NEW MOON - Sunday 3rd April 2011

By endeavour, vigilance,
restraint and self-control,
let the wise make islands of themselves
which no flood can overwhelm.

Dhammapada verse 25

It may seem at times as if the Buddha contradicts himself. He can be teaching us to focus on developing loving-kindness towards all beings, then he appears to be saying we should isolate ourselves. All the Buddha’s teachings are ‘pointings’; they are not fixed positions. He was often asked to state where he stood in relation to a particular philosophical view. In all cases he tried to avoid giving the questioner any view to cling to. He didn’t stand on anything; he accorded with Dhamma as it manifest. The path he taught is Dhammavicaya – investigation of reality. He said that he ‘can but point the way’, it is up to us to travel the way he had shown.

With Metta,

Ajahn Munindo