..续本文上一页nt to develop. That”s the mind that the Buddha defines as health. This is why the training focuses inside, looking at your own mind and seeing where things set it off. When germs come into the mind, where is your resistance strong and where is it weak

　　 What is your line of resistance

　　 This is what we”re developing in the meditation: lines of resistance. Concentration, virtue, generosity: these are all our first lines of resistance against the invading germs.

　　Sitting here with our eyes closed, instead of trying to change things outside, we change things inside. Some people think that the practice is simply a matter of learning how to accept everything just as it is. Well, some things you do accept and some you don”t. You learn to accept the fact that the outside world is going to be the way it is. There are always going to be external problems. And the phrase “outside world” here doesn”t refer just to other people. Your own body is part of the outside world from the point of view of the Dhamma. And the body contains aging, illness, and death. That”s the nature of the body. You can”t change that, but what you can change is the mind. This is where you can”t just sit around and be equanimous, accepting the mind as it is. You”ve got to accept that the mind has the potential to change. So you”ve really got to stir yourself to look into the mind, to see which potentials need to be weakened and which ones need to be enhanced.

　　This is where right effort comes in—when you learn how to distinguish skillful and unskillful states in the mind. The skillful ones are the ones that can keep up your resistance against greed, anger, and delusion. The unskillful ones are the ones that give in, the ones that are susceptible to infection. And because delusion is part of the problem, the first thing you need to learn how to do is to distinguish which states are skillful and which ones aren”t. This is why you need instructions. This is why you need a technique in your meditation—you”ve got a focal point, the breath, as a measuring stick for the movements of the mind. You watch the breath as it”s coming in and going out, and you notice when you get pulled away from it: That”s a good measure of when the mind is being influenced by something. If you don”t have this kind of focus, it”s hard to tell when anger comes and when it goes. There”s nothing to measure it against. Like the clouds in the sky: You can”t tell how fast they”re moving unless you”ve got something still and solid on the ground to use as your reference point—a tree, a telephone pole. If you focus on that one point, then you can see whether the clouds are moving north or south, and how fast they”re going in relation to that point. It”s the same with the mind once it has a focal point like the breath: As soon as your attention gets pulled away from the breath, you know something has happened. Then you check to see what it is. In the beginning you simply notice what it is and—realizing that if you follow that, you”re drifting away from where you want to be—you bring the mind back. This is on the basic level of just getting the mind to learn how to be still for a while, how to stick with your original intention to stay centered, and how to settle down. But as your powers of concentration, your powers of mindfulness get stronger and stronger, you find you can actually investigate what”s pulling you away—or what would have pulled you away if you hadn”t caught yourself in time. This is when your powers of resistance are getting stronger: when you begin to see exactly how you get hooked to that pull.

　　It”s as if your mind is covered with Velcro hooks and you investigate to see what comes along and ends up stuck in them. Actually, those little Velcro hooks are choices. They”re not necessary. You don…

《A Good Dose of Medicine》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…