..续本文上一页t what”s printed in the newspapers! It appeals to people”s lower instincts and drives – all about violence, wars, corruption and perversities, and gossip.

　　All this has its effect on the mind. As long as our minds are obsessed with facts, symbols and conventions, then if we stuff any more into it, it becomes jam-packed full and we have to go crazy. We can go out and get drunk – it”s a way of letting go! What do you think pubs are for

　　 There we can dare to say all the things we want to say but don”t have the nerve to say when sober. We can be irrational, be silly, laugh and cavort, ”because I was drunk, I was under the influence of alcohol”.

　　When we don”t understand the nature of things, we are very suggestible. You see in our society how suggestion works on teenagers. Now it”s the punk-rock generation – everybody in that generation thinks of themselves as punks and acts like it. Fashions are all suggestion – for women you are not beautiful unless you are dressed in a certain way. Cinema films suggest all kinds of delights to the senses, and we think maybe we should try that, maybe we are missing something if we aren”t experiencing it.... It”s so bad now that nobody knows what is beautiful or ugly any more. Somebody says that harmony is cacophony, and if you don”t know and are still subject to suggestion, you believe that. Even if you don”t believe at first, it begins to work on your mind so you start thinking: ”Maybe it is that way, maybe immorality is morality, and morality is immorality.”

　　We feel obliged to know all kinds of things – to understand and to try to convince others. You hear my talks, you read books, and you want to tell others about Buddhism – you might even feel a bit evangelical after the retreat – but keep letting go of even the desire to tell others. When we feel enthusiastic, we begin to impose on other people; but in meditation we let go of the desire to influence others until the right time for it occurs – then it happens naturally rather than as an aggressive ambition.

　　So you do the things that need to be done, and you let go. When people tell you should read this book, and that book, take this course and that course ... study Pali, the Abhidhamma ... go into the history of Buddhism, Buddhist logic ... and on and on like that... ”let go, let go, let go”. If you fill your mind with more concepts and opinions, you are just increasing your ability to doubt. It”s only through learning how to empty the mind out that you can fill it with things of value – and learning how to empty a mind takes a great deal of wisdom.

　　Here in this meditation retreat, the suggestions I am giving you are for skilful means. The obsession of ”letting go” is a skilful one – as you repeat this over and over, whenever a thought arises, you are aware of its arising. You keep letting go of whatever moves – but if it doesn”t go, don”t try to force it. This ”letting go” practice is a way of clearing the mind of its obsessions and negativity; use it gently, but with resolution. Meditation is a skilful letting go, deliberately emptying out the mind so we can see the purity of the mind – cleaning it out so we can put the right things in it.

　　You respect your mind, so you are more careful what you put in it. If you have a nice house, you don”t go out and pick up all the filth from the street and bring it in, you bring in things that will enhance it and make it a refreshing and delightful place.

　　If you are going to identify with anything, then don”t identify with mortal conditions. See what identification is – investigate your own mind to see clearly the nature of thought, of memory, of sense consciousness, and of feeling as impermanent conditions. Bring your awareness to the slower things, to the transiency of bodily sensation; investigate p…

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