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发表于 2007-9-6 19:49:46
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原文如下
北大钦哲佛学讲座
四法印(一,二)
宗萨仁波切
It is my great honor to make a speech today in this world famous university, which I have heard about for many times when I am abroad.
Learning of ultimate truth is a passion of human beings. Buddhism is just another angle/tool of leaning/finding truth. Buddhism is not a religion, but a means/tool to find/actualize the truth.
We will discuss on Buddhist Views (见地). View is what drives us. Before discussing the Views, l will talk about why Buddhism; like we discuss anything else, we must ask why this thing is needed at first. The reason is simple, because everyone wants fun, to be happy; then we think it is absolute truth. This is ignorance(无明). This finding is not religious-it is science. It is like everyone wants genuine Italian leather shoes(意大利真皮皮鞋), but you bought fake leather shoes, and you just don’t have the courage to face it; but Prince Siddhartha has the courage to face it. We may say that Prince Siddhartha made the biggest request for truth-to solve the problem of sickness and death. And he found the truth-you must accept the truth; if you accept, you won’t suffer.
There are many methods of different categories to get to the truth. Unfortunately, Buddhism has now become a religion, and people are attracted to the methods (修行的方法)rather than the truth. Why should there be tools/methods? For example, for a glass filled with absolutely pure water full to the brim, if you are looking for the water, you can’t see water because it is pure. The water is like the truth. Then to make you see the water, someone dilutes it, just like this yellowish color (指桌上的茶水), which helps you see the water. Dilution (着色)is the method. Methods are fake, not the real truth. Do they help? Very much. Without them, you don’t see the truth/water. However, we get attracted to the color. Why did Prince Siddhartha teach so many schools (教派)? It is just like if you are forced to say that sky is red or green under gun threat, you have to agree sky is red or green, although inside you know it is not. The same way, it is because Buddha has no choice but to teach so many schools-although without gun threat, he still has no choice; because he has great compassion (慈悲). For example, you are dreaming; you are having a nightmare. You dream about a tiger, you are frantic; you want to get out of it. There are several things can be done. The first one is to chase away the tiger. The second, you get a bucket of cold water. These things help, but they are wrong. The cold water can’t chase away the tiger. Why is there tiger? It is because you are dreaming.
Now let’s go back to the Views. Views are ideas. They are what drive us, just like in everything, we have a driving force. For example, we have the idea that BMW(宝马车), or a slim body (苗条的身材)is a good thing. This is a view. Then we have motivation, but the motivation is conditional. Without the magazines saying that they are good things, nobody wants to be slim, or want a BMW. Under this condition, we have the motivation, for example, of being slim. Then we read about how to being slim-this is like mediation(冥想,静修). We do things, like cutting rice(节食), or running-these are like action(修行). Therefore, views are very important, because they are what drive us.
I am going to introduce the Four Fundamental Views(四法印).
Views drive us to suffer. Why? It is because they make us to think that a thing lasts forever, and therefore we get attached to it. We won’t think that one day we will go to the coffin. Therefore we go around the world trying to protect it-the thing lasting forever. For example, to live long, which is very important to Chinese, is like the fake shoes, because it diverts you from the truth. Therefore no matter what you do, you will suffer because you are wrong in the view. This is the reason that we don’t have fun, because we are caring for the impermanent. The view that everything is impermanent is not bad. Impermanence is good news. Today’s hand is not yesterday’s hand, if we get our hands dry, we use moisturizer. Without impermanence, moisturizer companies will have no business. Another example, if you are poor now, because of impermanence, you can get rich in the future. It is not a religious threat. In Thailand, monks have their head shaved. The shaving is to remind you of impermanence. It is ritual. Rituals are to take you to the truth, but we are caught by the rituals and forget impermanence. Like what I just said, why is there Buddhism? It is because we want to have fun. But to have fun, we need the understanding that all compounded are impermanent(一切因缘和合皆是无常). Without this understanding, even if you can live for ten thousand years, you won’t have fun. Prince Siddhartha knows how to really seek for truth-he was very practical. During his mediation, he could know many things by observing, for example, what a deer eats; but it doesn’t help. He wants to get to the bottom of all problems(从根本上解决所有的问题). Problem one is impermanence.
all the emotions come from clinging to the self. This is a big discovery. Why? This is because we tend to blame some one else for our pains, but now we have no one to blame-we should only blame clinging to the self. This is a big subject. For example, we have the teaching of selflessness. However, Buddha didn’t find that the self is wrong, or clinging to the self is evil. This is not religious; this is only because the tools to contemplate selflessness have become religious.
He didn’t discover an evil self, and cling to it is wrong. He found there is no self; therefore clinging to self is wrong. Egoistic is wrong, because everything is conditional. The ignorance(无明) of clinging to the self comes from that we are looking at something only temporarily compounded. For example, we look at this table-it has legs, plank, etc; but the table is only those parts put together. Things put together, then it becomes something. For example, if I write 13 between 12 and 14 on a paper, you will say it is 13; if I write it between A and C, you will say it is B (展示纸). Everything is some things put together. If put another component, then it will become another thing. For example, if we put pillows, sheets on this table, it becomes a bed; if we cut it into pieces, it becomes firewood. Therefore the self is like 13 and B. We are seeking components put together. The Heart Sutra says “in emptiness there is no form, feeling, etc”(心经:空中无色、受...) . A thing is only several components put together. The self doesn’t exist; therefore clinging to it is ridiculous.
In The Diamond Sutra, it says “Buddha’s mark (相) is not truth.”(金刚经:不可以身相得见如来). We like to have a savior(救世主), or some one to blame or pray to when all the options are run out(无计可施的时候). There are Buddhas painted gold(金身佛). We talk about gold Buddha, because we like gold. The marks are skillful means (善巧方便). Truth is Buddha. There is no other Buddha than the truth. Truth has no color, no shape; it is not blond, nor male or female. (真理无色,无形,不是金发碧眼的,不是男性,也不是女性).We need to get people attracted to the truth, so we paint Buddha gold. For example, if we love somebody, we would try to make him happy; so we would do everything to lead him to happiness-this is like compassion. Because of compassion, we have to try every means to make them understand the truth. However truth has no color, no shape. Furthermore, truth is bitter. For example, I was invited to a wedding several months ago when I was in India. To the couple, you can’t say “you will die finally” or “you will fight with each other some day in the future because you are human beings”. In order to deliver the truth, you must make it attractive. That is why we paint Buddha gold. We even have other elaborate colors, such as blue or red, etc, for different purposes. This is the authentic method to bring you to the truth. For Buddhas of golden color or having long ears touching the shoulders(金身或长耳垂肩的佛像), will they become your boyfriends and will you date with them? No, you won’t date with them although they have good marks. Therefore Buddhist symbols are authentic methods to make you attracted, then lead you to the truth; because people are bound by shape, color-they are bound by compounded phenomenon (因为人被色、形,和因缘和合的表象所限制).
问答:
1. Q: I am a physical major. I read some books on Buddhism and I got deeply attracted. I feel that I would even give up everything to search for truth, but what should I do practically?
A: This is a big question. You are asking me to plan your whole life (众笑). You need to begin with a critical mind. To study, to read, and to contemplate. Don’t try to become a Buddhist-try to be analytical(众笑).
2. Q:I read your books and I admire you so much. After reading your book, I feel life is a big illusion. What is the real goal of life?
A: I am sorry that my book confounded you-I didn’t mean it to be(众笑). The goal of life is we should have fun. Illusion is not a bad thing. We need to know how to play with the illusion. Just as the tiger I just talked about, if you don’t know it is a dream, it is a problem. If you know it is just a dream, then play with it: you can caress it, pluck it-it’s up to you. To sleep with the tiger. |
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