..续本文上一页 kicked by the defilements. Lying down, we”d cry. We”d moan. Sitting, we”d moan. Standing, we”d feel desire. Walking, we”d feel desire and hunger. Wherever we”d go, there”d be nothing but love, hate, and anger filling the heart. There”d be nothing but defilement stomping all over us. But once these things get struck down by mindfulness, discernment, conviction, and persistence, they don”t exist no matter where we go -- because the defilements are groveling. They keep on groveling, and we keep on probing for them without let up. Whenever we find one, we kill it. Whenever we find one, we kill it, until the defilements are completely eradicated, with nothing left in the heart. So now when we talk about defilement, no matter what the kind, we can talk without hesitation. Whatever tricks and tactics we employed to shed the defilements, we can describe without hesitation. The purity of the heart that has no more defilements ruining it as before, we can describe without hesitation.

　　This is like the person who has gone into battle and can speak without hesitation. It”s not the same as when we simply memorize. If we simply memorize, we can speak only in line with the texts. We can”t elaborate the least little bit. We don”t know how. But a person who has gone into battle knows all the ins and outs -- not simply that military science says to do things like this or to follow that route. He can make his way through every nook and cranny, every zig and zag, depending on what he needs to do to get to safety or gain victory. A fighter takes whatever means he can get.

　　It”s the same with us in fighting defilement. Whatever approach we should use to win, the Buddha provides all the weapons of the Dhamma for us to think up with our own mindfulness and discernment. We people never run out of rope, you know. When we really come to the end of our rope, then mindfulness and discernment produce ways for us to help ourselves so that we can bash the defilements to bits, until no more defilements are left. From that point on, wherever the defilements bring in their armies, in whoever”s heart, we know them all -- because they”ve been entirely eliminated from ours.

　　This is the practice. This is what”s called the middle way. When the defilements come swashbuckling in, the middle way goes swashbuckling out. If they bring in a big army, the middle way has to fight them off with a big army. If they”re hard-hitting, we”re hard-hitting. If they”re dare-devils, we”re dare-devils. This is what”s meant by the middle way: the appropriate way, appropriate for defeating the armies of the enemy. If their army is large while ours is small and our efforts few, it just won”t work. We”ll have to lose. However large their army, however many their weapons, our army has to be larger and our weapons more. Only then will we win. This is what”s called the army of the Dhamma. However large the army of defilement may be, mindfulness, discernment, conviction, and persistence have to go spinning in and treat them with a heavy hand. Finally, the defilements fall flat on their backs, and we won”t have to chant a funeral service for them. We”ve gained the superlative Dhamma.

　　When the defilements have fallen flat on their backs, we aren”t worried about where we”ll live in the cosmos. Why ask

　　 We”re not interested in whether we”ll be reborn in heaven, in the Brahma worlds, or in hell after we die. There is nothing that knows more than the heart. Normally, the heart is already a knower, so now that it knows clearly in line with reason, in line with the Dhamma, what is there to wonder about

　　This is why there is only one Buddha at a time -- because a Buddha arises with difficulty, gains release with difficulty. He”s the first to gain Awakening, making his way all by himself past the …

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