---
title: 在家的修行 Practice for the Householder
description: "You have often asked about the path of the householder. Household life is both hard and easy hard to do, easy to underst"
---

Practice for the Householder

　　在家的修行

You have often asked about the path of the householder. Household life is both hard and easy hard to do, easy to understand. It is as if you were to come complaining to me with a red-hot coal in your hand, and I were to tell you to simply drop it. "No, I won't," you say. "I want it to be cold." Either you must drop it, or you must learn to be very patient.

　　大家經常問到關于在家的修行方法。在家的生活可以說是既困難又容易──易懂難行。就好像你手里握著一塊熾紅的煤炭，然後跑來跟我抱怨一樣，我會告訴你丟掉就好了，但你卻拒絕說:「不，我不要!我要它冷卻下來。」既然你不丟掉它，你就必須學習非常非常地有耐心。

"How can I drop it?" you ask. Can you just drop your family? Drop it in your heart. Let go of your inner attachment. You are like a bird that has laid eggs; you have a responsibility to sit with and hatch them. Otherwise, they will become rotten.

　　「我怎能就這麼丟下它呢?」你問，你可以丟下你的家庭嗎?就在心里放下它，放下你內心的執著。你就像一只下了蛋的鳥，有孵它們的責任，否則，它們會腐壞。也許你希望你的家人能珍惜你，能體會你在某方面為何有如此的行為，然而，他們卻沒有。他們的態度也許是封閉的、心胸狹窄的。如果父親是個小偷，而孩子不認同，他算是壞小孩嗎?盡力去把事情說清楚，誠心地做，然後放下。如果你有病痛去看醫生，但他和他的藥都無法治療的話，除了放下之外，你還能做什麼呢?

You may want the members of your family to appreciate you, to understand why you act in certain ways, yet they may not. Their attitude may be intolerant, closed-minded. If the father is a thief and the son disapproves, is he a bad child? Explain things as well as you can, make an honest effort, then let go. If you have a pain and go to the doctor, but he and all his medicines cannot cure it, what can you do but let it go?

　　如果你認為是「我的」家庭、「我的」修行的話，這種以自我為中心的觀點，只是另一個苦的起因罷了。無論是與他人共住或獨處，都不要想要尋找快樂──只要與法同住就好了。佛教能協助我們解決問題，但是，我們必須先修行和增長智慧才行。你不能把米丟進一鍋水中，然後就有煮熟的飯。你必須生火，讓水煮開，然後讓米煮上一段夠長的時間。有了智慧，問題終就可以經由對有情業力的思慮得以解決。了解了家庭的生活之後，你便能夠真正地學習到業、因果，並且能夠開始對你日後的行為謹慎小心。

If you think in terms of my family, my practice, this kind of self-centered view is just another cause of suffering. Do not think of finding happiness, either living with others or living alone-just live with the Dharma. Buddhism helps to work out problems, but we must practice and develop wisdom first. You do not just throw rice into a potful of water and immediately have boiled rice. You have to build the fire, bring the water to a boil, and let the rice cook long enough. With wisdom, problems can eventually be solved by taking into account the karma of beings. Understanding family life, you can really learn about karma, about cause and effect, and can begin to take care of your action in the future.

　　在團體、寺院或靜修院中修行並不困難，因為你會不好意思不去和大眾一起坐禪。可是，當你回家時，就會發現其困難之處──你會說你懶得坐或找不出時間來。你放棄你個人的力量，而把你個人的力量投射到你以外的人身上──或環境或老師。清醒吧!你是在制造自己的世界。你到底要不要修行?

Practicing in a group, in a monastery, or at a retreat is not so hard; you are too embarrassed to miss sittings with others. But when you go home, you find it difficult; you say that you are lazy or unable to find time. You give away your personal power, projecting it onto others, onto situations or teachers outside yourself. Just wake up! You create your own world. Do you want to practice or not?

　　就好像我們出家人必須在戒律、苦行上加緊努力，和增長可以導向解脫的訓練一樣，因此，你們在家眾也必須這樣做。你在家里修行時，應該試著去更加注意基本的戒律，努力去更正你的身行及言語。實際地精進努力，持續不斷地修行。對于專注心的修行，千萬不能因為你試了兩、三次，心無法平靜就放棄。為何修行必須一蹴即成呢?你已經讓你的心毫無控制、隨其所願地到處亂跑多久了呢?你已經讓它牽著你的鼻子到處跑了多久呢?對于一、兩個月仍不足以將心平靜下來，還有什麼好懷疑的?

Just as we monks must strive with our precepts and ascetic practices, developing the discipline that leads to freedom, so you lay people must do likewise. As you practice in your homes, you should endeavour to refine the basic precepts. Strive to put body and speech in order. Make real effort, practice continuously. As for concentrating the mind, do not give up because you have tried it once or twice and are not at peace. Why should it not take a long time? How long have you let your mind wander as it wished without doing anything to control it? How long have you allowed it to lead you around by the nose? Is it any. wonder that a month or two is not enough to still it?

Of course, the mind is hard to train. When a horse is really stubborn, do not feed it for a while-it will come around. When it starts to follow the right.
course, feed it a little. The beauty of our way of life is that the mind can be trained. With our own right effort, we can come to wisdom.

　　沒錯，心是很難訓練。當一匹馬真的很頑固時，一段時間不要餵它，它就會乖乖地服從。當它開始照著規矩來時，就餵它一點。我們的生活方式的莊嚴之處，在于我們的心可加以訓練。有了正精進，我們便會得到智慧。

To live the lay life and practice Dharma, one must be in the world but remain above it. Virtue, beginning with the five basic precepts, is all important, parent to all good things. It is the basis for removing wrong from the mind, removing the cause of distress and agitation. Make virtue really firm. Then practice your formal meditation when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes the meditation will be good, sometimes not. Do not worry about it, just continue. If doubts arise, just realize that they, like everything else in the mind, are impermanent.

　　過在家生活並修習佛法，必須在世間，但卻又必須保持在它之上。戒行，始于五條基本戒律，每一條都很重要，它們是一切善行的父母。戒行也是拔除心中之惡的根本──拔除苦惱、煩擾之因。因此，把戒行穩固地建立起來，然後，當機緣現前時，就修行外相的禪坐。有時候，禪坐的狀況會恨好，有時則否。但不必去擔心，只要繼續就好。如果疑惑生起，只要明白，它就像心中的其他現象一樣，都是無常的。

As you continue, concentration will arise. Use it to develop wisdom. See like and dislike arising from sense contact and do not attach to them. Do not be anxious for results or quick progress. An infant first crawls, then learns to walk, then to run. Just be firm in your virtue and keep practicing.

　　就在你繼續修行之際，「定」會現起，然後就利用它來增長智慧。徹見喜與惡都是從感官的接觸中生起的，而不要去執著它們。不要渴望成果或迅速的進展，嬰兒們都是先爬，然後學走路，接下來才跑。只要堅固你的戒行，繼續不斷地修行就對了。