What is needed for virtue to be maintained? — can be answered as follows: Virtue here means purity of virtue. For purity to be firm and lasting depends on the support of causal factors, just as a new-born child depends on the support of its parents to survive and grow. If its parents feed it plenty of food, it will escape from the dangers of malnutrition and grow to be healthy and strong; if they underfeed it, itll become thin and frail. ~ In the same way, for virtue to be maintained depends on our being mindful and alert: These two qualities are the guardians of purity. At the same time, we have to nourish virtue and give it food. If it isnt fed, itll wither away and die. Even if it has mindfulness and alertness watching over it, it can never grow plump, just as a child who has parents but isnt fed is sure to waste and wither away. For virtue to grow strong requires food, and the food of virtue is: ~ a. metta — good will, love for oneself and all others, hoping that all living beings will be happy; ~ b. karuna — compassion for oneself and others, hoping that we will all escape from suffering; ~ c. mudita — appreciation, ungrudging delight in the goodness of all living beings; ~ d. upekkha — equanimity, letting go in those cases where we should remain indifferent, being unruffled — neither pleased nor upset — where we are no longer able to be of help, as when an executioner is beheading a criminal who has broken the law. ~ These four Sublime Attitudes are the food of virtue: Mindfulness is the father, alertness, the mother, And the immeasurables are the food. ❀ ❀ ❀ The Craft of the Heart, by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 07:58:56 +0000
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