..续本文上一页 the heart. We must try every way we can to remove it. The main principle in the practice is to have the solidity -- the heart -- of a warrior, ready to die in the battle of washing the world out of the heart. If we don”t gain victory, we”re prepared to die, offering our life in homage to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Don”t retreat in defeat, or you”ll lose face, and the defilements will taunt you for a long time to come. You won”t be able to stand your feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment in the face of the cycle of defilement. Whichever world you go to, there will be nothing but defilements trailing you and taunting you: ”What are you looking for, being born and bearing this mass of suffering, you good-for-nothing person, you

　　 Whenever we fight, you lose miserably every time. You”ve never had the word "victory" at all.” Listen to that, fighters for the sake of completing the holy life! Do the taunts of the defilements sting

　　 I myself would be stung to the quick. Even if I died, I wouldn”t forget. So how do we feel

　　 Are we spurred on to fight with them by giving our lives

　　Our Buddha was a noble warrior to the last inch. His every movement was bravery in the fight with defilement, without retreat, to the point where the defilements were annihilated and he became the Teacher of the world to whom we pay homage up to the present. The footprints of his practice are still fresh in every word, every phrase of the well-taught Dhamma, which hasn”t been corrupted or effaced. So hold to him as a principle in the heart, a principle in the practice, until you have no breath left to breathe. Don”t let him go.

　　The land of victory, when all the defilements fall back in defeat: You don”t have to ask about it. You”ll know it on your own through the Dhamma immediately apparent to every person who practices to that point. The Buddha didn”t lay any exclusive claims on it, but bestowed it as the wealth of every person who practices in dignity in the midst of this world of inconstancy, stress, and not-self. When the khandhas no longer carry on, we will attain full anupadisesa-nibbana with nothing more to worry about.

　　The Dhamma is something secure and complete. On the side of its causes, it”s a Dhamma right for remedying and removing defilement of every sort. There”s no defilement that lies above this Dhamma at all. The Buddha taught it rightly in every way, in every facet, for remedying defilement of every sort. Nothing excels this Dhamma -- in particular, the Dhamma of the middle way, which is summarized as virtue, concentration, and discernment. This is the Dhamma of causes, the methods with which we should train ourselves and which the Buddha taught us in full. As for the Dhamma of results, it comes in stages. The mind is solid and doesn”t stray or lean in line with its preoccupations. It has stillness and calm: This is the mind centered in concentration. The mind is courageous and capable, astute and aware all-around in terms of the things that become involved with it both within and without: This is the mind with discernment. And when it”s even more astute and refined than that, to the point of being astute all-around and attaining release, then the entire mind is Dhamma. In other words, the mind is the Dhamma, the Dhamma is the mind -- oneness -- without any adversaries paired with it as before.

　　My own impression -- and whether I”m right or wrong, please decide for yourselves -- but I”m certain that the Dhamma of the doctrine (sasana-dhamma), the teaching of the Buddha, refers for the most part to causes. The Buddha explained the causes, the practices to follow so as to remedy and remove defilement or to develop the various forms of goodness. The results are happiness. The teachings are simply directions showing the way.

　　As for …

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