..续本文上一页xcuses for being lazy so that they end up never meditating at all. So watch out for people like this, because there are all sorts of anti-Buddhists lurking around in Buddhist circles. Don”t say I didn”t warn you.

　　People with principles, who have seen, as a result of meditation, the relationship of cause and effect within themselves won”t believe these sorts of comments. Why

　　 Because the Buddha, in teaching the world, wasn”t teaching it to go crazy. He wasn”t a crazy teacher, so how could he teach the world to be crazy

　　 When people who practice the Dhamma follow it correctly in line with the principles he taught, how can they go crazy

　　 It”s out of the question. So don”t be fooled into believing such things or you”ll miss out on a precious opportunity.

　　Now, it can happen that people do go crazy when they meditate because they deviate from the Dhamma and let their minds stray away from the principles taught by the Buddha. For example, while they”re repeating ”Buddho, Buddho, Buddho” to themselves they send their minds out to see this or know that, and then get so carried away with what they see that they forget their meditation-word and start believing their visions. When this happens, it can lead to bad results. Yet even though people like this go crazy because they”ve deviated from the principles of meditation and the principles of the religion, other people take it as an excuse to go around criticising the religion and saying that meditation will make you go crazy.

　　Actually, when you meditate there”s nothing much you have to do. Simply focus on repeating ”Buddho, Buddho, Buddho” in the mind. You don”t have to paint pictures in your imagination that heaven is like this or nibbāna is like that, that heavenly beings are like this or that, as you”ve learned from books. People who have actually seen heavenly beings have seen them with their intuitive knowledge in line with the principles of their knowing nature, but we see them only through our imagination, speculation, and guesswork. Sometimes we actually fool ourselves with our own picture painting, because we like that sort of thing, and once we fool ourselves the result is craziness -- a mind wild and restless, with no Dhamma principles to hold to. Some people of this sort actually go insane, so this is a potential pitfall we should watch out for.

　　Thus you shouldn”t speculate about results at all. Simply work away at the repetition of your meditation-word. This is the work that, once it becomes continuous, will gradually produce results, step by step. There”s no time or place that will give rise to results while you meditate unless you do the work, that is, unless you think of your meditation-word in this way.

　　This is the important principle that underwrites your meditation. If your mind and meditation-word keep in contact with the breath, you can be sure that nothing frightening or unnerving will happen. The lies that people who have never meditated may tell you about meditation are simply a smokescreen, that”s all. There”s no truth to them. The truth is what I have told you just now in line with the principles of the Dhamma which the Buddha taught. So begin meditating in the way I”ve explained, and you won”t go crazy. Instead, you”re sure to gain nothing but knowledge in dealing both with your inner and your outer activities -- and at the same time, you”ll develop splendour in your heart.

　　As for those who practice mindfulness of breathing, there”s one important point I haven”t yet fully explained. That is when you meditate to the level where the breath becomes refined -- more and more refined, more and more refined -- and the mind is aware of it stage by stage to the point where the breath disappears, leaving nothing but knowingness pure and simple. It may happen that at th…

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