..续本文上一页is focused on investigating and probing pain. When the time comes for it really to go, this knowing mind — the mind with mindfulness knows — will withdraw instantly into itself. It will let go immediately of the work at hand and withdraw into itself, to be itself — the mind and nothing but — and then pass on like a ”sugato” with the full capability of a meditator, even though we may not yet be devoid of defilement.
This is called having full strength to our full capacity, in line with our level of mind and Dhamma. Investigation and mental development are thus important matters, matters on which our life and death depend. We needn”t hope to depend on anyone else at all — of this we are certain within ourselves. The heart knows within itself how strong mindfulness and discernment are, and needn”t go asking anyone else.
If the heart is able to investigate to the point where it can pass on at that moment, all doubts vanish. There are no problems at all. If you think that because you”re a woman or because you”re a layperson, you can”t realize nibbana, that”s your own misconception, which is one kind of defilement deceiving you.
The Dhamma is a truth and everyone”s common property. Whether we are men or women, lay or ordained, we can all have mindfulness and discernment. We can all cure our defilements. When we are willing, any man or woman, any monk or layperson can use any of the methods to cure defilement and gain release. We needn”t create problems to plague our hearts and waste our time. ”Since when do I have the potential to do that
” Don”t think that! You”re developing the merit and potential right now! However much or little, you can see it right here in the mind.
We should examine ourselves. Wherever we are stupid, we should develop intelligence: mindfulness and discernment. Only then will we be doing what is genuinely right in terms of the principles of the Lord Buddha”s Dhamma.
If we criticize ourselves, thinking, ”That person is on this level or that level while we don”t have any level at all; wherever we go, this person gets ahead of us, that person gets ahead of us,” actually nobody is getting ahead of us except for the defilements that get ahead of us and deceive us into feeling inferior and depressed, into thinking that we have only a little potential. That”s simply a misconception aimed at making us discouraged and self-pitying, because defilement is looking for a way to kill us without our realizing it.
We shouldn”t think in those ways. We are full of potential — all of us. And why shouldn”t we be
We”re meditators. We”re all devoted to making merit. Potential isn”t something we can set out on the market to compete with one another. Every person has potential within him or herself. We”re taught not to belittle one another”s potential. Even with animals, we”re taught not to belittle them — think of that! — because potential lies in the heart of every person and every animal.
So when curing defilement, you needn”t waste time thinking those things. They”ll simply ruin your morale and your resolve. To think, ”I”m a worthless woman... a worthless man... a worthless monk... a worthless layperson. I don”t have any paths or fruitions at all. Other people have them, but I don”t. I”m ashamed to show them my face” — these are wrong thoughts that will spoil your resolve in developing the various forms of goodness.
The right way to think is this: ”Right now I”m making an effort, with mindfulness and discernment, to cure defilement and to develop what is good and meritorious step by step, which is the direct way to develop my perfections (parami). I have the potential. I was born in the midst of the Buddha”s teachings and have developed the potential and the perfections to my full capacity all along up to the present.”
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