we monks shouldn”t hit anyone. So then I sit here worrying about what I would do if a maniac attacks my mother. I”ve created a great moral problem in an ordinary situation, when I”m sitting here and my mother isn”t even here. In all these years there hasn”t been the slightest threat to my mother”s life from maniacs (from California drivers, yes!). Great moral questions we can answer easily in accordance with time and place if, now, we”re mindful of this time and this place.

　　So we”re bringing attention to the ordinariness of our human condition; the breathing of the body; the walking from one end of the jongrom path to the other; and to the feelings of pleasure and pain. As we go on in the retreat, we examine absolutely everything, watch and know everything as it is. This is our practice of vipassana -- to know things as they are, not according to some theory or some assumption we make about them.

　　Listening to Thought

　　In opening the mind, or ”letting go”, we bring attention to one point on just watching, or being the silent witness who is aware of what comes and goes. With this vipassana (insight) meditation, we”re using the three characteristics of anicca (change), dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), anatta (not-self) to observe mental and physical phenomena. We”re freeing the mind from blindly repressing, so if we become obsessed with any trivial thoughts or fears, or doubts, worries or anger, we don”t need to analyse it. We don”t have to figure out why we have it, but just make it fully conscious.

　　If you”re really frightened of something, consciously be frightened. Don”t just back away from it, but notice that tendency to try to get rid of it. Bring up fully what you”re frightened of, think it out quite deliberately, and listen to your thinking. This is not to analyse, but just to take fear to its absurd end, where it becomes so ridiculous you can start laughing at it. Listen to desire, the mad ”I want this, I want that, I”ve got to have, I don”t know what I”ll do if I don”t have this, and I want that ...” Sometimes the mind can just scream away, ”I want this!” -- and you can listen to that.

　　I was reading about confrontations, where you scream at each other and that kind of thing, say all the repressed things in your mind; this is a kind of catharsis, but it lacks wise reflection. It lacks the skill of listening to that screaming as a condition, rather than just as a kind of ”letting oneself go”, and saying what one really thinks. It lacks that steadiness of mind, which is willing to endure the most horrible thoughts. In this way, we…

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