“The effort that I put forth to attain Dhamma can be com-
pared to a turbine, rotating non-stop, or to a ‘Wheel of Dhamma’
whirling ceaselessly day and night as it cuts its way through every
last vestige of the kilesas. Only at sleep did I allow myself a tem-
porary respite from this rigorous practice. As soon as I woke up, I
was back at work, using mindfulness, wisdom, faith, and diligence
to root out and destroy those persistent kilesas that still remained.
I persevered in that pitched battle with the kilesas until mindful-
ness, wisdom, faith and diligence had utterly destroyed them all.
Only then could I finally relax. From that moment on, I knew for
certain that the kilesas had been vanquished – categorically, never
to return and cause trouble again. But the body, not having dis-
integrated along with the kilesas, remained alive.
“This is something you should all think about carefully. Do
you want to advance fearlessly in the face of death, and strive
diligently to leave behind the misery that’s been such a painful
burden on your hearts for so long? Or do you want to persist in
your regrets about having to die, and so be reborn into this mis-
erable condition again? Hurry up and think about it! Don’t allow
yourselves to become trapped by dukkha, wasting this opportunity
- you’ll regret it for a long time to come.
“The battlefield for conquering the kilesas exists within each
individual who practices with wisdom, faith, and perseverance
as weapons for fighting his way to freedom. It is very counter-
productive to believe that you have plenty of time left since you’re
still young and in good health. Practicing monks should deci-
sively reject such thinking. It is the heart alone that engenders
all misjudgment and all wisdom, so you should not focus your
attention outside of yourself. Since they are constantly active, pay
