The Prison World vs. the World Outside
  
  
  Our mind, if we were to make a comparison with the world, is a 
  perpetual prisoner, like a person born in jail who lives in jail, 
  behind bars, with no chance to get out to see the outside 
  world--someone who has grown from childhood to adulthood entirely in a 
  prison cell and so doesn't know what there is outside; someone who has 
  seen pleasure and pain only in the prison, and has never been out to 
  see what kind of pleasure, comfort and freedom they have in the 
  outside world.  We have no way of knowing what kind of happiness and 
  enjoyment they have there in the outside world, how they come and go, 
  how they live, because we are kept in prison from the day we are born 
  until the day we die.  This is a comparison, an analogy.
  
  We have only the pleasure and pain that the prison has to offer, with 
  nothing special, nothing obtained from the outside world so that when 
  it enters the prison we could see that, `This is something different 
  from the prison world-- this is from the outside world, outside the 
  prison;'  so that we could make comparisons and know that, `This is 
  like this, that is like that; this is better than that, that is better 
  than this.'  There is nothing but the affairs of the prison.  However 
  much the pleasure and pain, however great the deprivations, the 
  difficulties, the oppression and coercion, that's simply the way it's 
  been all along from the very beginning--and so we don't know where to 
  look for a way out, or how to free ourselves.  We don't even know 
  where the outside world is, because we have seen only the inside 
  world:  the prison where we have always been locked away, oppressed, 
  starved, beaten, tortured, deprived.  Even our bedding, food, 
  belongings--everything of every sort--is like that of a prisoner in 
  jail.  And yet people like this can still live this way because they 
  have never seen enough of the outside world to be able to make 
  comparisons as to which is better, which is more pleasant, in order to 
  feel inclined to search for a way out to the outside world.
  
  A mind controlled by the power of defilement and mental effluents is 
  like this.  It has been imprisoned by various kinds of defilement for 
  aeons and aeons.  For example, in our present lifetime, the 
  defilements which hold sway over the hearts of living beings have been 
  with us since the day of our birth.  They have kept us in continual 
  custody, never giving us any freedom within ourselves at all.  For 
  this reason, we have difficulty imagining what sort of pleasure there 
  could be above and beyond the way things are, just like a person who 
  was born and has always lived in a prison.
  
  What sort of world is the world outside?  Is it a good place to visit?  
  A good place to live?  The Dhamma proclaims it loud and clear, but 
  hardly anyone is interested.  Still, there are fortunately some places 
  where some people are interested.  In places where no one proclaims 
  it, where no one speaks of what the outside world--a mind with Dhamma 
  in charge--is like, no one knows what the teachings of the religion 
  are like.  No one knows what the happiness which comes from the Dhamma 
  is like.  Such people are so surrounded by darkness, so completely 
  drowned in attachment, that not even a single limb shows above the 
  surface, because there is no religion to pull them out.  It's as if 
  the outside world didn't exist.  They have nothing but the prison, the 
  defile-ments, holding the heart in custody.  Born in this world, they 
  have only the prison as their place to live and to die.
  
  A mind which has never known what could give it greater pleasure, 
  comfort and freedom than it has at present, if we were to make a 
  different comparison, is like a duck playing in a mud puddle under a 
  shanty.  It keeps playing there: splat, splat, splat, splat, splat.  
  No matter how dirty or filthy it is, it's content to play because it 
  has never seen the water of the ocean, of a river, of a lake or a pond 
  large enough for it to swim and immerse its entire body with ease.  It 
  has known only the mud puddle which lies stagnant under the shanty, 
  into which things in the shanty get washed down.  And so it plays 
  there, thinking it's fun, swimming happily in its way--why?  Because 
  it has never seen water wider or deeper than that, enough to give it 
  more enjoyment in coming and going or swimming around than it can find 
  in the mud puddle under the shanty. 
  
  As for ducks which live along broad, deep canals, they're very 
  different from the duck under the shanty.  They really enjoy 
  themselves along rivers, lakes, canals and ponds.  Wherever their 
  owner herds them, there they go-- crossing back and forth over 
  highways and by-ways, spread-ing in flocks of hundreds and thousands.  
  Even ducks like these have their happiness. 
  
  What do they stand for?
  
  They stand for the mind.  A mind which has never seen the pleasure, 
  the comfort, the enjoyment which comes from the Dhamma is like the 
  duck playing in the mud puddle under the shanty, or those which enjoy 
  swimming in canals, rivers or lakes.
  
  We at present have our pleasure and happiness through the controlling 
  power of the defilements, which is like the happiness of prisoners in 
  jail.  When the mind receives training from the outside world--meaning 
  the Dhamma which comes from the transcendent (lokuttara) Dhammas, from 
  the `land' of nibbana on down, level by level to the human world, 
  revealing every level, every realm--we find that those of us who are 
  inclined, who are interested in the outside world, in happiness 
  greater than that which exists at present, still exist.  When we hear 
  the Dhamma step by step, or read books about the outside world--about 
  Dhamma, about releasing ourselves from the pain and suffering we are 
  forced to undergo within our hearts--our minds feel pleasure and 
  enjoyment.  Interest.  A desire to listen.  A desire to practice so as 
  to reap the results step by step.  This is where we begin to see the 
  influence of the outside world making itself felt.  The heart begins 
  to exert itself, trying to free itself from the tyranny and oppression 
  from within, like that of a prisoner in jail.
  
  Even more so, when we practice in the area of the mind:  The more 
  peace we obtain, then the greater the effort, the greater the exertion 
  we make.  Mindfulness and discernment gradually appear.  We see the 
  harm of the tyranny and the oppression imposed by the defilements in 
  the heart.  We see the value of the Dhamma, which is a means of 
  liberation.  The more it frees us, the more ease we feel in the heart.  
  Respite.  Relief.  This then is a means of increasing our conviction 
  in ascending stages, and of increasing our effort and stamina in its 
  wake.  The mindfulness and discernment which used to lie buried in the 
  mud gradually revive and awaken, and begin to contemplate and 
  investigate.
  
  In the past, no matter what assaulted us by way of the eye, ear, nose, 
  tongue, body or mind, we were like dead people.  We held these things 
  to be ordinary and normal.  They never provoked our mindfulness and 
  discernment to investigate and explore, searching for beginnings and 
  ends, causes and effects.  Even though these things had been our 
  enemies for a long, long time, making their assaults both day and 
  night, we were never interested.  Now, though, we develop an interest.  
  When the heart begins to enter the current of the Dhamma in which it 
  has been trained to the point of developing a basis for mindfulness 
  and discern-ment, step by step, it is bound to see clearly both what 
  is beneficial and what is harmful, because these things dwell 
  together--benefits and harm--within this heart.  The mind develops 
  agility in contemplating and investigating.  The heart develops 
  boldness in its explorations.  Seeing harm, it tries to remedy it.  
  Seeing benefits, it tries to open the way for them; it tries to foster 
  them in ascending stages.
  
  This is called the mind gradually gaining release from tyranny and 
  oppression--the prison--within.  At the same time, it is gaining a 
  view of the outside world, seeing what sort of world it is, seeing 
  whether it's like the prison which exists at present.  Our eyes can 
  see the outside world to some extent, can see how those in the outside 
  world live, how they come and go--and what about us in the prison?  
  What is it like to live overcome by defilements?  How does the mind 
  feel as we gain gradual relief from the defilements?  We can begin to 
  make comparisons.
  
  Now at last we have an outside world and an inside world to compare!  
  The happiness and ease which come from removing however many of the 
  defilements we can remove, appear.  The stress which continues as long 
  as the remaining defilements still exert their influence, we know 
  clearly.  We see their harm with our discernment on its various 
  levels, and we try continually to remedy the situation without letting 
  our persistence lapse.
  
  This is when mindfulness, discernment, conviction and persistence stir 
  themselves out to the front lines: when we see both the outside 
  world--however much we have been able to liberate the heart from 
  defilement--and the inside world, where the defilements keep up their 
  oppression and coercion.  Before, we never knew what to use for 
  compari-sons, because we had never seen anything other than this.  
  Since we were born buried in pain and suffering this way, no pleasure 
  from the outside world--from the Dhamma--ever appeared to us.
  
  What did appear was the kind of happiness which had suffering behind 
  the scenes, waiting to stomp in and obliterate that happiness without 
  giving a moment's notice.  
  
  Now, however, we are beginning to know and see.  We see the happiness 
  of the outside, that is, of the outside world, of those who have 
  Dhamma reigning in their hearts; and we see the happiness inside the 
  prison, the happiness which lies under the influence of defilement.  
  We also see the suffering and stress which lie under the influence of 
  defilement.  We know this all clearly with our own mindful-ness and 
  discernment.
  
  The happiness which comes from the outside world-- in other words, 
  from the current of the Dhamma seeping deep into the heart--we begin 
  to see, step by step, enough to make comparisons.  We see the outside 
  world, the inside world, their benefits and drawbacks.  When we take 
  them and compare them, we gain an ever greater understanding --plus 
  greater persistence, greater stamina--to the point that when anything 
  connected with defilement which used to tyrannize and oppress the mind 
  passes our way, we immediately feel called upon to tackle it, remedy 
  it, strip it away and demolish it step by step through the power of 
  mindfulness and discernment backed by persistent effort.
  
  The mind will set itself spinning.  When its awareness of harm is 
  great, its appreciation of what is beneficial is also great.  When the 
  desire to know and see the Dhamma is great, when the desire to gain 
  release is great, persistence will have to become greater in their 
  wake.  Stamina and resilience will also come in their wake, because 
  they all exist in the same heart.  When we see harm, the entire heart 
  is what sees it.  When we see benefits, the entire heart is what sees.  
  When we try to make our way with various methods in line with our 
  abilities, it's an affair of the entire heart making the effort to 
  free itself.  
  
  This is why these things, such as persistence, which are the mind's 
  tools, the mind's support, come together.  For example, saddha, 
  conviction in the paths (magga) and their fruitions (phala), 
  conviction in the realm beyond suffering and stress; viriya, 
  persistence, perseverance in gaining release for oneself step by step; 
  khanti, stamina, endurance in order to be unyielding in passing over 
  and beyond:  All of these things come together.  Mindfulness and 
  discernment which will contemplate along the way, seeing what is right 
  and what is wrong, will come in their wake.
  
  If we were to speak in terms of the principles of the formal Dhamma as 
  expressed by the Buddha, this is called the path converging 
  (magga-samangi), gradually gathering itself into this single heart.  
  Everything comes together:  Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, 
  Right Undertak-ing, all the way to Right Concentration, all come 
  gathering into this single heart.  They don't go anywhere else.
  
  Right Undertaking:  Our only right undertakings are sitting and 
  walking  meditation, because we have reached the stage of precision 
  work where the heart gathers together.  The mind is in a state of the 
  path converging--gathering itself into a single heart.
  
  Right View, Right Intention:  These refer to the concerns of 
  discernment, always exploring the affairs of the elements, the 
  khandhas, whatever appears or makes contact, arises and vanishes, 
  whether good or evil, past or future, appearing in the heart.  
  Mindfulness and discernment slash these things to bits step by step 
  without bothering to waste time.
  
  Right Undertaking:  On the level of the body, this refers to doing 
  sitting and walking meditation, making the effort to abandon the 
  defilements no matter what our posture.  On the level of the heart, 
  this refers to persistence within the mind.
  
  Right Speech:  We speak only of the Dhamma.  Our con-versation deals 
  only with the topics of effacement (sallekha-dhamma), topics of 
  polishing away or washing away defile-ments and mental effluents from 
  the heart, telling what methods we can use that will utterly end the 
  defilements:  This is Right Speech.
  
  Right Livelihood:  When the heart feeds on any object which is its 
  enemy, this is called maintaining a wrong livelihood.  Since the 
  object is an enemy of the heart, the heart will have to be clouded.  
  There's nothing good about it at all.  It has to lead to greater or 
  lesser amounts of suffering and stress within the heart in proportion 
  to the heart's crude-ness or refinement.  This  is called poison.  
  Wrong livelihood.  We have to correct it immediately.  Immediately.
  
  Any mental object which is rightful, which leads to happiness, 
  well-being and ease, is a fitting preoccupation, a fitting food for 
  the heart, providing it with peace and well-being.  This is how Right 
  Livelihood is maintained with Dhamma on the ascending levels of 
  training the heart.  As for Right Livelihood on the physical level, 
  dealing with food or alms, that applies universally for Buddhists in 
  general to conduct themselves in line with their personal duties.
  
  Right Effort:  What sort of effort?  This we know.  The Buddha taught 
  four kinds of effort: (1) Try to be careful not to let evil arise 
  within yourself. (2) Try to abandon evil which has already arisen.  In 
  being careful not to let evil arise, we have to be careful by being 
  mindful.  Using mindfulness in trying not to let evil arise means 
  being alert to the mind which thinks and wanders about, gathering 
  suffering and stress into itself.  This is because thought-formations 
  of the wrong sort are an affair of the origin of stress, and so we 
  should be careful to guard against them.  Don't be careless or 
  complacent.  (3) Try to develop that which is wholesome-- 
  intelligence--so as to increase it step by step.  (4)  Try to 
  safeguard the wholesome things which have arisen so as to develop them 
  even further, and not let them  deteriorate.  All of these right 
  exertions apply right within us.
  
  Right Mindfulness keeps watch over the heart.  Mindfulness and 
  self-awareness keep constant track of its behavior and activities.  
  Whatever makes contact by way of the eye, ear, nose, tongue or body, 
  if it doesn't go into  the heart, where does it go?  The heart is an 
  enormous place, always ready to  be informed of various things, both 
  good and evil.  Discernment is what contemplates and deliberates.  
  Mindfulness is what keeps vigilant, inspecting whatever comes in to 
  engage the heart.  Whatever the preoccupation, good or evil, 
  mindfulness and discernment contemplate and are selective of what 
  engages the heart.  Whatever they see as improper, the mind will 
  reject immediately.  Immediately.  Discernment is what makes the 
  rejection. 
  
  Right Concentration:  Our work for the sake of making the defilements 
  quiet through concentration is steady and constant, to the point where 
  the results appear as peace and calm in the heart, as a true place of 
  rest without any distractions coming in to disturb the heart at that 
  moment.
  
  When entering concentration so as to relax the mind, in order to give 
  strength to discernment in its continuing explorations, you should go 
  ahead and really rest--rest in concentration.  Enter the calm.  
  Completely stop all thoughts and explorations in the area of 
  discernment.  Let the mind settle in and relax.  It doesn't have to 
  think or contrive anything at all related to its work.  Let the mind 
  rest com-fortably by giving it a single preoccupation.  If the mind 
  happens to be extremely engrossed in its investigations so that you 
  can't rein it in, use `buddho' as a means to drag it in.  Make the 
  mind stay with `buddho, buddho, buddho'.  Even though the meditation 
  word `buddho' may be a mental contrivance, it's a contrivance in a 
  single focal idea.  Contriving a single focal idea can cause the mind 
  to settle down.  
  
  For example, if while we are repeating, `buddho, buddho, buddho', the 
  mind flashes back to its work because it is engrossed in its 
  unfinished business, we should repeat the meditation word even faster 
  so as not to let the mind go back to its work.  In other words, when 
  the mind is at the stage where it is engrossed in its work, we could 
  say--to put it in worldly terms--that we can't let down our guard, 
  although on this level it's hard to say that the mind lets down its 
  guard.  To get nearer the truth, we should say that we can't loosen 
  our grip.  To put it simply, we can't loosen our grip.  Otherwise the 
  mind will jump back out to work.  So at this point we have to be firm 
  with our meditation word.  Force the mind to stay with its single 
  preoccupation --`buddho'--as a means of reining the mind in.  Repeat 
  `buddho, buddho, buddho' in really close frequency; then `buddho' and 
  the mind will become one.  The heart will be firm and calm down, calm 
  down, relaxing, relaxing, setting aside all its work.  The mind will 
  become cool and peaceful.  This  is Right Concentration.
  
  When the time comes to rest, you have to rest like this for it to 
  qualify as Right Concentration.  When you have had enough, when you 
  see that the mind has regained strength, then simply let go--that's 
  all--and the mind will spring immediately back to work.  It springs 
  out of oneness, of having a single preoccupation, and returns to being 
  two with its work.  At this point, the heart gets back to work without 
  worrying about concentration while it is working.  In the same way, 
  when centering the mind for the sake  of stillness, you don't have to 
  worry about your work at all.
  
  When resting, you have to rest, in the same way that when eating you 
  don't have to do any work at all except for the work of eating.  When 
  sleeping, sleep peacefully.  You shouldn't be concerned with any work 
  at all.  But once you have begun work, you shouldn't concern yourself 
  with eating and sleeping.  Really set your mind on your work.  This is 
  called doing a solid piece of work:  work in its proper phases, work 
  at the proper time, in keeping with events, `Right Undertaking', work 
  which 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 happi-ness, 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 
  which 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 which 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 sharp-ened by resting in 
  stillness--the reinforcement that gives peace and strength in the 
  heart--and so it's like a knife which 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 which has been sharpened.  The object is the same old object, 
  the discernment is the same old discern-ment, 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 practic-ing 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 with 
  discern-ment, or being preoccupied with the affairs of discernment 
  when entering concentration--for that would be wrong.  Whichever work 
  you're going to do, really make it a solid piece of work.  This is the 
  right way, the appropriate way--the way Right Concentration really is.  
  
  Once discernment has begun uprooting defilements step by step, the 
  heart develops brightness.  The lightness of the mind is one of the 
  benefits that come from removing the things which are hazardous, the 
  things which are filthy.  We see the value of this benefit, and keep 
  on investigating.
  
  What defilement is, is a weight on the heart.  Our mind is like a 
  prisoner constantly overpowered--coerced and tormented--by defilements 
  and mental effluents ever since we were born.  When we come right down 
  to it, where is defilement?  Where is being and birth?  Right here in 
  this same heart.  When you investigate, these things gather in, gather 
  in and enter this single heart.  The cycle of rebirth doesn't refer to 
  anything else:  It refers to this single heart which spins in circles.  
  It's the only thing that leads us to birth and death.  Why?  Because 
  the seeds of these things are in the heart.
  
  When we use mindfulness and discernment to investi-gate, we explore so 
  as to see clearly, and we keep cutting in, step by step, until we 
  reach the mind which is the culprit, harboring unawareness (avijja) 
  which is the important seed of the cycle in the heart.  We keep 
  dissecting, keep investigating in, investigating in, so that there is 
  nothing left  of `this is this' or `that is that'.  We focus our 
  investigation on the mind in the same way as we have done with 
  phenomena (sabhava dhamma) in general.
  
  No matter how much brightness there may be in the heart, we should 
  know that it's simply a place for the heart to rest temporarily as 
  long as we are still unable to investi-gate it to the point where we 
  can disperse and destroy it.  But don't forget that this shining star 
  of a heart is actually unawareness.
  
  So investigate, taking that as the focal point of your investigation.
  
  So then.  If this is going to be obliterated until there is no more 
  awareness, leaving nothing at all--to the point where the `knower' is 
  destroyed along with it--then let's find out once and for all.  We're 
  investigating to find the truth, to know the truth, so we have to get 
  all the way down to causes and effects, to the truth of everything of 
  every sort.  Whatever is going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed.  
  Even if ultimately the `knower' who is investigating will be destroyed 
  as well, then let's find out with our mindfulness and discernment.  We 
  don't have to leave anything remain-ing as an island or a vantage 
  point to deceive ourselves.  Whatever is `us', whatever is `ours', 
  don't leave it standing.  Investigate down to the truth of all things 
  together.  
  
  What's left, after the defilement of unawareness is abso-lutely 
  destroyed, is something beyond the range to which convention can reach 
  or destroy.  This is called the pure mind, or purity.  The nature of 
  this purity cannot be destroyed by anything at all.
  
  Defilements are conventional realities which can arise and vanish.  
  Thus they can be cleansed, made to increase, made to decrease, made to 
  disappear, because they are an affair of conventions.  But the mind 
  pure and simple--the phenomenon called a released mind--lies beyond 
  the range to which any defilements, which are all conventions, can 
  reach and destroy.  If the mind isn't yet pure, it's a conven-tional 
  reality just like other things, because conventional things have 
  infiltrated it.  Once they are entirely removed, the phenomenon of 
  release is one which no defilement can any longer affect--because it 
  lies beyond range.  So what is destroyed?
  
  Stress stops, because the cause of stress stops.  Nirodha --the 
  cessation of stress--also stops.  The path, the tool which wipes out 
  the cause of stress, also stops.  The four Noble Truths all stop 
  together.  Stress stops, the cause of stress stops, the path stops, 
  the cessation of stress stops.
  
  But listen!  The one which knows that `that stops' is one which is not 
  a Noble Truth.  It lies above the Noble Truths.  The investigation of 
  the Noble Truths is an investigation for the sake of this one.  Once 
  we reach the real thing, the four Noble Truths have no more role to 
  play, no need to be cleansed, remedied or removed.  For example, 
  discernment:  Now that we've worked to the full extent, we can let go 
  of discernment, with no need to set rules for it.  Both mindful-ness 
  and discernment are tools in the battle.  Once the war is over, the 
  enemy is wiped out, so these qualities are no longer at issue.
  
  What's left?  Purity.  The Buddha, in proclaiming the Dhamma to the 
  world, took it from this pure nature.  The doctrines of the religion 
  came from this nature, and in the approach he used in teaching, he had 
  to teach about stress because these conditions are directly related to 
  this mind.  He taught us to know how to remedy, how to stop, how to 
  strive--everything of every sort--all the way to the goal at the end 
  of the path, after which nothing more need be said.  This is purity.  
  The mind has come out to the outside world.  It has left the prison 
  and come to the outside world--freedom--never to be imprisoned again.
  
  But no one wants to go to this world, because they have never seen it.  
  This is an important world--lokuttara, the transcendent, a realm 
  higher than other worlds--but we simply call it the outside world, 
  outside of all conventions.  We call it a `world' just as a figure of 
  speech, because our world has its conventions, and so we simply talk 
  about it that way.
  
  Think about escaping from this prison.  You've been born in prison, 
  live in prison and die in prison.  You've never once died outside of 
  prison.  So, for once, get your heart out of prison.  You'll be really 
  comfortable--really comfortable!--like the Buddha and his Noble 
  Disciples:  They were born in prison like you, but they died outside 
  of the prison.  They died outside of the world.  They didn't die in 
  this world which is so narrow and confining.  
  
       I'll ask to stop here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Birth & Death
  
  
  
  People come with questions--some of which I can remember--and everyone 
  has that question which is waiting right at the barn door:  Is there a 
  next world after death?  The next world, who goes on to the next 
  world:  These sorts of things aren't any one person's issue.  They're 
  an issue for all of us who are carrying a burden.  When people ask 
  this sort of question, I ask them in return, `Was there a yesterday?  
  Was there a this morning?  Is there a present at this moment?'  They 
  admit that there was and is.  `Then will there be a tomorrow?  A day 
  after tomorrow?  A this month?  A next month?  A this  year?  A next 
  year and years after that?'
  
  Things in the past which we can remember, we can use to make guesses 
  about the future.  Even for things which haven't yet happened, we can 
  make comparisons with things which have already occurred.  The future 
  has to follow the way things have been in the past.  For example, 
  yesterday has already occurred, today is occurring.  These things have 
  followed one after the other.  We know this, we remember, we haven't 
  forgotten.  This afternoon, this evening, tonight, tomorrow morning:  
  We've already seen that things have been like this.  This is the way 
  things have happened, without being otherwise, and so we accept that 
  this is the way they will continue to be.
  
  Doubts about this world and the next, or about things concerning 
  ourselves:  This is delusion about ourselves.  This is why these 
  things become big issues, causing endless fuss all over the world of 
  rebirth. `Is there a next world?  When people die, are they reborn?'  
  These questions go together, for who is it that takes birth and dies?  
  We ourselves--always dying and taking birth.  What comes to this world 
  and goes to the next world is us.  Who else would it be?  If not for 
  this being of the world, this wanderer, there wouldn't be anyone 
  weighed down with these questions and burdens.
  
  This is the harm of delusion, of being unable to remember.  It shows 
  within us, but we can't catch hold of its causes, of why it has come 
  about.  Things which have hap-pened, we can't remember.  Our own 
  affairs thus spin us around in circles and get us so tangled up that 
  we don't know which way to go.  This is why self-delusion is an 
  endless complication.  Being deluded about other things is not so bad, 
  but being deluded about ourselves blocks all the exits.  We can't find 
  any way out.  The results come right back at us--they don't go 
  anywhere else--bringing us suf-fering, because these sorts of doubts 
  are questions with which we bind ourselves, not questions by which we 
  set ourselves free.  We can have no hope of resolving and 
  understanding these doubts if we don't find confirmation of the Dhamma 
  in the area of meditation.
  
  This is why the Lord Buddha taught us to unravel and look at our own 
  affairs.  But unraveling our own affairs is something very critical.  
  If we do it by guessing or specu-lating or any other way, we won't 
  succeed.  The only way is to develop goodness step by step as a means 
  of support and of drawing us in to mental development (bhavana), or 
  meditation, so as to unravel and look at our own affairs, which lie 
  gathered in the range of meditation.  This is what will lead us to 
  know clearly and to cut through our doubts, at the same time leading 
  us to satisfactory results.  We will be able to stop wondering about 
  death and rebirth or death and annihilation.  
  
  What are our own affairs?  The affairs of the heart.  The heart is 
  what acts, creating causes and results for itself all the time: 
  pleasure, pain, complications and turmoil.  For the most part, it ties 
  itself down more than helping itself.  If we don't force it into good 
  ways, the hearts reaps trouble as a result, the suffering which comes 
  from being agitated and anxious, thinking restlessly from various 
  angles for no worthwhile reason.  The results we receive are an 
  important factor in making us pained and unsettled.  This is thus a 
  difficult matter, a heavy matter for all those who are delud-ed about 
  the world, deluded about themselves, agitated by the world and 
  agitated about themselves without being interested in confirming the 
  truth about themselves using the principles of the Dhamma, principles 
  which guarantee the truth.  For example, once we die, we must be 
  reborn; as long as the seeds of rebirth are in the heart, we have to 
  continue being reborn repeatedly.  It can't be otherwise -- for 
  instance, being annihilated at death.
  
  The Buddha teaches us to keep watch of the instigator.  In other 
  words, we should observe our own heart, which is what causes birth and 
  death.  If we don't understand it, he tells us various angles from 
  which to approach until we understand and can deal with it properly.  
  In particular, he teaches us to meditate, using any of the meditation 
  themes, repeating it so that the mind--which has no footing to hold 
  to, which is in such a turmoil of finding no refuge that it dwells in 
  unlimited dreams and infatuations--will gain enough of a footing to 
  get on its feet, will gain quiet and calm, free from the distraction 
  and unsteadiness which would destroy the peace of mind we want.  
  
  For example, he teaches us to repeat `buddho, dhammo, sangho' or 
  `atthi' (bones), `kesa' (hair of the head), `loma' (hair of the body), 
  or whatever phrase suits our temperament, being mindful to keep watch 
  over our meditation theme so as not to become forgetful and send the 
  mind elsewhere, away from it.  This is so that the mind, which we used 
  to send in various places, can latch onto or dwell with its 
  Dhamma-theme: its meditation word. Our awareness, which used to be 
  scattered among various preoccupations, will now gather into that 
  point--the mind--which is the gather-ing place of awareness.  All the 
  currents of our awareness will converge at the Dhamma-theme we are 
  repeating or pursuing with interest.  This is because the meditation 
  word --which is something for the mind to hold to, so that it can gain 
  a footing--becomes more and more an object of clear and conspicuous 
  awareness.  Thus at the beginning stages of meditation, the meditation 
  word is very important.
  
  Once we have seen the intrinsic value of the peace that appears this 
  way, we at the same time see clearly the harm that comes from the 
  agitation and turmoil of the mind which has no footing to hold to, and 
  which creates havoc for itself.  We needn't ask anyone:  The benefits 
  of a peaceful mind and the harm of an agitated mind, we see within our 
  own mind from having practiced meditation.  This is a step, the first 
  step, by which the Buddha teaches us to know the affairs of the mind.
  
  We then try to make the mind progressively more firmly settled and 
  calm by repeating the meditation word, as already mentioned.  We keep 
  at it, again and again, until we become adept, until the mind can 
  become still the way we want it to.  The sense of well-being which 
  arises from a calm heart becomes even more prominent and clear all the 
  time.  As soon as the mind becomes still, giving rise to clear and 
  prominent awareness, it is at the same time a gathering in of the 
  defilements into a single spot so that we can see them more clearly 
  and more easily observe their behavior--so that we can more easily 
  cure them and remove them with the levels of discernment suited to 
  dealing with crude, intermediate and subtle defilements step by step.
  
  Now, concerning defilements, the things which force the mind to be 
  agitated in countless, inconceivable ways:  We can't catch sight of 
  what defilement is, what the mind is, what the Dhamma is, until we 
  first have a firm basis of mental stillness.  When the mind gathers in 
  and is still, the defilements gather in and are still as well.  When 
  the mind draws into itself, to be itself or to become a point on which 
  we can focus and understand, the affairs of defilement also enter a 
  restricted range in that same point.  They gather in at the heart and 
  rarely ever run loose to stir up trouble for the heart as they used to 
  before the mind was still.
  
  Once the mind is still so that it can stand on its feet, we are then 
  taught to use our discernment to investigate, unravel and contemplate 
  the various parts of the body in which the defilements hide out.  What 
  is the mind interested in?  When it isn't quiet, with what does it 
  like to involve itself?  While the mind is quiet, it doesn't stir up 
  trouble for itself, but a common habit with us human beings is that 
  once we have gained peace and relaxation, we get lazy.  We simply want 
  to lie down and rest.  We don't want to unravel the body, the elements 
  or the khandhas with our mindfulness and discernment for the sake of 
  seeing the truth and remov-ing the various defilements from the heart.  
  We don't like to reflect on the fact that those who have abandoned and 
  removed the various kinds of defilement which hide out in the body and 
  the khandhas have done so by using mindful-ness and discernment.  As 
  for mental stillness or concentration, that's simply a gathering 
  together of the defilements into a restricted range.  It's not an 
  abandoning or a removal of defilement.  Please remember this and take 
  it to heart.
  
  The heart, when it isn't still, tends to get entangled with sights, 
  sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations, and to take them as 
  issues for stirring itself up.  We can know with our mindfulness and 
  discernment which of the various sights, sounds, etc., the mind tends 
  to favor most strongly.  While we are investigating, we can know with 
  our mindfulness and discernment the objects with which the mind is 
  involving itself.  We can observe the affairs of the mind because the 
  mind has been still.  As soon as it begins to head out towards its 
  various preoccupations, we know.  This is why we are taught to 
  investigate and unravel things with our discernment so as to know what 
  the mind goes to involve itself with.  Try to observe so as to know, 
  so as to see clearly with mindfulness and discernment while you are 
  investigating.  Only when you are stilling the mind in concentration 
  is there no need for you to investigate, because concentration and 
  discernment take turns working at different times, as I have already 
  explained.
  
  When you are investigating visual objects, with which visual object is 
  the mind most involved?  What is the reason?  Look at the object.  
  Dissect it.  Analyze it into its parts so as to see it clearly for 
  what it truly is.  Once you have dissected the object--whatever it 
  is--so as to see it with discernment in line with its truth, at the 
  same time you will see the absurdity, the deceptiveness of the mind 
  which grows attached and misconstrues things in all kinds of ways 
  without any real reason, without any basis in fact.  Once you have 
  investigated carefully, you'll see that the object has none of the 
  worth construed and assigned to it by the mind.  There are simply the 
  assumptions of the mind which has fallen for the object, that's all.  
  Once you have investigated, separating the various parts of `their' 
  body or `your' body so as to see them in detail, you won't see 
  anything of any worth or substance at all.  The heart of its own 
  accord will see the harmfulness of its assumptions, its labels and 
  attachments.  The more it investigates, the more clearly it sees--not 
  only the various sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile 
  sensations, but also the acts of the mind which are involved with 
  those objects--until it fully knows and clearly sees with discernment, 
  because it has been constantly unravel-ing things both within and 
  without.  You fully know and clearly see the acts inside the heart 
  which become involved, knowing that they come about for this reason 
  and that, all of which are thoroughly absurd.
  
  Before, you didn't know why the mind was involved.  But now you know 
  clearly that it is involved for this reason and that:  namely, 
  delusion and mistaken assumptions.  When you investigate in line with 
  the truth and see the true nature of external things, you know clearly 
  within yourself that the mind has construed phenomena to be like this 
  and like that, which is why it has continually developed more and more 
  attachment and clinging, more and more of the defilements of love and 
  hatred.  The heart then realizes its own absurdity.
  
  When the heart realizes that it has been deluded and absurd, it 
  withdraws inward, because if it were to continue to think of becoming 
  attached to those things, it would get cut right through by 
  discernment--so what would it gain from becoming attached?  To 
  investigate so as to know clearly that this is this, and that is that, 
  in line with the truth of every individual thing of every sort:  This 
  is the way to unravel the great mass of problems which, taken 
  together, are results--the mass of suffering inside heart.  This is 
  how we are taught to unravel it.
  
  As discernment constantly keeps unraveling things without let-up until 
  it understands clearly and distinctly, we don't have to tell it to let 
  go.  Once the mind knows, it lets go of its own accord.  It is bound 
  to let go of its own accord.  The mind attached is the mind which 
  doesn't yet know, doesn't yet understand with discernment.  Once the 
  full heart knows, it fully lets go, with no concern or regrets.  All 
  the concerns which used to bother and disturb the mind vanish of their 
  own accord because discernment sees right through them.  Once it sees 
  everything clearly and distinctly, what is there left to grope for?  
  The problems of the heart which used to be broad and wide-ranging now 
  become more and more restricted.  Problems concerning outside affairs 
  become less and less, as I have said in previous talks.
  
  The next step is to unravel the mind, the gathering point of subtle 
  defilements, so as to see what it is looking for when it `blips' out.  
  Where does it `blip' from?  What is there that pressures the mind into 
  forming thoughts of various issues?  When mindfulness and discernment 
  can keep up with the thoughts that come `blipping' out, these thoughts 
  vanish immediately without amounting to anything, without forming 
  issues to entangle us as they did before.  This is because mindfulness 
  and discernment are wise to them, and always ready to herd them in and 
  wipe them out as they keep following in on the tracks of the origin of 
  defilement to see exactly where it is.  Where do its children and 
  grand-children--the defilements--come from?  Animals have their 
  parents, what are the parents of these defilements?  Where are they?  
  Why do they keep forming again and again, thinking again and again?  
  Why do they give rise to assump-tions and interpretations, increasing 
  suffering and stress without stop?
  
  Actually, thought-formations are formed at the mind.  They don't come 
  from anywhere else.  So investigate, following them in step by step 
  without losing the trail which will lead you to the truth, to the 
  culprit.  This is genuine exploring, observing the affairs of all the 
  defilements, using the power of genuine mindfulness and discernment.  
  Ultimately we will know what the mind is lacking, what it is still 
  connected with, what it is interested in, what it wants to know and to 
  see.  
  
  So we follow the connections, follow the seeds on in.  Day by day, the 
  defilements become more and more restricted, more and more restricted.  
  This is because the bridges which connect them to sights, sound, 
  smells, tastes, tactile sensations and the various things of the world 
  in general have been cut away from the mind by using contin-ual 
  mindfulness and discernment to the point where we have no more doubts.  
  It's as if the outside world didn't exist.  There remain only the 
  preoccupations which form--blip, blip, blip--in the mind.  This is 
  where the rebellious mon-arch lies.  The one who concocts and creates, 
  the one who struggles and writhes restlessly in big and little ways, 
  lies right here.
  
  Before, we didn't know in what ways the mind was writhing.  All we 
  knew were the results that appeared, unsatisfactory every time, giving 
  us nothing but suffering and stress, which no one in the world wants.  
  Our own heart was so burdened with stress that it couldn't find a way 
  out, because it had no inkling of how to remedy things.  But now that 
  we know, these things gradually disappear so that we know and see more 
  and more clearly at the mind, which is where unawareness is performing 
  as an actor, as an issue-maker, here inside us.  It can't find 
  anything to latch onto outside, so it simply acts inside.  Why doesn't 
  it latch on?  Because mindfulness and discernment understand, and have 
  it surrounded.  So how could it latch onto anything?  All it does is 
  go `blip, blip, blip' in the mind.  We now see it more clearly and 
  focus our investigation on it, scratch away at it, dig away at it with 
  mindfulness and discernment until we have it surrounded every time the 
  mind makes a move.  There are no longer any lapses in alertness as 
  there were in the first stages when mindfulness and discernment were 
  still stumbling and crawling along.
  
  Our persistence at this level is no longer a matter of every activity: 
  It becomes a matter of every mental moment in which the mind ripples.  
  Mindfulness and discernment have to know both when the rippling comes 
  out and when it vanishes-- and so there are no issues which can arise 
  in the moment the mind is fashioning a thought, an assumption or an 
  interpre-tation.  This is because our rocket-fast mindfulness and 
  discernment can keep up with things.  As soon as a rippling occurs, we 
  know. When we know, it vanishes.  No issues can arise or connect.  
  They vanish the moment they appear.  They can't branch out anywhere 
  because the bridges to outside matters have been cut by mindfulness 
  and discernment.
  
  When mindfulness and discernment are exploring earnestly, 
  relentlessly, unflaggingly, they want to know, to see and to destroy 
  whatever is hazardous.  'What causes us to take birth as individuals 
  and beings?  What leads us to wander in the round of rebirth?  What 
  are the causes, what are the conditions that connect things?  Where 
  are they right now?'  This is called scratching away with mindfulness 
  and discernment, digging away at the mind of unawareness.  There is no 
  way we can escape knowing, seeing and severing the important cause and 
  condition which creates suffering and stress for the beings of the 
  world: namely, the defile-ment of unawareness which has infiltrated 
  the mind in an insidious way.  See?  This is the power of mindfulness, 
  discernment, conviction and persistence on this level, something which 
  meditators never imagine will be possible to this extent.
  
  This is where defilements begin to reveal themselves, because they 
  have no place to hide.  They no longer have the sights, sounds, 
  smells, tastes and tactile sensations in which they used to hole up, 
  because the bridges have been cut.  Their only hideout is in the mind:  
  The mind is the hideout of unawareness.  When we go ransacking through 
  the mind until everything is smashed completely to smithereens with 
  nothing left--in the same way that we used discernment to investigate 
  phenomena in general--then when the mind of unawareness is ransacked 
  in this way, ultimately the supreme defilement--unawareness, 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 prac-ticed 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 elimi-nating birth--whose primary seeds lie within--completely 
  from the mind.  From this moment onward, there is nothing which 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 here.  Once we have finished 
  destroying them so that nothing is left, the questions about birth, 
  death and the suffering and stress which 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 con-ventions, 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 which knows all around itself is no longer involved.
  
  The affairs which have been constantly assaulting us up to the 
  present, and which will do so on into the future, are the affairs of 
  this mind which 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 hold 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 know-ledge and this freedom from issues.  Our study of 
  the world is completed right here at the mind.  Our study of the 
  Dhamma reaches full completion right here.
  
  The `world' means the world of living beings.  `Living beings' (satta) 
  means those who are caught up, caught up right at the mind.  This is 
  where we cut through the problem.  This is where we study and know.  
  The arahant disciples studied and knew right here with their full 
  hearts --and that was the end of the problem.  They solved the problem 
  and it fell away, with nothing remaining.
  
  But as for us, we take on the whole thing: the entire heap of 
  suffering and stress.  We take on all problems, but we aren't willing 
  to solve them.  We simply hoard them to weigh ourselves down all the 
  time.  Our heart is thus filled with a heap of stress which nothing 
  else can equal, because nothing else is as heavy as a heart heaped 
  with stress.  Carrying this heap of stress and problems is heavy on 
  the heart because we haven't completed our studies.  We carry nothing 
  but this heap because of our delusion.
  
  When vijja--true knowledge--has appeared and eradi-cated all the 
  hazards from the heart, this is what it means to `graduate' in line 
  with natural principles, with none of the conferring of degrees or 
  titles which would cause us to become even more deluded.  To complete 
  our study of the Dhamma in the heart means that we have erased it 
  com-pletely of all delusion, with no traces remaining.
  
  At that moment, the three levels of existence--the levels of 
  sensuality, form and formlessness--become no more problem, because 
  they all lie in the heart.  The level of sensuality is a mind composed 
  of sensuality.  The levels of form and formlessness are the 
  conventions of the various things in those levels buried in the heart.  
  When the heart removes them, that's the end of the problem.  When we 
  solve the problem, this is where we solve it.  This world and the next 
  world lie right here, because that which steps into any world lies 
  right here.  This mind is what steps out to receive stress in greater 
  or lesser measure.  The motor, the propeller, lies here in the heart, 
  and nowhere else.
  
  The Lord Buddha thus taught at the right point, the most appropriate 
  point: the heart, which is the primary culprit.  The things I have 
  mentioned here, with whom do they lie if not with each of us?  And if 
  we don't solve them right here, where will we solve them?
  
  Living beings have to go to their various worlds through the power of 
  the good and bad kamma within the heart.  That which goes to the 
  worlds--to the bonfires--is this very heart.  If we don't solve the 
  problem right here, there is no way of escaping the bonfires of stress 
  and anxiety.  If we solve the problem right here, there is no problem 
  as to where the fires are, because we can keep ourselves protected.  
  That's all there is to it!
  
  All of these things are very heavy worlds for living beings in 
  general.  Whatever problems arise, they arise right here.  `Is death 
  followed by rebirth?  By annihilation?  Is there a next world?  Does 
  hell exist?  Does heaven?  Does evil exist?  Does merit?'  Everywhere 
  I go, there's the same question: `Do heaven and hell exist?'  I never 
  feel like answering.  I don't see any reason to answer it, because 
  that which is burdened with heaven and hell is the heart, which 
  everyone already has.  So why waste time answering? After all, I'm not 
  a record-keeper for heaven and hell!
  
  Straighten things out right here at the cause which will go to heaven 
  and hell.  Straighten out the bad causes, and foster the good.  There 
  will then be no stress, if we straighten things out right on target.  
  And how can we miss?   The well-taught Dhamma (svakkhata dhamma) 
  teaches us to solve things right on target, not off-target.  The 
  Dhamma which leads (niyyanika dhamma) by means of the well-taught 
  Dhamma, leads out those who are caught up in stress and anxiety 
  through the power of delusion.  Where will we solve things if we don't 
  solve them at the heart?  The big problems lie solely at the heart, at 
  this awareness.  Crudeness is a matter of this awareness.  Refinement 
  is a matter of this awareness.  That which makes people crude or 
  refined is this awareness, with defilement as the reinforcement.  If 
  the mind becomes refined, it's because goodness is the rein-forcement, 
  making it refined until it goes beyond the final point of refinement, 
  beyond the final point of conventions, and ends up gaining release 
  from all stress, with no seeds for any further connections.
  
  Another question which people are always asking is how to overcome 
  laziness.  If we were to tell them to use laziness to overcome 
  laziness, it would be tantamount to telling them to become an enemy of 
  beds, blankets and pillows by sleeping without ever waking up.  It 
  would be as if they were already dead, because laziness makes you weak 
  and listless, like a person ready to die.  How can you use laziness to 
  cure laziness?  Once you get a nice resting place as a means of 
  lulling you to drown in sleep, it's as  if you were already dead--dead 
  right there on the pillow!  Even when you wake up, you don't want to 
  get up, because laziness stomps all over you and destroys you, forcing 
  you not to get up.  This is how it goes when you use laziness to cure 
  laziness.
  
  If you use energy and persistence to cure laziness, then you get right 
  up, ready to fight.  If there's a fight, you have hope of winning.  
  But if you simply lie prostrate, all you can do is lose--although 
  whether we should call it losing or something else is hard to say, 
  because you don't even put up a fight at all, so how can you say that 
  you lose?  If there's a fight and you can't win, then you can say that 
  this person wins and that person loses.  But here there's no fight at 
  all!  You simply lie there groveling.  If you don't call this being a 
  servant in the house of defilements, what would you call it?  Because 
  that's what it is:  being a servant in their house.  If you use 
  laziness--to the point of being its servant--to cure defilement, you 
  end up piling on even more defilements.  Or what would you say?  As 
  things stand, defilements already fill the heart, so if you foster 
  them even more, where are you going to put them?  You've got only one 
  heart!  The only way is to remove defilements so that you can begin to 
  breathe, and not let them sit on top of your nose so that you can 
  never gasp a breath at all.
  
  Remove them so that you can begin to see yourself: `At last, after all 
  the time I've been meditating, I've finally seen a piece of 
  defilement's grandchild--laziness--fall off, just like a chip of bark 
  off a tree.  Today at last I can begin to see my-self.  Up to now 
  there's only been defilement making use of my nose and mouth.  It's 
  really infuriating!'
  
  Persistence.  Diligence.  Exertion in the way of reason which can 
  accomplish our purposes:  This is the path that sages have followed.  
  Even though it may be difficult, we're up to the fight.  It's like 
  removing a thorn from your foot:  Even though it hurts to remove it, 
  you have to bear it.  If you let it stay there, your whole foot will 
  become infected and putrid.  You won't be able to walk at all, and may 
  even lose the foot.  So there's only one reasonable course: Pull it 
  out.  No matter how much it hurts, you have to bear it, because you 
  have to get the thing out!  This is a line of reasoning you have to 
  accept.  Once the thorn is out, it holds no more poison.  Put medicine 
  on the wound and the foot will heal without flaring up as it would if 
  the thorn were still embedded there.    
  
  Defilement is just like a thorn.  We let it lie buried forever in the 
  heart.  As long as it remains, the heart is infected and putrid, there 
  in the  midst of the round of rebirth--an endless monotony.  Is this 
  what you want?  To be a putrid 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 lazi-ness 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 which 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 that you can solve them anywhere else.  Keep on making 
  assump-tions 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 (punna) 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 is 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 are 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 which 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 which 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.