..续本文上一页ss, the emperor of the round of rebirth — is completely obliterated from the mind. At this point, how can we help but know what it is that causes birth on this or that level

　　 As for where we will or won”t be reborn, that”s not important. What”s important is seeing clearly that this is what has caused birth and death.

　　This is how we prove whether death is followed by rebirth or annihilation. We have to prove it at the mind by practicing in line with the principles of mental development, in the same way the Buddha and his Noble Disciples practiced and knew so that it was clear to their hearts. There is no other way to know. Don”t go groping, guessing, scratching at fleas. You”ll end up all mangy and dirty, without gaining anything at all. When we reach this point, it”s called eliminating birth — whose primary seeds lie within — completely from the mind. From this moment onward, there is nothing that can ever again connect and branch out. Mindfulness and discernment on the level of Dhamma-realization know this completely.

　　This is the culprit who asks, ”Is there a next world

　　” This is the one who reserves a place in the next world, the one who reserved our place in past worlds, the one who has been born and has died over and over and over again, unceasingly, relentlessly, to the point where it can”t remember the births, the deaths, the pleasures, the pains, the sufferings large and small in its various lives. This is the one.

　　So please remember its face and take it to heart. Probe it and slash it away to smithereens. Don”t show it any mercy: You”ll simply be feeding and fattening it for it to come back and destroy you.

　　When we gather the defilements, they come into the one mind. They gather here and we destroy them right here. Once we have finished destroying them so that nothing is left, the questions about birth, death, and the suffering and stress that result from birth and death no longer exist. We can know this clearly and fully for ourselves in a way that is immediately apparent.

　　There is no more problem about whether or not there is a next world. Our past worlds, we have already abandoned. As for the next world, the bridges have all been sent flying. And as for the present, we”re wise to it. There are no conventions, no matter now refined, left in the mind. This is truly a mind with no more problems. This is where we solve the mind”s problems. Once they are all solved here, there will never be any problems again.

　　No matter how wide the world, no matter how many universes there are, they are all a matter of conventional reality, which has no limit. The heart that knows all around itself is no longer involved.

　　The affairs that have been constantly assaulting us up to the present, and that will do so on into the future, are the affairs of this mind that has hazards buried within itself. That”s all there is. When these hazards have been entirely removed, there is nothing left to be dangerous or poisonous ever again. The question of whether or not there is a next world no longer holds any interest, because the realization has gone straight to the heart that it is done with the question of connecting up with any other world again. So in studying and solving our own problem, we tackle it right here. This way there”s hope that we can put an end to it — at the same time not causing any harm to ourselves or to others at all.

　　The Lord Buddha solved the problem right here. His arahant disciples solved it right here — knew it right here, severed it completely right here. The proclamation that the Teacher was completely free of suffering and stress, that he was the foremost teacher of the world, came from this knowledge and this freedom from issues. Our study of the world is completed right here at the mind. Our study of the Dhamma r…

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