---
title: 解脫心 A Heart Released 十六、初轉法輪、中間說法及最後說法的意義
description: "§16. The significance of the first sermon, the middle sermon, and the final sermon."
---

§16. The significance of the first sermon, the middle sermon, and the final sermon.

十六、初轉法輪、中間說法及最後說法的意義

The sermons delivered by the Lord Buddha at three points in his career have a great significance to which Buddhists should give special thought and consideration.

　　佛陀住世時，在這三時的說法有著重大的意義，佛弟子必須予以特別的思惟。

A. At the beginning of the Buddha's career he delivered a sermon to the five brethren at the forest in the Deer Park at Isipatana near Benares. This was his first sermon, called the Wheel of Dhamma. He started with the two extremes that those who have gone forth from the household life should not indulge in, saying,

　【 (一 )佛陀初成道時，在波羅附近的鹿野苑為五個同修說法】：這是他第一次說法，稱之為『法輪』。他從兩個極端說起，那些已經出家的人所不應陷入的兩個極端，『比丘，有兩個極端，那是已經出家的人所不應追求的：放縱于感官的快樂和沈溺于自虐的痛苦中。』解釋為：放縱于感官的樂趣是處于貪愛這邊，沈溺于自虐的痛苦則處于瞋恨那邊，這兩邊都是痛苦的原由，當我們修習自我淨化而未陷入這兩邊時，我們仍不能說是已經進入了中道，因為當我們正持續地努力于修習而心意變得完全平靜和放松時，我們是愉悅的；當心意思慮而變得紛擾和不安時，我們是不悅的。愉悅是放縱于樂趣，不悅是沈溺于自苦。愉悅是情愛，不悅是憎恨，而不明了情愛和憎恨則是愚癡。

dveme bhikkhave anta pabbajitena na sevitabba:

'Monks, there are these two extremes that those who have gone forth from the household life should not pursue: indulgence in sensual pleasure and indulgence in self — affliction.' To explain: Indulgence in sensual pleasure lies on the side of love; indulgence in self-affliction, on the side of hate. Both sides are causes of suffering and stress. When we practice self-purification and yet fall into either of these two sides, we can't be said to have entered the middle way, for when we are making a persistent effort to practice and the mind becomes fully calm and relaxed, we are pleased; when the mind thinks and becomes restless and distracted, we are displeased. Being pleased is indulgence in pleasure; being displeased, indulgence in self-affliction. Being pleased is passion, being displeased is aversion, and not being wise to passion and aversion is delusion.

　　任何人，要著手致力于開發定力，都必然會碰到這兩個極端。如果我們碰到這兩個極端，我們就算錯了，但這當然是正常的，在獲得『正確』之前，我們先要經歷『錯誤』。即使佛陀，在他正覺之前，也是一樣完全地錯了。即使是他的兩個首座弟子也錯了—持守有害的戒條—所有其他的弟子們，一開始，也都從錯誤著手。但是當佛陀在菩提樹下禪思，開始遵行中道時，在夜晚的前二個時分里獲得了前二明—宿命明、眾生死亡再生明(中譯注：天眼明—知道眾生死此生彼)之後，在黎明前的時分里，他獲得了第三明─心理的煩惱污穢流盡(中譯注：漏盡明)。這是他發現真正的中道，從兩個極端的錯誤里解脫了他的心意之時，從宗族、種姓、居處、血統、以及習俗和臆測的傳承中解脫，他證得了賢聖的宗族、種姓、居處、血統和傳承。聖弟子追隨佛陀才明白，正確地實踐著與漏盡明一致的行動，而從他自己的錯誤中獲得解脫。至于像我們這樣的禪思者，正在開始的時候，我們必然會錯，這是很正常的。在開發戒行和智慧時，只要我們讓自己處于愉悅和不悅之中，我們就陷落于世間法的擺盪之中，而當我們在世間法的擺盪之下，我們就被喜怒所動搖，這就叫做前後動搖。

Whoever makes an effort to develop persistence in concentration has to start out by running into these two extremes. If we run into these extremes, we are classed as wrong, but it is only normal that we be wrong before we can be right. Even the Buddha, before his Awakening, was completely wrong in just the same way. Even his two foremost disciples were wrong — and held pernicious doctrines to boot. All the other disciples started out wrong from the beginning as well. But when the Buddha came to follow the middle way while meditating under the shade of the Bodhi tree, after having gained the first two knowledges — remembrance of previous lifetimes and knowledge of the death and rebirth of living beings — in the first two watches of the night, he gained the third knowledge — knowledge of the ending of mental effluents — in the watch toward dawn. This was when he found the genuine middle way, releasing his mind from the error of the two extremes. Released from the clan, class, abodes, lineage, and legacy of convention and supposing, he attained the clan, class, abode, lineage, and legacy of the Noble Ones. The Noble Disciples came to know following the Buddha, acting correctly in line with the knowledge of the ending of mental effluents, and gained release from error just as he had.

　　世間法在何處生起？在我們自己身上，世間法有八個要素，而治療它們的途徑也有八個。八正道就是對治八個世間法的處方，佛陀如是教導中道做為兩個極端的療法。

　　一旦我們已經治療了自己的兩個極端，我們就進入了聖道，剪斷世間的瀑流，讓心意舍離、解脫並且輕安舒泰。

簡而言之：只要兩個極端仍然存在你的心里，你就不是在正確的道跡上，但是當你的心意從兩個極端獲得解脫，你就不可動搖了：免于不淨且安于洪泛，這就是法輪的意義之所以非常重大的原因。當佛陀解說法輪的時候，引起了世界的震撼。當訊息是那麼強大時，它們不得不震撼了。世界不是指其他的東西，而是我們這個身體。我們的身體是由這世界的元素所組成，它震撼是因為心意見到了它所從未看到的東西，心意從兩個極端解脫的事實，正是引起世間震撼的原因，它們震撼是因為心意不再回到從前，不再生起舊時心意了。

As for us as meditators, in the very beginning it is only normal that we will have to be wrong. As long as we let ourselves be pleased and displeased in the development of merit and wisdom, we fall under the sway of the ways of the world (lokadhamma), and when we are under the sway of the ways of the world, we are shaken by pleasure and displeasure. This is called being shaken back and forth.

　　【 (二 )佛陀住世時的中間說法】：他在王舍城皇家竹林間的松鼠飼養場，為一千二百五十位阿羅漢的會眾解說波提木叉戒法，重點之一如是，

uppanno kho me:

Where do the ways of the world arise? In ourselves. The ways of the world have eight factors, and the path that cures them has eight as well. The eightfold path is the cure for the eight ways of the world. Thus the Buddha taught the middle way as the cure for the two extremes.

世間法在何處生起？在我們自己身上，世間法有八個要素，而治療它們的途徑也有八個。八正道就是對治八個世間法的處方，佛陀如是教導中道做為兩個極端的療法。

Once we have cured ourselves of the two extremes, we enter the noble path, cutting across the currents of the world, making the mind cago patinissaggo mutti analayo — relinquish, release, and rest easy.

一旦我們已經治療了自己的兩個極端，我們就進入了聖道，剪斷世間的瀑流，讓心意舍離、解脫並且輕安舒泰。

To summarize: As long as the two extremes still exist in your heart, you are not on the right track. But when your heart gains release from the two extremes, you become unshakable: free from impurities and safe from the flood. This is why the meaning of the Wheel of Dhamma is very significant. When the Buddha explained the Wheel of Dhamma, it caused the elements of the world to tremble. And when the message is so significant, how could they help but tremble? The elements of the world are nothing else but this very body of ours. Our body is composed of the world's elements and it trembles because the mind sees into something it has never seen before. The fact that the mind is released from the two extremes is what causes the elements of the world to tremble. They tremble because the mind is not coming back to give rise to them ever again.

簡而言之：只要兩個極端仍然存在你的心里，你就不是在正確的道跡上，但是當你的心意從兩個極端獲得解脫，你就不可動搖了：免于不淨且安于洪　，這就是法輪的意義之所以非常重大的原因。當佛陀解說法輪的時候，引起了世界的震撼。當訊息是那麼強大時，它們不得不震撼了。世界不是指其他的東西，而是我們這個身體。我們的身體是由這世界的元素所組成，它震撼是因為心意見到了它所從未看到的東西，心意從兩個極端解脫的事實，正是引起世間震撼的原因，它們震撼是因為心意不再回到從前，不再生起舊時心意了。

B. At the mid-point of the Buddha's career he delivered the Patimokkha Exhortation to an assembly of 1,250 arahants at the Squirrels' Feeding Grounds in the Royal Bamboo Grove near Rajagaha. One of the important points was,

【(二)佛陀住世時的中間說法】：他在王舍城皇家竹林間的松鼠飼養場，為一千二百五十位阿羅漢的會眾解說波提木叉戒法，重點之一如是，「于佛智教誨起增上心」 「提升心意(中譯注：起增上心)那是諸佛的教誨。」提升心意，我們必須要寧靜和安詳。

adhicitte ca ayogo etam buddhana-sasanam:

　　『于佛智教誨起增上心』

'Heighten the mind: That is the teaching of the Buddhas.' To heighten the mind, we have to be calm and at peace.

　　『提升心意(中譯注：起增上心)那是諸佛的教誨。』提升心意，我們必須要寧靜和安詳。

iccha lobha-samapanno samano kim bhavissati:

　　『何有貪欲沙門而能入定？』

'When we are endowed with desire — greedy, struggling, and deluded — how can we be calm and at peace?' We need to practice by following the discipline as our starting point and by developing our meditation theme, beginning with walking and sitting meditation. We must work at our contemplation of the great frames of reference and develop it repeatedly, starting by keeping track of the body as our frame of reference. At first we should contemplate the parts of the body by means of parikamma savana, i.e., by means of conjecture — that this part is like that, and that is like this — because if we do this mindfully, with self-awareness, the mind won't wander far from the body and will settle down easily. When we practice parikamma savana repeatedly, an uggaha nimitta will arise. We should then master that stage until we reach patibhaga, analyzing the vision into its parts. When we master patibhaga fully, it will turn into insight meditation. We then develop insight meditation to its highest degree so that the mind will reach thitibhutam, as discussed in the strategies of clear insight. This is what is meant by 'practice.' When we have practiced,

　　『當我們懷有渴望時—貪欲、瞋恚、愚癡—我們怎能寧靜和安詳？』我們需要遵守戒律去修習，做為我們的起點，並開始以經行和靜坐禪思來開發我們的禪思主題。我們必須精勤思惟這個參學的重大架構，並重複地開發它，從持守身體的行跡(中譯注：身觀念處)開始，做為我們參學的架構，首先我們必須用 parikamma savana '遍作聽聞』的方法，也就是一一模擬推想的方法，來觀察思惟身體的各部份─這部份像那樣，那部份像這樣─因為如果我們用心地觀察思惟，用自己的意識，心意就不會從身體漫游得太遠，而會輕易地安靜下來。當我們重複地修習 parikamma savana '遍作聽聞』時，一個 uggahanimitta '取相』(禪思時自發地生起的影像)就會生起，然後我們必須熟悉這個階段，直到我們到達『似相』(禪思時可以巧妙操縱的幻相)並解析這幻相成為各部份。當我們完全地熟悉『似相』時，它就會轉入內明禪思，然後我們就把內明禪思開發到最高程度，好讓心意達到「住地」，就像清淨內明的戰略(第９節)中所討論的，這就是修習的意義，當我們已經修習 「最勝」 我們將會橫渡並超越(中譯注：超渡)，因為我們已經完成修習，所以我們將會橫渡並超越─超越世間，這就是超凡法(中譯注：過人法)的意義， 「安穩」 我們將從束縛中獲得解脫。

mokkham:

　 '最勝』

We will cross over and beyond. It is because of the practices that we have done to completion that we will cross over and beyond — i.e., beyond the world. This is what is meant by the transcendent dhammas.

　　我們將會橫渡並超越(中譯注：超渡)，因為我們已經完成修習，所以我們將會橫渡並超越─超越世間，這就是超凡法(中譯注：過人法)的意義，

khemam:

　　『安穩』

We will gain relief from bondage.

　　我們將從束縛中獲得解脫。

Thus the message of the middle sermon is significant because it aims at release.

　　如是中間說法的意義重大，因為它正向解脫。

C. At the end of his career, when he was about to enter total nibbana, the Buddha delivered his final sermon in the midst of a gathering of Noble Disciples in the Royal Sala Grove of the Mallian gentry of Kusinara, saying, handadani amantayami vo bhikkhave, pativediyami vo bhikkhave, khaya-vaya-dhamma sankhara, appamadena sampadetha: 'I say to you, monks, do not be complacent. Contemplate fashionings that arise and then decay. When you contemplate in this manner, you will penetrate completely. ' That was all he said and he never said anything further. This is thus said to be his final sermon.

　【 (三 )佛將入滅時，當他將要進入般涅槃時，他在庫西那拉的皇家娑羅樹林間，為聚集的聖弟子們作最後的說法】：『比丘，我告訴你們，不要自負，當觀察思惟諸行生起然後衰落(中譯注：諸行無常)。當你如是觀察思惟時，你將會透徹地貫通。』這就是他所說的，他未再說些什麼，這就是他的最後說法。

To explain the meaning: Where do fashionings arise? What are fashionings? Fashionings arise in our own minds. They are an effect or condition of the mind that gives rise to all supposings. These fashionings are the culprits that suppose and formulate everything in the world. Actually, the things of the world — in their elementary properties as phenomena — are simply the way they are. Earth, trees, mountains, sky, and sunshine don't say that they are anything at all. Even the human body, which is also composed of the world's elements, doesn't say that it is this or that. Mental fashioning is the culprit that styles these things as being this or that — and we fall for what it says as being true, holding that all these things are ours or ourselves. Passion, aversion, and delusion thus arise, causing the primal mind to stray deludedly after birth, aging, illness, and death, circling around endlessly through innumerable states of becoming and birth — all through the instigation of mental fashioning.

　　解釋意義如下：諸行從何處生起？什麼是諸行？諸行在我們的心意之中生起，它們是讓心意生起種種臆測的因或果。諸行是臆測和形成世間一切事物的罪魁禍首，實際上，世間的事物—在他們的現象元素性質里—本來就是如此而已。土地、樹木、山巒、天空和陽光，並沒有說它們是什麼，即使是同樣由一般元素所組成的人體，也沒有說它是這個或那個；心意的形成(中譯注：心行)才是賦予這些事物彼此區別的罪魁禍首—而我們則信以為真，執著著這些事物是我們的或我們自己(中譯注：我或我所)，貪、瞋、癡因此生起，造成最初的心意愚癡地飄泊在生、老、病、死之後，無止境地輪迴在無數的有和生的狀態之間—都是透過心行的教唆。

This is why the Buddha taught us to contemplate mental fashionings as inconstant and stressful:

　　這就是佛陀教導我們要去觀察思惟心意諸行是無常和痛苦的原因。

sabbe sankhara anicca, sabbe sankhara dukkha.

　　『一切行無常，一切行苦。』

We keep at this until we see them with full and clear comprehension — which arises as the fruit of having earlier developed patibhaga — to the point where the mind enters the bhavanga, its underlying state. When the current of the bhavanga disappears, a genuinely intuitive understanding will arise right at the heart: 'That's just how they are — inconstant and stressful.' When we master this and see it clearly and distinctly, we will then be wise to mental fashionings. Mental fashionings will no longer be able to fashion the mind into becoming aroused ever again, as stated in the verse,

　　我們持續這樣，直到我們以充分和清明的理解力來看到它們—它就像早期所開發的似相的果證那樣生起—直到心意進入有分譯注：十二因緣中的有)那一點，它的基本狀態，當形成諸有的洪流消失了，就在心里將會生起一種真實直覺的理解：『它們就是那樣子—無常和痛苦的。』當我們熟悉這個並清楚而明白地看到它，于是我們就了然于心意諸行，心意諸行就不能再緣生過去諸有了，就像偈語所述，

akuppam sabba-dhammesu neyyadhamma pavessanto:

　　『一切法不動，有為法入于寂靜。』

When mental fashioning can no longer fashion the mind, the mind doesn't become aroused. It is wise to all knowable dhammas,

　　當心行不再緣成心意，心意就不再生起，它就了然于一切有為法。

— santo:

　　『寂靜安詳』

and thus calm and at peace, reaching release.

　　如是寧靜和安詳，達到解脫。

The words of this final sermon are truly significant. They can make the person who contemplates them awaken to the ultimate degree — which is why the Buddha stopped speaking and said no more.

　　這最後說法的言語真的意義重大，它能使觀察思惟它的人，覺醒到達最高程度—這就是佛陀停止講話而不再說什麼的原因。

The sermons given at these three points in the Buddha's career have a significance over and beyond that of any other he ever gave. The first sermon aims at release, the middle sermon aims at release, the final sermon aims at release. In this way all three of them without exception aim at nothing but release.