... Chapter 9 ....... Contents ...
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| 8. To you who are sobbing because somebody's put one over on you. |
At some point you've got to slap yourself in the face and seriously ask yourself: is your personal gain or loss really worth this overwhelming joy and suffering?
Sooner or later everyone starts thinking of nothing besides themselves.
You say, "That was good!" But what was good? It was only good for you personally, that's all.
Why is it that we humans are so wiped out?
It is the constant effort to gain a little advantage that wipes us out.
'Illusion' means being unstable. 'Illusion' means being controlled by the situation.
A person with big desires is easily fooled. Even the greatest conman can't profit from a person with no desires.
Buddhism means 'no self' [muga], 'nothing to gain' [mushotoku]. You must be one with the universe and all living beings.
'No self' means not turning your back on people.
All beings are mistaken: we see as happiness that which leads to unhappiness, and weep over an unhappiness which isn't unhappiness at all.
We all know the child whose tears suddenly turn into laughter when you give him a cookie. What we living beings call happiness isn't much more than that.
We often say, "I saw it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears!" We act as if this was the firmest foundation there is, but these eyes and ears are not to be trusted at all. Everyone is deceived by their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.
Everyone talks about happiness and unhappiness, yet what you hold to be happiness and unhappiness is only a thought, in reality there is actually nothing at all.
Don't let yourself be misled by personal gain and loss.
All beings are wandering around, having entirely lost their composure. The buddha-dharma means displaying a composed posture.
It's clear that in the human world there are also exceptional situations. It's just that humans' weakness is making an exceptionally big deal out of an exceptional situation. They make a bigger fuss than is really necessary.
There are some who cheat on the preparatory exam, so they have to cheat on the real exam as well, otherwise they won't pass. They go so far with their stupidity that I almost owe them my respect. But actually if you think of it, you find the same sort of stupidity everywhere in this world.
It's difficult to drink in moderation. That's because it's the wine itself that drinks the wine. With the illusions in the world, it's exactly the same.
Take a hundred thousand possibilities, line them up and compare them: they all lead down a dead end. This way leads down a dead-end, that way leads down a dead end. Whatever direction you go in, you are stuck.
Now simply throw out everything that would lead down a dead-end. What's left?
A man of great leisure, beyond learning and doing. [Shôdôka]
... Chapter 9 ....... Contents ...