..续本文上一页at the proper time, in keeping with events, ”Right Action,” work that doesn”t overstep its boundaries, appropriate work.
The practice of centering the mind is something you can”t neglect. In practicing for the sake of the heart”s happiness, the view that centering the mind, keeping still, serves no purpose is wrong. If someone is addicted to concentration, unwilling to come out and work, that”s improper and should be criticized so that he or she will get down to work. But once the mind has become engrossed in its work, concentration is a necessity in certain areas, at certain times. Ordinarily, if we work without resting or sleeping, we ultimately can”t continue with our work. Even though some of our money gets used up when we eat, let it be used up — because the result is that our body gains strength from eating and can return to its work in line with its duties. Even though money gets used up and the food we eat gets used up, still it”s used up for a purpose: for energy in the body. Whatever gets consumed, let it be consumed, because it doesn”t hurt our purposes. If we don”t eat, where are we going to get any strength
Whatever gets spent, let it be spent for the sake of strength, for the sake of giving rise to strength.
The same holds true with resting in concentration: When we”re resting so as to give rise to stillness, the stillness is the strength of mind that can reinforce discernment and make it agile. We have to rest so as to have stillness. If there is no stillness, if there”s nothing but discernment running, it”s like a knife that hasn”t been sharpened. We keep chopping away — chock, chock, chock — but it”s hard to tell whether we”re using the edge of the blade or the back. We simply have the desire to know, to see, to understand, to uproot defilement, whereas discernment hasn”t been sharpened by resting in stillness — the reinforcement that gives peace and strength in the heart — and so it”s like a knife that hasn”t been sharpened. Whatever gets chopped doesn”t cut through easily. It”s a simple waste of energy.
So for the sake of what”s fitting while resting the mind in its ”home of concentration,” we have to let it rest. Resting is thus like using a whetstone to sharpen discernment. Resting the body strengthens the body, and in the same way resting the mind strengthens the mind.
When it comes out this time, now that it has strength, it”s like a knife that has been sharpened. The object is the same old object, the discernment is the same old discernment, the person investigating is the same old person, but once we focus our examination, it cuts right through. This time it”s like a person who has rested, slept, and eaten at his leisure, and whose knife is fully sharpened. He chops the same old piece of wood, he”s the same old person, and it”s the same old knife, but it cuts right through with no trouble at all — because the knife is sharp, and the person has strength.
In the same way, the object is the same old object, the discernment is the same old discernment, the person practicing is the same old person, but we”ve been sharpened. The mind has strength as a reinforcement for discernment and so things cut right through in no time at all — a big difference from when we hadn”t rested in concentration!
Thus concentration and discernment are interrelated. They simply do their work at different times. When the time comes to center the mind, center it. When the time comes to investigate in the area of discernment, give it your all — your full alertness, your full strength. Get to the full Dhamma: the full causes and the full effects. In the same way, when resting, give it a full rest. Practice these things at separate times. Don”t let them interfere with each other — being worried about concentration when examining wi…
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