Just That Much. It is a fact!
Then, why are we still attached, caught up and not removed? Playing around with the objects of life gives us some enjoyment, yet this enjoyment is also just that much. Whatever is pleasurable, delicious, exciting, good, is just that much, it has its limitation, it is not as if it is anything outstanding. The Buddha taught that everything is just that much, of equal value. We should contemplate this point.
Just look at the Western monks who have come here to practice. They have much pleasure and comfort in their lives, but it was only that much, trying to make more of it just drove them crazy. They became world travellers, let everything go, it was still only that much. Then they came here to the forest to learn to give it all up, all the attachments and sufferings.
All conditioned thing are the same - impermanent caught up in the cycle of birth and death. Just look at them, they are only that much. all things in this world exist thus. some people say, "doing virtuous deeds, practising religion, you grow old just the same". This may be true of the body but not of the heart, of virtue, when we understand the difference, we have a chance to become free.
Look at the elements of our body and mind. They are conditioned phenomena, arising from a cause and therefore impermanent. Their nature is always the same, it cannot be changed. A great noble and common servant are both the same. when they become old, their act comes to an end, they can no longer put on airs or hide behind masks.
There is nowhere to go, no more taste, no more texture. When you get old, your body sight becomes dim, your hearing becomes weak, you body becomes feeble and you must face it yourself.
We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being just that much. But instead of escaping, we continue to create more suffering, waging war with good, waging war with evil, waging war with what is small, waging war with what is big, waging war wit what is short or long or right or wrong, courageously carrying on the battle.
The Buddha taught the truth, but we are like buffalo, unless they are tied down firmly by all four legs, they will not allow themselves to be given any medicine. Once they have been tied down and cannot do anything, only then we can go ahead and give them medicine and they are unable to struggle away. In the same way, most of us must be totally bound up in suffering before we will let go and give up our delusions. If we can still writhe away, we will not yet give in. A few people can understand the Dharma when they hear it taught and explained by a teacher. But life must teach most of us all the way to the end.
You can pull on the end of a rope, but if the other end is stuck, the rope will never budge. In order to make it come free, you need to find out where it is stuck, you need to seek out the source or the root of the problem. We must use our practise fully to discover how we are stuck, to discover the heart of peace.
We must follow the ox's tracks from the beginning, from the point at which it left the corral. If we start in the middle of the trail, we will not be able to tell whose ox's tracks they are and thus, we could be led anywhere.
Therefore, the Buddha spoke of the first correcting our views. We must investigate the very root of suffering, the very truth of our life. If we can see that, all things are just that much, we will find the true path. We must come to know the reality of conditioned phenomena, the way things are. Only then we can have eternal peace in our world.
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