---
title: 約制 Restraint
description: "The worldly way is outgoing, exuberant; the way of the monk's life is restrained and controlled. Constantly work against"
---

Restraint

　　約制

The worldly way is outgoing, exuberant; the way of the monk's life is restrained and controlled. Constantly work against the grain, against old habits; eat, speak, and sleep little. If you are lazy, raise energy. If you feel you cannot endure, raise patience. If you like the body and feel attached to it, learn to see it as unclean. Indulging your desires instead of opposing them cannot even be considered the slow way, as a month's rather than a day's journey. Instead, you will simply never arrive. Work with your desires.

　　世間的方法是向外的、刺激的，而出家人的生活方式則是約束及自制的。不斷努力地去違背自己意願、違背舊有的習氣；吃得少、說得少、睡得少。如果你懈怠，提起精神來；如果你覺得無法忍受，提起毅力來。如果你愛著你的身體，學習將它視為不淨的。不去對治欲望反倒耽溺在它們之中的話，這連緩慢之道都不算，就如同只需一天的旅程卻走了一個月一般。如此一來，你永遠無法達到。對治你的欲望吧!

Virtue or following precepts, and concentration or meditation are aids to the practice. They make the mind calm and restrained. But outward restraint is only a convention, a tool to help gain inner coolness. You may keep your eyes cast down, but still your mind may be distracted by whatever enters your field of vision'.

　　戒行或遵守戒律和定或禪坐是有助于修行的。它們使心平靜和受到約制。可是，外在的約制只是個方法── 一種協助我們得到內心清涼的工具。雖然你雙眼垂視，可是，你的心仍會被進入你視野的東西所干擾。

Perhaps you feel that this life is too difficult, that you just cannot do it. But the more clearly you understand the truth of things, the more incentive you will have. Suppose you are walking home and step on a large thorn that goes deep into your foot. In pain, you feel you just cannot go on. Then a ferocious tiger comes, and, afraid that it will "eat your head," you forget about your foot, get up, and run all the way home.

　　也許你覺得這種生活非常艱苦，所以你辦不到。但是，你對事物的真相了解得愈是清楚，你就會有更大的推動力。假設，在回家的路上，踩到一根巨刺，它深深地扎入你的腳底。疼痛之際，你會覺得無法再走下去。後來，一只張牙舞爪的老虎來了，因為深恐它會「吃了你的頭」的緣故，于是便忘卻腳痛這檔事。馬上起身，一路地跑回家。

Constantly ask yourself, 'Why am I ordained7" Let it be a spur. It is not for comfort and pleasure; these are much more easily had in lay life. On alms round, at any time, ask, 'Why do I do what I d07" It should not be out of habit. Listening to the Dharma, are you hearing the teaching or merely the sound7 May be the words enter your ears, but you are thinking, 'The sweet potatoes at breakfast were really delicious." Keep your mindfulness sharp. In activity around the monastery, the important point is intention; know what you are doing and know how you feel about it. Learn to know the mind that clings. to ideas of purity and bad karma, burdens itself with doubt and excessive fear of wrongdoing. This too is attachment. Too much of this mind makes you afraid to sweep because you may kill ants, afraid to walk because you may harm the grass. New doubts constantly arise in regard to one's purity-if you keep following the anxiety, you only gain temporary relief. You must understand the process of doubt in order to put an end to it.

　　不斷地問你自己：「我是為了什麼而出家的?」把它當做一種激勵。出家不是為了舒適和享樂，這些在家生活更容易得到。在托缽的時候，問自己：「我這樣做為的是什麼?」絕不是出自于習慣罷!在聽法的時候，你聽到的是教導還是只是聲音?也許話是進了你的耳朵，但你腦袋里卻是在想：「早餐的地瓜實在很好吃。」讓你的正念保持敏銳。寺院里的活動，重點在于動機，因此，要知道你在做什　和知道你的感覺如何。學習去認識執取清淨、惡業的概念之心，學習去認識以疑惑給自己加諸重擔和極度恐懼惡行之心，因為這也是執著!這種心態太重的話，會造成你不敢掃地，因為你怕會殺死螞蟻，不敢走路，因為會傷到小草。懷疑我們是否清淨的疑惑會不斷地生起──如果你繼續追隨這種焦慮，你也只能得到暫時的心安。為了結束疑惑，你必須了解疑惑的過程。

In our chanting, we say that we are the Buddha's servants. To be a servant means to give yourself completely to your master and rely on him for all your needs: food, clothing, shelter, guidance. We who wear the robes, an inheritance of the Buddha, should understand that all the requisites we receive from lay supporters come to us because of the virtue of the Buddha, not because of our own individual merit.

　　在我們的課誦當中，我們說，我們是佛陀的僕人。作為一個僕人的意思是，完全將你自己交給你的師父，在于食、衣、住、指導的需求方面，則完全依靠他，身為佛陀的繼承人的我們，身著袈裟，就應當了解，所有我們從在家眾身上所得的必須品，會供養我們，是因為佛陀的德行，而非來自于我們個人的福德。

Know moderation in those requisites. Robes need not be of fine material, they are merely to protect the body. Alms-food is merely to sustain you. The Path constantly opposes defilement and habitual desire. When Sariputta was going for alms-food, he saw that greed said, "Give me a lot," so he said, "Give me a little." If defilement says, "Give it to me fast," our Path says, "Give it to me slowly." If attachment wants hot, soft food, then our Path asks for it hard and cold.

　　對于這個必須品的節制要有認識。袈裟不需要好的質料，它們只是用來保護身體而已；托缽的食物只是用來維持你的生命。「道」，不斷地在對治煩惱(雜染)和習慣性的欲望。當舍利弗要去托缽時，他看到貪欲說：「給我多一點!」他于是便說：「給我少一點!」如果煩惱(雜染)說：「快點給我!」我們的「道」會說：「慢點給我!」如果執著要熱的、軟的食物，那　，我們的「道」便會要硬的和冷的。

All our actions-wearing the robes, collecting alms food-should be done mindfully, according to the precepts. The Dharma and discipline that the Buddha gave us are like a well-tended orchard. We do not have to worry about planting trees and caring for them; we do not have to be afraid that the fruit will be poisonous or unfit to eat. All of it is good for us.

　　我們所有的行動──著衣、托缽，都應該正念地依戒律來做。佛陀所給予我們的法和戒就好像一座已經照顧良好的果園，我們不須去憂心要去栽植或照料它們，也不須害怕果實會有毒或不能食用，這一切對我們都有好處。

Once inner coolness is attained, you still should not throwaway the forms of monastic life. Be an example for those who come after; this is how the enlightened monks of old behaved.

　　一旦達到了內心的清涼，你仍然不該放棄形式的寺院生活。做後來者的榜樣，那些覺悟的上座就是如此行為的。