Karuna Taimao

Suppose one morning, you're walking to work and a man yells insults at you. As soon as you hear his insults, your mind changes form its usual state. You don't feel so good. You feel angry and hurt. You want to get even!

A few days later, another man comes to your house and tells you, "Hey, that man who abused you the other day, he's crazy! Has been for year! He abuses everybody like that. Nobody takes notice of anything he says." As soon as you hear this, you are suddenly relieved. That anger and hurt that you've pent up within you all these days melt away completely. Why? Because now you know that truth. Before, you didn't. You thought that man was normal, so you were angry at him and that caused you to suffer. A soon as you found out the truth, however, everything changed: "Oh, he's mad! That explains everything!"

When you understand this, you feel fine because you know for yourself. Having known, then you an let go. If you don't know the truth, you cling right there. When you thought that the man who abused you was normal, you could have killed him. But when you found out the truth, that he's mad, you felt much better. This is knowledge of the truth.

Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experience. When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disappear in the same way. As long as we don't know these things, we think, "What can I do? I have so much greed and aversion" This is not clear knowledge. It's just the same as when we thought the madman was sane. When we finally see that he was mad all along, we're relieved of worry. No one could show you this. Only when the mind sees for itself, can it uproot and relinquish attachment.