We can compare practice to a bottle of medicine a doctor leaves for his patient. On the bottle are written detailed instructions on how to take the medicine, but no matter how many hundred times the patient may read the directions, he is bound to die if that is all he does. He will gain no benefit from the medicine. And before he dies, he may complain bitterly that the doctor wasn't any good, that the medicine didn't cure him. He will think that the doctor was a fake or that the medicine was worthless, yet he had only spent his time examining the bottle and reading the instructions. He hadn't followed the advice of the doctor and taken the medicine. However, if the patient had actually followed the doctor's advice and taken the medicine regularly as prescribed, he would have recovered.
Doctors prescribe medicine to eliminate diseases from the body. The teachings of the Buddha are prescribed to cure diseases of the mind and to bring it back to its natural healthy state. So the Buddha can be considered to be a doctor who prescribes cures for the illnesses of the mind which are found in each one of us without exception. When you see these illnesses of the mind, does it not make sense to look to the Dhamma as support, as medicine to cure your illnesses?
bitterly = /"bIt.E.li/ in a way which shows strong negative emotion such as anger or disappointment. bdlef.bmyf,ej,? cmef.pefej,? vDqif:ej,? rdlof,qmef;ej,/
eliminate = /I.lIm.I.leIt/ to remove or take away zAof;ySwf;? bj.ySwf;? tofwhySwf;? idlif.so;/
Both the body and mind are constantly arising and ceasing, conditions are in a state of constant turmoil. The reason we can't see this in line with the truth is because we keep believing the untrue. It's like being guided by a blind man. How can we travel with him in safety? A blind man will only lead us into forests and thickets. how could he lead us to safety when he can't see? In the same way, our mind is deluded by conditions, creating suffering in the search for happiness, creating difficulty in the search for ease. Such a mind can have only difficulty and suffering. Really we want to get rid of suffering and difficulty, but instead we create those very things. All we can do is complain. We create bad causes, and the reasons we do so is because we don't know the truth of appearances and conditions and try to cling to them.
turmoil = /"tV:mOIl/ a state of confusion, uncertainty or lack of order: vgif;uleftefarj:sr:? vgif;tlefyef:
delude = /dI"lu:d/ to make someone believe something that's not ture; to deceive vSef? P;pefzdwf:ydlif;/
turmoil = /"tV:mOIl/ a state of confusion, uncertainty or lack of order: vgif;uleftefarj:sr:? vgif;tlefyef:
delude = /dI"lu:d/ to make someone believe something that's not ture; to deceive vSef? P;pefzdwf:ydlif;/
When we have no real home, we're like an aimless wanderer out on the road, going this way for a while and then that way, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real home, whatever we do we feel ill-at-ease, just like somebody who's left his village to go on a journey. Only when he gets home again can he really relax and be at ease.
Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. That's the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead.
When we think of the Buddha and how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see that truth of something, we see his teachings, even if we have knowledge of the teaching, have studied and practiced them, but still have not seen their truth, then we're still homeless like the aimless wanderer.
Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. That's the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead.
When we think of the Buddha and how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see that truth of something, we see his teachings, even if we have knowledge of the teaching, have studied and practiced them, but still have not seen their truth, then we're still homeless like the aimless wanderer.
