..续本文上一页with defilements. This is why ”Dhamma” can be false.

　　Take up the Lord Buddha”s Dhamma, both the theory and the practice,5 and open it up through practicing what was correctly taught there. Only then will the true Dhamma begin to emerge from what has been memorized. We committed it to memory as an outline and plan, ready to put into practice, rather than just storing it away. It”s similar to the building plans for a house. Regardless of how many hundreds or thousands of designs might have been drawn up, they are still merely specifications and not a house. It can”t be properly called a house until its construction — following the blue print — is completed.

　　Committing it to memory for practical use is one thing, but simply to store it away without any interest in its practical application is something else. Whatever happens, that which has been studied must then be put into practice. Having practiced you”ll then undoubtedly experience the results of practice,6 which are steady, penetrating discernment and realization. We Buddhists should take both the theory and the practice as being basic to the Teaching, being its fundamental Dhamma. By so doing the Teaching7 and its followers will excel in Dhamma, in virtue and in the knowledge and understanding that brings calm and peace to both the inpidual and all the community.

　　The case then is that the Teaching is merely retained in memory, or it just remains inscribed on palm leaves. The person goes one way, that which has been memorized goes another way and the way of practice goes in yet another direction. They don”t harmonize and are all in a constant state of conflict right there in the same inpidual. Furthermore, it also disturbs and annoys other people, making them wonder how the followers of the Lord Buddha can be in such a mess. Such criticism is well-founded and irrefutable. Whatever is wrong must be accepted as such.

　　Once the theory is put into practice, the results will be in harmony and you”ll truly be able to understand according to your present ability. Whatever your practice has enabled you to experience in the heart can plainly be described. You”ll be bold and confident when talking about them without fear of contradiction — for you”ve seen it for yourself. How could there be any misgivings

　　 There”ll be no scruples or twinge of conscience because it isn”t a matter of guessing or blind hypothesizing. You spoke from your own experience and insight and didn”t plagiarize anybody else. How can it be wrong and how can one be intimidated or shaken

　　 Every one of us is seeking for the truth. We know the truth as far as our ability allows and can talk about it so far as we know it. How then can there be any diffidence or misgivings

　　 There are none, of course.

　　It was never said that the Lord Buddha took a ”Nibbana course” at any institution. Nor did he go to any school to study about the Eightfold Path or the Middle Way of Practice. On the contrary, this was something he taught himself through analysis and investigation leading up to Enlightenment. He realized and experienced Dhamma to his heart”s contentment and then declared this Dhamma to the world. Who can be more accomplished than the Lord Buddha for he is a Self-enlightened One,8 and the founder of the Way of Buddhism.

　　If we wish to match up to the Teaching, to find the way to growth and benefit, we must make ourselves worthy followers of that Noble Teaching. It then wouldn”t be a case of vainly carrying the stack of scriptures. At the same time being unable to use them to make even a scratch on the defilements resident in the heart, or to gain any practical value. This doesn”t measure up to the reputation of the Lord Buddha nor to the purpose of his Teaching, which is the removal and elimination of the defilements. Instead…

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