No Joke

Do you that this business of the Path and the walking of it is no small matter, no joke. On the contrary, it is the most vital matter of all. It is the task for a human being. It is a job to be done with all the intelligence and ability a human can muster. Don't waver for an instant, nor for a split second! In a single instant one may go astray from the Path. If the mind is not on the lookout at every moment, there is a danger of its running off the Path and even falling into hell. It behoves each one of us to reflect on the dangers of this kind of lapse, and resolve to maintain clear and unobscured insight into the transience, unsatisfactoriness, and non-selfhood of every single thing about him. His every action, word, and thought will then be in keeping with that insight. There is no way it can lapse and give rise to some kind of suffering.