..续本文上一页, you destroy, and what you annihilate, you create – one conditions the other, just as the inhalation conditions the exhalation. One is the kammic result of the other. Death is the kammic result of birth, and all we can know about that which is born and dies is that it is a condition and not-self.
No matter what the memory might be, it”s not-self. If you have the memory of murdering 999 people – that”s just a horrendous memory now. Maybe you think, ”That”s getting off too easy; somebody who”s killed 999 people should suffer a long time and be punished and tormented!” But it”s not necessary that we go to any lengths to punish anyone, because the punishment is the memory. As long as we remain ignorant, unenlightened, selfish beings, then we tend to create more kammic cycles. Our lack of forgiveness, lack of compassion, of trying to get even with ”those evil criminals” – that”s our kamma: we have the kammic result of the miserable state of hatred.
As Buddhists, we take refuge in the Ultimate Truth, and in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as conventional forms. This means that we have confidence in the Ultimate Truth, in the Uncreated and the Unconditioned – not in conceiving, but in recognising conditions as conditions, and allowing kammic formations to cease. We just keep recognising conditions, instead of being fascinated and creating more kamma around those conditions through fear, envy, greed and hatred. This is a gentle recognition that kammic formations are what we are not. There”s nothing we can say about what we are, because in Ultimate Truth there are no beings: nobody is ever born or dies.
Our path of practice is to do good, to refrain from doing evil with body and speech, and to be mindful. Don”t create complexities around it, or seek perfection in the realm of the senses. Learn to serve and help each other. Take refuge in Sangha by being confident of your intentions to be enlightened, to do good, to refrain from doing evil. Maybe you”ll fail sometimes, but that”s not your intention – and always allow others to fail. We may have ideas and opinions about each other, but give each other space to be imperfect rather than demand that everyone be perfect in order not to upset you. That”s very Selfish, isn”t it
But that”s what we do, pick and choose: ”These are the ones we want; these are the ones we don”t want.... These are worthy; these are unworthy... These are the ones that are really trying; these are the ones that aren”t. . . .”
Now, for peace of mind, when somebody does something wrong, recognise it as a kammic formation. To think, ”How dare they do that
How dare they say that
How many years have I been teaching now, giving myself up for the welfare of all sentient beings and I don”t get any thanks for it ... !” – that”s an unpleasant mental state. That”s the result of wanting everybody else never to fail me, to always live up to my expectations, or at least to cause me no problems – of wanting people to be other than they are. But if I don”t expect you to be anything, I don”t create anyone in my mind. If I think, ”That”s so and so, who did this, and then he did that!” then I”m creating a person out of kammic conditions and I suffer accordingly with an unpleasant memory every time I see you. Now if you”re ignorant and do that to me, and I do it back to you again, then we just reinforce each other”s bad habits.
We break these habits by recognising them, by letting go of our grudges and memories, and by not creating thoughts around the vipaka [See Note 1], the conditions of the moment. By being mindful, we free ourselves from the burden of birth and death, the habitually recreated pattern of kamma and rebirth. We recognise the boring, habitual recreations of unsatisfactoriness, the obsessions with worry, doubt, fear, g…
《Cittaviveka》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…