..续本文上一页re to be the case, the Buddha would have had to change his preliminary instructions to us after our ordination from rukkhamula-senasanam -- living in the forest -- to something else, in keeping with his compassion for all living beings, human and pine. If living in lonely, solitary places, making the effort in line with the Buddha”s example, were to give results other than those corresponding to the Dhamma he taught, he would have had to modify his various teachings to be in keeping with the demands of time and place. The 37 wings to Awakening (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma) -- which are like the Buddha”s very heart that he gave to us so rightly -- would have had to be completely altered.

　　But these truths are constant and unwavering. The Buddha never changed them. We as meditators should thus modify our thoughts, words, and deeds to fit in with this Dhamma. It would be highly inappropriate for us to modify the Dhamma to conform with the influence of our hearts with their defilements. If we were to do such a thing, we would become Devadatta”s in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and our Teacher -- the Buddha”s right teachings -- would be lost to us without our even realizing it.

　　So try to be persistent, in line with the teachings given by the Buddha. Be brave in contending with the enemies of the heart -- both those that come from within and those that come from without -- together with the results they bring. Always take an interest in seeing where suffering and stress come from and how they arise. Don”t abandon this work or get bored with it. Try to know the causes and effects of the things that come into contact or become involved with the heart to see how they give rise to stress, until you can ultimately see the causes clearly -- and in that same moment, you will clearly understand the results.

　　The most important points, no matter when I teach you -- and they are teachings that lie close to my heart -- are mindfulness and discernment. These qualities are very important. If you lack mindfulness and discernment, the results of your practice will be erratic. The progress of your efforts will be interrupted and uneven. The techniques of your intelligence for curing defilement will be lacking, and the results -- peace and ease -- will be sporadic. If mindfulness and discernment are interrupted, you should know that all the efforts of your practice have been interrupted in the same instant. So I ask that each of you realize this. Every time I”ve given a talk, I”ve never omitted the topics of mindfulness and discernment. You could almost say that I give them the limelight more than any other topic, for I”ve considered the matter to the best of my ability, from the time I first started the practice until today, and I have never seen any qualities superior to mindfulness and discernment in being able to unravel things within or without so as to make them clear to the heart. For this reason, I teach you these two qualities so that you”ll know: To put them in terms of wood, they”re the heartwood or the tap root of the tree. In terms of the Dhamma, they”re the root, the crucial tools for eliminating all defilements and mental effluents (asava), from the blatant to the most extremely refined levels, once and for all.

　　If you lack mindfulness, you can”t even give rise to concentration. If you lack discernment, your concentration might turn into wrong concentration -- for the word ”concentration” is a neutral term. There”s no assurance as to what sort of concentration it may be. If it lacks discernment as its guardian, it”s sure to turn into concentration that deviates from the principles of the Dhamma without your realizing it. There are many levels of wrong concentration -- those that appear blatantly to the world, as well as intermediate and…

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