佛陀的遺教是什麼？What were the Buddha』s last instruction to us?

(４５)在所剩的短短時間里，我要提出最後一個問題： 　　「佛陀的遺教是什麼？」

45. Now in the short time remaining I shall put the final question:

46. 「What were the Buddha』s last instruction to us?」

　　眾所皆知，遺言就是一個人臨終前所交待的話。佛陀臨入滅時，說出最後的遺言：「一切因緣和合法，必定敗壞，大家應自精勤，不要放逸！」 　　所有事物只是不斷地遷流，一切皆空。所有事物無常(anicca)，不停地變化，無止境地遷流，這樣不斷的遷流，完全無「我」、非「我所有」，大家應自精勤，不要放逸。換句話說，佛陀叮囑我們：別傻！別對事物入迷！別認為有什麼可執著！別輕率地執著任何事物，這是佛陀所說「不要放逸」的意思。我們應該要時常具足精勤！

AS EVERYONE KNOWS, a person who is about to die usually makes out a will, a set of last instructions. When the Buddha was on the point of dying, he said these last words: 「All compounded things are subject to decay. Be well equipped with heedfulness!」 All things are nothing but a perpetual flowing-on, that is, they are empty (of selfhood). All things are anicca, they change incessantly, they flow on endlessly. That perpetual flux is devoid of any self or of anything belonging to a self. Be vigilant and well prepared. In other words, don』t be foolish, don』t become infatuated with things, and don』t regard anything as worth grasping at and clinging to. Don』t mindlessly attach to anything. This is what he meant by heedfulness. With such heedfulness we must always be well equipped.

　　且看現代年輕人的問題，他們是多麼輕率啊！他們認為一切事物都可愛、可取，執著于愛、執著于恨，到頭來，只有使自己和他人苦惱罷了！這種人沒有遵行佛陀遺言中的教導，辜負生為人身、長于佛教家庭，辜負自己是佛教徒，他們沒有實踐佛陀最後的期許！

Now young people are a problem. Look how completely heedless they are. They regard all sorts of things as thoroughly desirable, as worth grasping at and clinging to. Attaching to things as either desirable or hateful is ultimately a source of distress to oneself and to others. Such people are not carrying out the instructions given in the Buddha』s will. They are wasting the benefit of having been born a human being and of Buddhist parents. They are not carrying out the Buddha』s last wishes.

　　我們所有的人，不論老少，正面臨實踐佛陀遺教的處境，不要放逸、不要失念！別糊里糊涂以為事物可執、可取，要常觀世間「我空」、「我所有空」。若我們的心空掉執著，貪、瞋、癡就不會生起，那麼，不論做什麼，都將是人類所能達到最真、最善、最美的，也就是說，所有的問題都消失、結束了，所作皆辦了。 　　佛陀還給我們另一個最後的指示：「去！到處去！去宣揚妙法，初、中、後時法味一如。」這是叮囑我們要去作利他的事。我喜歡把這教導詮釋成佛陀囑咐我們都去教導「無執無著」——初級的對孩童說，中級的對成年人說，高級的對即將了悟無上法的人說，此外別無可說了。

All of us, young and old, are in a position to carry out the Buddha』s last instructions. Let us not be heedless or mindless. Let us not go thoughtlessly regarding things as worth grasping at and clinging to. Let us always view the world as devoid of any self or of anything belonging to a self. Our minds will be free of grasping; lust, hatred, and delusion will not arise in them. Thus we will accomplish the highest thing which is possible for humanity. In other words, all problems will cease, and that』s all there is to it.

　　佛陀只教導「無執無取著」，它可以不同的層次教導小孩、中年人和老人。或者也可用另一種方式來了解：為得現世人間的利益而說法是低層次的； 　　為得他方世界的利益而說法是中級的；最終極的是為得超越世間的無上利益而說法。全部的教義精華可被歸納成：由于無執無著而不苦。因此空掉「我」、「我所有」而無執無著，是最重要的教誨。

The Buddha gave another final instruction: 「Go forth and preach well the doctrine, splendid in its beginning, middle, and end.」 I like to interpret this as enjoining us all to teach non-grasping and non-clinging on an elementary level to children, on an intermediate level to adults, and on the highest, most advanced level to those who are heading for the Supreme State and for whom nothing else matters. The Buddha taught only non-grasping, nothing more. It can be taught on different levels to children, to people of middle age, and to old people. Or it can be taken in another way. Teach Dhamma for the benefit of people living in this world, on a low level; for benefits in other worlds, at an intermediate stage; and then for the sake of the highest benefit, which transcends all worlds.

　　請各位好好記住一個宣說全部「法」的字——「空」(sunnata),它是佛教的核心與精髓。人因心不「空」而破戒；因心不「空」而沒有禪定；因心不「空」而沒有智慧。 　　佛陀有「空心」，「空心」正是佛陀的特性；「法」也是「空」——解「空」、行「空」、證「空」，「究竟空」即涅槃；僧伽是隨佛修行以到達「空心」的一群人，佛、法、僧歸納起來就是個「空」字。 　　持戒是因空掉煩惱、執著，而能無執無著；當到達「空心」，沒有煩惱時，就能到達圓滿的定；當了悟世間一切皆空，不再有任何執著，就有了究竟的智慧。道、果、涅槃是有次第地了悟「空」直到「究竟空」；施、戒、皈依、定、慧、道、果與涅槃——全部都可歸結為「空」。

The whole essence of the teaching can be summed up as freedom from suffering through non-attachment. Hence this non-grasping and non-clinging, this absence of any idea of self or of anything belonging to a self, is the most important teaching. So please, every one of you, bear well in mind one word, the one single word that reveals the entire Dhamma, the single syllable waang (empty, void, free), which in Pali is su..atā — the core and essence of Buddhism. People break the moral precepts because they lack cit waang (mind free of the self-idea). People lack concentration because they do not have cit waang. People have no insight because they do not have cit waang. The Buddha had cit waang. Cit waang is just what Buddhahood is. The Dhamma is simply the teaching of cit waang, the practice that leads to cit waang, and the fruit of that practice, which is cit waang and ultimately nibbāna. The Sangha consists of people following the Buddha』s system of practice in order to attain cit waang. Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are summed up in the word waang (free, void, empty). One succeeds in keeping the moral precepts through abstaining from grasping and clinging, and through being free of the mental defilements, free of grasping and clinging. When cit waang has been attained, the defilements are absent and concentration is at its best. When one has come to see things (the world) as empty, one doesn』t grasp or cling to any of them and one has full insight. The Path and Fruit of Nibbāna consist in knowing emptiness and in successively gaining the fruits of emptiness right up to the very culmination. Charity, morality, taking refuge (in Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha), concentration, insight, Path and Fruit, and nibbāna — all these are summed up in the single word waang (empty).

　　這說明佛陀為何這麼說：「『空』是我所教，沒有談及『空』是他人的教導，是後期弟子為音韻和諧所湊成的非正軌教導。任何的素旦答(suttanta)是如來所說，與『空』相應，義理奧妙深遠，超越世間。」這是如來所說的法。相反地，「任何(自稱的)素旦答(suttanta)，縱使辭藻華麗、音韻和諧，若脫離『空』的軌道，就與『空』不相應，這是弟子的說法。」有這兩種素旦答(suttanta)的說法，與「空」相應的是如來的說法，與「空」不相應的是後期弟子的說法。

This is why the Buddha said, 「Emptiness is what I teach. A teaching that does not treat of emptiness is someone else』s teaching, an unorthodox teaching composed by some later disciple. All discourses which are utterances of the Accomplished One are profound, have deep significance, are the means of transcending the world, and deal primarily with emptiness (su..atā). 「This was spoken by the Tathāgata. On the other hand, 「A discourse of any kind, though produced by a poet or a learned man, versified, poetical, splendid, melodious in sound and syllable, is not in keeping with the teaching if not connected with su..atā. 「There are these two kinds of discourses. Those dealing with su..atā are utterances of the Buddha; those not dealing with su..atā are utterances of later followers.

　　佛陀認為「空」和「空相應法」為佛教真正的本質。因此他說：「當『空』的教義失落，人們不再關心『空』時，佛法的精髓就會消失。」(泰本巴利藏第１６冊，３１１頁)。

So the Buddha considered su..atā and discourses dealing with su..atā to be real essence of Buddhism. This is why he said, 「When the teaching of su..atā had died out and no-one is interested in it any longer, then the real essence of the Dhamma will have been lost.」

　　這很像古代陀舍羅訶(Dasaraha)國王代代相傳的鼓，當它漸漸磨損、毀壞，長期一次次被補綴整修，直到最後全由新的材料組成，它真正的實質就消失殆盡了！

It is like the drum owned by the Dasāraha kings in ancient times, which was handed down from generation to generation. As it became worn out and dilapidated, it was patched and mended time and time again, over a long period, until eventually consisted of nothing but new materials. The real substance of it had completely disappeared.

　　當比丘不再重視那原是他們應該去解、去行的「空相應法」時，原始佛教的本質就可說已經完全消失，除了後代弟子所說的新的內容，沒有留下什麼，那就像鼓的遭遇一樣。請去讀讀看！想一想！佛陀叮嚀我們要宣揚「無執無著」的微妙法，而且「初、中、後時，法味一如」； 　　但是，現在佛教所呈顯的是什麼風貌？ 　　它像原本的老鼓，或只是由新材料補綴而成的新鼓？ 　　我們只要觀察人是否關心「空」和修習「空」，自己就可找到答案了。這些是佛陀的遺教，精勤修行，宣揚這教法(空相應法)，並藉著學習「空」，修復已毀壞的材料，讓它重現生機。大家一定要自己去挖掘，去研討，去學習，直到重新明白(空相應法)，這才可以說已經恢復它的實質了。

When the time comes that bhikkhus no longer are concerned with studying and listening to topics relating to su..atā, which is the subject that they ought to be studying and practising, at that time it can be said that the original substance of Buddhism has been lost completely and that nothing remains but new material, utterances of later disciples, just as happened with the drum. Think it over! The Buddha urged us to teach the Dhamma, splendid in its beginning, middle, and end, in terms of non-grasping and non-clinging. But what is the condition of Buddhism at the present time? Is it like the original old drum or does it consist of just new material, just patches? We can find this out for ourselves by simply examining it to see whether or not people are interested in su..atā and practise su..atā.

These were the Buddha』s last instructions to his disciples: to practice heedfulness of this teaching, to proclaim this teaching and to restore the decayed material to fresh and good condition by studying su..atā. This is to be done by digging, probing about, studying, and discussing until such time as the understanding of this teaching has been revived and it can be said that the genuine material has been restored to its original condition.