The Personal Journey of Overcoming Defilements : หน้า 109/164

Suzanne Jeffrey Defilements are individual, so getting rid of defilements is a personal journey. But we, as teachers, can help if we teach students good habits. Defilements can force the mind to think, speak, and act badly. So we always need to put our mind into the Dhamma. Q: What is the crisis of human life? A: The most critical time in a human life is the time when the umbilical cord is cut: We cannot move, we have nothing. This is the crisis moment of human life: THE critical moment of our life unless we have good parents who take care of us. We are born with ignorance, and we have nothing. Plus, our past defilements that we are born with force the mind to do bad things. This causes two main problems: (1) How do we survive, and (2) How do we deal with conflict, one to another. We must look thoroughly into the educational process when we deal with these two problems. But, even after studying them, we never think about how we need to refine the elements. And we can’t refine the elements because we start with the wrong questions. Here is an example: Why do we eat? We eat because of energy and repair and growth. When the question is deep, then we need to answer deeply. What are the pure elements outside of the body. Look at a plate of rice. Is it pure? Does it have good nutrition? Was it purchased or was it stolen? When you eat it, what do you do with it? How are you using it? You need to look at the purity of the elements involved. If we put water into a cup, how are we involved with the process? People who are angry and those who are not have different molecules that line up differently. Remember that nothing is pure naturally, nor is the intention to use it pure. By the time our umbilical cord is cut, we have to rely on ourselves – we are our own refuge. In food alone, with each sip of milk, we have five “ingredients” to think about: (1) Quality, or is it of superior value and worth, (2) Quantity, or is it too much or too little, (3) Technique, or how are we eating the food and is it done with anger or sadness, happiness or joy, (4) Timing, or when and how often the milk is given, and (5) Environment, or where it is given. All five of these ingredients result in the physical health of the receiver, and, more importantly, are the major contributors in the formation of habits. Fitting all of these together is kind of scary. We need to look back at ourselves and our own habits. After all, we are teaching people, influencing them and their habits. In addressing the problem of living together we have to look at what everyone has learned