io8
not leave a mark on the mind, and all marks are bad marks.
Hope and fear are only opposite
phases
of a
single
emotion;
both are
incompatible
with the purity of the soul.
With the passions of man the
case is somewhat
different,
as they are functions
of his
own will.
They
need to be disciplined,
not to be suppressed.
But emotion
is impressed
from without.
It is an invasion
of the circle.
As the Dhammapada
says:
An ill-thatched
house is open to the mercy of the rain and wind ;
So passion hath the power to break into an unreflecting
mind.
A well-thatched
house is proof against the fur}' of the rain and wind ;
So passion hath no power to break into a rightly-ordered
mind.
Let then the Student practise observation
of those things
which
normally
would
cause
him
emotion;
and
let him,
having written
a careful description
of what he sees, check
it by the aid of some person familiar with such sights.
Surgical
operations
and
dancing
girls
are
fruitful
fields
for
the
beginner.
In reading
emotional
books
such as are inflicted
on
children,
let him
always endeavour
to see the event from the standpoint
opposite
to that
of the author.
Yet let him not emulate the partially
emancipated
child
who
complained
of a picture
of the
Colosseum
that " there
was one