..续本文上一页person
Ask yourself. Don”t ask the defilements. They”ll simply do you more harm. If you don”t want this, you have to fight them. Once you fight them, you are sure somehow of finding a way to win. No matter how many times you lose, there will have to come a time when you win. Once you”ve won, then you can keep on winning, winning and winning until there is nothing left for you to fight because the defilements are completely mauled.
When you win, whom do you defeat
You defeat laziness with diligence. You defeat defilement with energy and persistence. This way you gain release from all stress. This is how you solve the problem of birth and death, right at the heart. There is only this spot that most needs solving. It”s the most appropriate spot, the most correct spot to solve. To solve things, you solve them here. There is no way you can solve them anywhere else. Keep on making assumptions and interpretations for aeons and aeons, and you”ll simply continue to be burdened with the problem as it leads you to birth, death, suffering, and stress. So you shouldn”t be bold in speculating and guessing, or you”ll waste your time and die in vain, because there is no way the problem will be solved with guesses and speculations.
”Does suffering exist, or not
Do merit (puñña) and evil exist, or not
” Actually, we are experiencing these things, all of us, with no possible exceptions. ”Evil” is mental darkness and stress. ”Merit” is well-being and ease. These things exist in the body and mind of every person, so how can you deny them
”Merit” is a name for well-being. The Buddha calls it merit. Stress he calls evil. We are touched by good and evil all the time. Whether we live in this world or the next, we can”t help but meet with good and evil.
Hell or not-hell, if there”s pain filling the body and mind, who wants it
Who wants to meet with it
This is something we all know, so why ask about hell when it”s already with us like this
Wherever pain is burning us, it”s as hot as being branded with fire. No matter where you”re branded, it all has to be hot in the same way. You can call it hell or not-hell as you like, but nobody wants it, because pain is something we have all known for ourselves.
And where — to trouble your heart — are you going to go looking for heaven
When you meet with the well-being that comes from practicing the Dhamma — and especially with well-being in the heart, beginning with stillness and calm in ascending stages to the point where the mind develops a firm and solid footing within, so that it is sure of itself; and then further, to the point where you gain release — then where are you going to ask about heaven and nibbana
There”s no need to ask. You know them directly with your heart. You are the owner, in charge of the heart that is clearly the instigator, so where else are you going to look — for the names ”heaven” and ”hell”
What is there to grope for
You”ve got the real thing within you. That”s all there is to the matter. The Dhamma of the Lord Buddha doesn”t delude people into groping for this or that. So take hold of the real thing right here.
Well then. That should be enough for now.
《Straight from the Heart - Birth & Death》全文阅读结束。