---
title: 知己知彼 Know Yourself-Know Others
description: "Know your own mind and body, and you will know others' as well. One's facial expressions, speech, gestures, actions, all"
---

Know Yourself-Know Others

　　知己知彼

Know your own mind and body, and you will know others' as well. One's facial expressions, speech, gestures, actions, all stem from one's state of mind. A Buddha, an enlightened being, can read these because he has experienced and seen with wisdom the states of mind that underlie them, just as wise older people, having passed through childhood, can understand the ways of children.

　　認識你自己的身和心，也就會了解他人。一個人的臉部表情──言語、手勢、行為都源于他的心理狀態。佛陀，一位覺者，因為他經歷過，且以智慧看透心理狀態和它們的基本因素，所以能了解它們。就如年長的智者，已經歷過童年，所以能了解孩子們的種種。

This self-knowledge differs from memory. An old person can be clear inside but fuzzy in regard to external things. Book learning may be very difficult for him, he forgets names and faces, and so on. Maybe he knows very well that he wants a basin, but because of the weakness of his memory, he may ask for a glass instead.

　　這種自我的智慧不同于記憶。一位老人對外在事物可能很迷糊，但內心可能很清楚。書本上的學習對他可能很困難，會忘記不同的名字和面貌……等等。也許他很清楚他要一個盆子，但是因為他衰弱的記憶力，他可能會要一個玻璃杯。

If you see states rising and falling in the mind and do not cling to the process, letting go of both happiness and suffering, mental rebirths become shorter and shorter. Letting go, you can even fall into hell states without too much disturbance, because you know the impermanence of them. Through right practice, you allow your .old karma to wear itself out. Knowing how things arise and pass away, you can just be aware and let them run their course. It is like having two trees: if you fertilize and water one and do not take care of the other, there is no question which one will grow and which one will die.

　　如果你看到境界在內心中起伏，而不去執著其過程，放下苦與樂，那　精神上的再生將會漸漸縮短。放下吧!就算你陷入地獄的狀態也不會不安，因為你了解它們的理常。透過正確的修行，讓你的舊業自然地殆盡。了解事物是如何生起與逝去的，你就可以只保持覺醒:而讓它們隨其自然。猶如兩棵樹，如果你只施肥、灌溉其中一棵，而不照顧另一棵，哪一棵會長大，而哪一棵會枯死，是不用置疑的。