..续本文上一页Buddhist, you don”t have any of that stuff, souls and gods; soulless and godless is what we are.” But that”s an annihilationist teaching, isn”t it
That”s pure annihilationism Disbelieving in God and a soul is just the opposite of the other, of believing: it”s not a realising of truth. It”s only the believing of a negation rather than the believing of an affirmation. I meet Buddhists who were Christians at one time, and somehow they have been very disillusioned and they have become very anti-Christian. Because of that, they use Buddhism as a justification. They put down Christianity and they think, ”Those Christians believe in God. They”re stupid. But we don”t. And those Christians believe in an eternal soul, but we don”t. We don”t believe in that stuff. We believe in anatta, no soul!” But that is not what the Buddha was teaching. That is also a trap of the mind, limited, deluding us.
Realisation is when you find out and know directly. It”s not an affirmation, saying what Dhamma or the truth is, saying, ”It”s male,” or ”The Dhamma is a man,” or ”The Dhamma is a patriarchal figure” . . . ”The Dhamma is nothing,” ”The Dhamma is an impersonal essence” or ”The Dhamma is the essence of everything,” ”The Dhamma is everything and all” getting into these philosophical positions, intellectual positions that people like to take about things they haven”t realised yet. We”re not trying to define that which is indefinable, but to know, to realise that which is beyond definition, beyond limitation.
So our Buddhist practice is just that. We have to keep reminding ourselves, because the force of habit is so strong. We so easily absorb into our thoughts and memories; so easily absorb into habits of looking for something or trying to get rid of something; so easily believe all the opinions and views we have about ourselves and others and the world we live in. We so easily believe, because some of our opinions and views are so sensible, so rational, so practical, reasonable, intelligent, brilliant – ”The brilliant views and opinions that I have.”
We are not trying to say that you shouldn”t have brilliant views and opinions, either. It”s all right to have brilliant views and opinions, as long as you recognise that that”s what they are: they are impermanent conditions of mind. Don”t exaggerate their importance. Also, don”t feel bad if you”re not very intelligent and have really stupid views and opinions; don”t worry about it. Because that is just the same as the other, as far as we”re concerned. Realisation. . . rather than an affirmation or a negation.
In this way of realising is what we call The Middle Way. It”s mindfulness, meaning the mind is open, full, complete. You”re no longer taking just a fragment and attaching, obsessing yourself with one little bitty condition, saying ”This little bitty condition, this tiny little insignificant opinion that I have is the Ultimate Reality.”
What I am presenting this evening – you”ve heard it over and over – is to remind you, for you to reflect upon, to keep recognising, realising. The little things in daily life ... work with them, begin to really watch. If you”re looking for something, if you hate authority, if some monk says, ”Do this ... do the dishes, ” and you feel resentment or anger – someone telling you to do something – that”s a condition of mind! Keep recollecting rather than getting caught up with trying to figure out whether this outfit is the best one for you. . . whether all the monks are wise, enlightened people, who have any right to tell you what to do ... feeling guilty because you get angry and you think you shouldn”t ... and all the other complex mental creations around anything that happens during the day! We weave all these complexities around things. Some monk says, ”Do the dishe…
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