..续本文上一页closer to home. At the same time, the strength of the mind when really developed doesn”t have to depend on the strength of the body. It doesn”t end when the body dies. This is one of the things you discover as you meditate. Ordinarily, when people are tired they get in a bad mood. They feel overwhelmed, really put upon. But when you learn how to develop a greater sense of spaciousness in the mind, a greater sense of wellbeing in the mind, after a while you begin to realize it doesn”t depend on the level of energy in the body at all. The mind begins to have its own internal nourishment, its own internal place to recharge.

　　This is why we spend so much time sitting here with our eyes closed, working on mindfulness, concentration, and discernment, because these are the qualities that will see the mind through any situation. When you see people really “losing it,” this what have they”ve lost. They”ve lost their mindfulness, they”ve lost their concentration, they”ve lost their discernment. So you want to work on strengthening these qualities. Whatever time is spent making them stronger is time well spent.

　　When we talk about taking refuge in the Dhamma, this is precisely what”s meant: realizing that if you focus on these few things you don”t have to worry about other things. You can really trust the practice to see you through. Many times our desire to cover all the bases is a fear that if, well, one thing doesn”t work out something else will. And we hesitate to commit ourselves to a particular path of action for fear that it may not see us all the way through. So we hedge our bets. But instead of providing us real protection, this attitude ends up giving us a life of nothing but bits and pieces: a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of peace, a little bit of wealth, a little bit of health, nothing in any really solid measure.

　　So by taking refuge in the Dhamma we”re taking refuge in the conviction that developing the mind will cover all of those other contingencies. And because the practice of virtue, concentration, and discernment—all the seeds for happiness—lie right here, that simplifies matters. It also allows us to give our full energy to the things that matter most.

　　And so even if, from the outside, it may look as if the life of practicing the Dhamma has a lot of hardships, a lot of renunciation, a lot of doing without, it”s not an impoverished life. You find that your real wealth develops inside. One of the first things that attracted me to the Dhamma was seeing my teacher, Ajaan Fuang, living a very simple life—a little tiny monastery out in the hills of Rayong, just a couple of huts, not that many people—but he was happy. You could feel a very strong sense of wellbeing just emanating from him. And you realized that it didn”t depend on his being wealthy, it didn”t depend on his being famous or having a lot of friends or anything. It was simply because he had worked on his mind. As he said, he wasn”t born that way. Whatever sense of wellbeing he had developed in the mind came through the practice. And as you come to know the practice, come to know the Dhamma, you realize exactly how all-encompassing it is: that once these qualities are developed in the mind, they take care of all kinds of situations. Qualities of mindfulness, discernment, concentration are basic to any skill, basic to our ability to deal with any situation. So it”s by focusing on these few things that we really do cover all of our bases. They encompass everything.

　　One of the good things about the Dhamma is that it”s so big: You can give your whole life to it. It”s something worth giving your life to, because it teaches you what you need to know, teaches you the skills you need to handle whatever life throws at you— and more. So even though …

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