我們要對神通關心到什麼程度？How far should we take interest in these things called iddhis?

(４０)接下來，關于「神通」(iddhi)的問題是： 「我們要對神通關心到什麼程度？」

40. Next, concerning what are called iddhis (psychic powers) the question is,

41. 「How far should we take interest in these things called iddhis?」

　　首先，我們該談談iddhi本身。iddhi 這個字的意思是「能力」。它原本是日常用字。被引用于具有某種能力，可促成事物圓滿完成的東西，任何東西只要具有促進事物圓滿成功的力量，就稱為iddhi。 　　後來它的意思被引申，包括以神奇的、不可思議的方式成就某事，最後我們發現iddhi的用法變成專指心靈現象。iddhi一旦演變成心靈現象，就具有孳生和改善的特性，使它遠比任何物質更神通廣大。 　　iddhi就像省力的器具，現在我們有牽引拖車，能在短時間內修築許多馬路，這也稱為iddhi，但這是物質的奇蹟。在這里我們所談論的iddhi則與心有關，是心靈的，而非物質的。

FIRST OF ALL, we shall say something about the iddhis themselves. The word iddhi means 「power」. It was originally an everyday word, a household term applied to things with the ability to promote success in perfectly normal ways. Anything with the ability to promote success was called an iddhi. The meaning was then extended to cover success in marvellous, miraculous ways, until we come across the sort of iddhis that are exclusively mental phenomena. Because they are mental, they have productive and beneficial properties that render them far more marvellous and wide-ranging than anything physical. They are like our labour-saving devices. Nowadays we have tractors that can build roads and so on. These too would have been called iddhis. But these are physical marvels. The iddhis we are concerned with here have to do with the mind; they are mental, not physical.

　　神通專家能訓練自己的心，具備以下的能力：使人經驗他要他們感覺的；使人親眼看到他要他們看的；使人清晰的聽到他要他們聽的；使人聞到他要他們聞的；使人經驗嘗的感覺就好像真正用舌頭品嘗一般；使人彷彿親由皮膚去感覺軟、硬和其他觸覺。除了這些之外，還可再擴展——使人心里不由自主地感到恐懼、愛和任何心靈狀態。

An exponent of iddhis (psychic powers) has trained his mind to such a degree that he can cause other people to experience whatever sensations he wishes to have them feel. He can cause others to see things with their own eyes just as he wishes them to see, to hear clearly and distinctly such sounds as he wishes them to hear, to smell just as he wishes them to smell, to experience taste sensations as if really experiencing them with the tongue, and to feel as if through the skin softness, hardness, and other such tactile stimuli. The process can then be extended until the demonstrator is able to cause the other person to experience fear, love or any mental state without realizing why.

　　神通真是有用了！太妙了！因為它能使人經驗他要他們感覺的。但是這種心靈現象並不能制造物質，換句話說，超自然力量無法變現任何實用的物質，它不可能變現比丘的茅蓬、殿堂、飯菜，而讓他的生活沒問題，這種事不可能發生。這些眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意所經驗和出現的現象，也只有在顯神通時存在，過後它們就消失了。所以，神通無法建茅蓬、蓋殿堂，而必須由家護法建造供養，例如祇園精舍(Jetavana)和迦蘭陀竹園(Veluvana)就是居士建來供養佛陀的。佛陀也有幾次因為飢荒沒有食物，必須吃乾馬麥，而且一天只有一把[譯注一]。這啟示我們物質和心靈是兩個不同的領域，而二種都可能顯神通。

The iddhis are thus extremely useful and quite wonderful.But this kind of mental phenomenon does not produce physical things. The psychic powers are incapable of creating real physical things of any practical value. They alone can』t create bhikkhu』s huts, temples, rice, fish, or food, so that one might live without any problems. This sort of thing can』t happen. The objects appear to exist or are experienced as existing in eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind for only as long as the iddhi is being demonstrated. There after they disappear. So the iddhis are not capable of building a hut or a temple by themselves. There definitely has to be a lay supporter to build and offer it. For instance, Jetavana and Veluvana had to be built and offered to the Buddha. And several times the Buddha went without food because of famine and had to eat rice set out as horse feed, and only a handful of it a day.This serves to remind us that the physical and mental are two distinct and different realms. It is possible to demonstrate iddhis of both types.

　　佛陀沒有否認心靈的神通，但他極力反對顯這類神通，因為它們只不過是幻象罷了，所以他禁止比丘們顯神通，自己也戒除顯神通。在巴利經典中，我們並沒有發現佛陀顯神通的記載，而有關佛陀顯神通的記載，都出現在論書和後期的典籍中，雖然我們不必去判斷它們是真是假，但這些記載的真實性實在令人懷疑。

The Buddha did not deny mental iddhis, but he strongly disapproved of demonstrating them because they are mere illusions. He therefore prohibited the demonstration of them by bhikkhus, and he himself refrained from it. We don』t come across it in the Tipi.aka that the Buddha demonstrated iddhis. There do exist accounts of the Buddha demonstrating iddhis, but they occur only in commentaries and other works. Consequently, the truth of these accounts is dubious — though really there is no need for us to judge them true or false.

　　佛陀曾說：「顯各種不同的神通——飛行、隱身、天眼、天耳等等——是有漏(sasava)、有取(upadhika)的。」「有漏」(sasava)由三漏(asava)[譯注二]構成，換句話說，這種有執著或以執著為動機所顯現的神通，稱為「有潛心」。Upadhi被譯為「有取」，以「有取」為動機面顯現的神通是有取著的神通，它由執著產生，同時也是執著的對象。這類以執著的心而顯現的神通，是「有漏」、「有取」的。

The Buddha once said, 「The various iddhis that are demon- strated — flying through the air, becoming invisible, clairaudience, clairvoyance and the like — are sāsavā and upadhikā,」 Sāsavā means 「associated with āsavas」 (the 「cankers」 of attachment to sensual pleasure, attachment to becoming, attachment to false views, and attachment to ignorance). In other words, iddhis performed with grasping and clinging, or motivated by grasping and clinging, are called sāsavā. The performance of upadhikā iddhis is motivated by upadhi. Upadhi means 「grasping and clinging」. They are likewise iddhis motivated by attachment. They are demonstrated by a mind that grasps and clings. Iddhis of this sort are sāsavā and upadhikā.

　　現在，讓我們把注意力轉移到第二類神通——「無漏」(anasava)和「無取」(anuppdhika)，也就是能自主地調御自己的心。我們舉一個特別的例子——「厭惡」來討論。人能叫自己把可厭的事看成是可厭的，把可喜的事也看成是可厭的；不論任何事都看成是可厭的，或把它們看成是可喜的，或看每件事都沒什麼，既不可厭也不可喜。 　　這是個例子，顯示我們具有可圓滿掌握心的能力，以致當面對會影響心的色、聲、香、味、觸時，還能保持著「念」和「舍」。圓滿具足了「念」和「舍」，便是神通，這是「無漏」、「無取」之類的神通，沒有煩惱，沒有執取，也不會成為執取的對象。這些也成為神通，我們應如此看待它們。

Now let us turn our attention to the opposite kind of iddhi— anāsavā and anuppdhikā — namely the ability to control one』s own mind at will. We shall take as a particular example the subject of unpleasantness. Here one causes oneself to see an unpleasant thing as unpleasant, to see a pleasant thing as unpleasant, to see everything as unpleasant to see everything as pleasant, then to see everything as neither of these, as neither pleasant nor unpleasant. This is one example demonstrating the ability to control the mind so completely that constant mindfulness and equanimity can be maintained in the presence of sense objects — shapes and colours, flavours, odours, sounds, and tactile objects — which influence the mind. The possession of mindfulness, constant awareness, and equanimity is an iddhi. It is an iddhi of the type called anāsavā (free of āsava) and anuppadhikā (free of upadhi, not defiled, not grasping, and not a basis for grasping). These are the things called the iddhis, and this is how we ought to view them.

　　要想修行到真正能變現的神通——「有漏」、「有取」的神通，是很困難的，它需要一大體系的修法，可以做得到，但也只有極少數的人能真正成就。而另一種行幻術的人，他並不能真正變現神通，只是玩弄一些偽造、欺騙的魔術罷了。

The real iddhis that are demonstrated in order to cause the arising of psychic miracles, the sāsavā and upadhikā types, are still difficult to perform. To master them involves much practice, which is organized into a great system. It can be done, genuinely achieved and demonstrated, by only a very few people. But there is a spurious variety too, based on pure deception, sheer trickery, sometimes involving the use of incantations. These are not the real things at all.

　　在巴利文中也談到，有些魔術師使用咒語或其他法術，能顯現出似真的神通，但要成功地訓練出那些技巧，也非常困難。至于「無漏」、「無取」的神通，反而是每個人有本事可以做到的，這是值得深思的。 　　現在我們都關心那些難以做到的神通，對于能力所及和最有益處的神通卻從來不關心，偏偏依然喜歡「有漏」、「有取」的神通。對于這點，我希望各位能重新思考！

There are people who can demonstrate what are apparently genuine iddhis, but to acquire those skills is very difficult and requires arduous training. By contrast, the anāsavā and anupadhikā iddhis lie within the capabilities of most people. This sort is worth thinking about. As it is, we are interested in the sort of iddhis we can』t perform but aren』t interested in the most beneficial ones (which we can produce). These things called iddhis certainly have a great attraction for us, but our thinking on the subject needs to be completely revised.

　　[譯注一]此事見《大正藏》第２２卷，５６８頁。 　　[譯注二]三漏為欲漏、有漏、無明漏。