Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Building a "house of wisdom"


Recently I have been observing a building site close to my home. The builder first cut down the trees and cleared stumps and the rocks off the ground and piled them up in a large mountain of debris (see the photo). Then they leveled the ground laid some large pipes for the sewer and water supply to the site. Today when I was driving by the site I saw new roads being laid out. Now the site is ready to build a new community of brand new homes.

This is similar to what we do in order to progress in this spiritual path. It is important for us to develop a good moral conduct (mind, body, and speech) as the foundation of learning Dhamma. It can be compared to the builder cutting down the trees, clearing the stumps and the rocks before the start of construction of the houses. With the development of morality as solid foundation, we can then build the other five qualities* such as faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom as you progress in this path. This is your "house of wisdom."

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