..续本文上一页e, and totally commit your efforts of both body and heart to the Dhamma work. Let a dogged determination be your guide through every thought and movement, always pointing to the goal — freedom from suffering. The outcome is then assuredly equivalent to that found by the Lord Buddha and the noble disciples, since it follows the same path.

　　The Lord Buddha did not present the Dhamma teaching — about right view and right thought, for instance — to just anyone. It was aimed specifically at all those who practice the way of moral precepts, samadhi and wisdom. Having once stepped out along the Path that the Lord pointed out by living and practicing in accord with the fundamental guidelines that we”ve already discussed — rukkhamuula senaasana.m or living at the foot of trees is another example — there can only be one result. It is freedom from suffering and reaching to the natural prominence of a noble disciple of the Lord Buddha, which is the state of purity within the heart.

　　Whatever your posture, whatever you”re doing, always be mindful — the only exception being during sleep when it”s beyond one”s means. Incline yourself towards applying mindfulness and wisdom with strenuous effort. The reality of deliverance will then appear within the heart.

　　During the Lord Buddha”s time people listened to Dhamma with earnest interest, securing the Dhamma they heard within their mind. They didn”t allow the Dhamma to slip away and disperse; nor did they listen merely for courtesy”s sake, treating it more as a ritual. Whatever people do nowadays — and that includes all you monks here — seems to become mere ritual. Without true dedication and firm determination everything you attempt will insensibly turn into ritual.

　　For instance, to walk along your meditation path just to keep up with a set schedule becomes ritualistic. The question is whether the heart and mindfulness are in harmony with your exertion. Consequently, the end results may very well be different from what was expected. Why should it be so

　　 It”s because, even though we may be ”walking meditation”, the heart is elsewhere, occupied with every other thing except the Dhamma-theme. What is this principle of Dhamma

　　 It is always to be mindful while striving in one”s practice.

　　The heart together with mindfulness may drift and wander; drawn away by the allure and fascination of other places and objects rather than being focused in the object taken up. This indicates that the flow of the heart is already going astray. Whether your practice is one of samadhi or investigation, the ensuing results must be contrary to Dhamma — being something else altogether.

　　Such is the way when we are not observant of our actions, and strive in the practice more for practice”s sake or from a sense of obligation. We might then fall into wrong view and criticize the religion, disparaging the Lord Buddha”s Dhamma Teaching as not being the true Niyyanika Dhamma, unable to lead us away from suffering. And that it”s unequal to its claim of being the Well-taught Dhamma. The reality is that the flow of our heart is constantly, by both day and night, pulling toward the world. So please bear in mind that the world, whether the inner or the external world, is different from Dhamma. The endeavor of the Lord Buddha and all the noble disciples is aimed at the Dhamma principle as the deliverance from suffering. Consequently, every turn of their exertion was for the erasing of ”stains” until they were totally removed and came to Buddho — to which the world pays homage and respect. They had attained to the summit of Dhamma because their practices accorded with Dhamma. This has to be the outcome when the means and ends come together in complete harmony.

　　For us though, we may be walking on our meditation path or sitting in sama…

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