對治貪欲 Opposing Lust

Opposing Lust

　　對治貪欲

If the lay life were the most suitable for practice, the Buddha would not have had us become monks. Our bodies and minds are a gang of thieves and murderers, constantly pulling us toward the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion. In lay life, it is so much more difficult, with constant sense contact, as if someone were calling in welcoming tones from a house, “Oh, come here, please come here.” and as you approached, they were to open the door and shoot you.

　　如果在家生活是最適合修行的話，佛陀就不會叫我們出家了。我們的身和心就好像一群小偷和殺人犯，不斷地把我們拉入貪、嗔、癡的火焰中。在感官的不斷接觸下，在家的生活進而難上加難，就好像一個人在屋內以一種歡迎的語調控召喚著：「喔，來這里，請來這里!」然而，當你靠近時，它們便開門拿槍射你。

You can do ascetic practices, such as using worn out unattractive things or doing the corpse meditation, looking at everyone you see, including yourself as a corpse or a skeleton. Yet these practices are not easy. As soon as you see a pretty young girl, you stop seeing corpses.

　　你可以去做例如：用粗陋之物或以尸體做禪修的苦行，將你所看到的每一個人──包括你自己，都視為尸體或骷髏。然而，這些修行並不容易，因為，你一看到年輕貌美的女孩，就不再看到尸體了。

Body meditation is an example of opposition. We normally consider the body good and beautiful; the Path is to contemplate its impermanent and unpleasant aspects. When we are young and strong, not yet afflicted with serious illness, it is easy to think wrongly and act unskilfully. Death seems far away, one fears no one and nothing. If one does not meditate, a taste of illness and a realization of aging may be necessary to change one’s outlook. Why wait for this? Just be as one who has died. Your desires have not yet died, it is true, but behave as if they had.

　　觀身的禪修是一個對治的例子。我們通常都認為身體是完美和美麗的──而「道」是要你去思惟(觀)它的無常和苦的一面。當我們年輕力壯，還不曾受過重病的折磨時，比較會有錯誤的觀念和做不好的事，死，仍乎也離得很遙遠，所以沒有絲毫恐懼。如果我們不禪坐的話，嘗到病痛的滋味或衰老的覺悟時，也許才會改變我們的看法。為什　要等到那時候呢?就把自己當作死了一樣，雖然欲望還沒死，沒錯，但，就當它們已死了一般。

Sometimes it is necessary to go to extremes, such as living near dangerous beasts. If you know there are tigers and wild elephants about and fear for your life, you will not have time to think about sex. Or you can reduce your food or fast to temporarily reduce energy.

　　有時候，走極端點是必要的，例如：住在危險的野獸附近。如果你知道附近有老虎和野象，而且也為你自己的性命擔憂，你就沒有時間去想淫欲了。抑或，你可以以節食或斷食的方法，暫時地減低你的精力。

Some monks live in cemeteries and make death and decay their constant object of meditation. As a young monk, I liked to live with old men, asking them what it was like to get old, seeing them and realizing we all must go the same way. Constantly keeping death and decay in mind, dispassion and disappointment in the world of senses arise, leading to rapture and concentration. One sees things as they are and is free of them. Later, when meditation is firmly established, there are no difficulties. We are only driven by lust because meditation is not yet unshakable.

　　有些出家眾住在墳場里，以死亡和衰敗做為他們不斷的禪修對象。身為一位僧青年的話，我會喜歡和老人住在一起，問他們年老的感覺，看到他們後，覺悟有一天我們都必會如此。要不斷地將死亡和衰敗牢記在心，對于世間感官的厭離便會生起，進而導致專注與禪定。一位見到事物的本然的人，就已解脫了它們。往後，當禪坐已堅固地建立起時，就不再困難了。我們之所以被貪欲所驅，是因為禪坐尚不到不動搖的地步。

When we come to live in the forest as monks, we are no longer letting the defilements be content in their own way, so we find they kick at us quite hard. Patience and endurance are the only remedy. In fact, at times in our practice there is nothing else, only endurance. Yet of course it will all change.

　　身為出家人, , 來到森林里居住，就已不再讓煩惱(雜染)為所欲為了，因此我們會發現它們非常用力地在踢我們。耐心及毅力在此時則是唯一的處方。事實上，有時候我們的修行中甚　也沒有，唯一有的只是毅力而已。當然啦!一切都會改變。

People outside may call us mad to live in the forest like this, sitting like statues. But how do they live? They laugh, they cry, they are so caught up that, at times, they kill themselves or one another out of greed and hatred. Who are the mad ones?

　　我們這樣住在森林里，外面的人大概都會說我們神經病，坐得跟佛像一樣。但他們又是如何生活呢?他們笑、哭，他們如此地被束縛，有時候，因為貪婪與嗔恚而自殺或殺他人。到底是誰瘋了?

Remember to keep in mind why we ordain. Anyone who comes to a practice like ours and does not taste enlightenment has wasted his time. Lay people with families, possessions, and responsibilities have attained it. One who is ordained should certainly be able to do the same.

　　切記!要把我們為何出家牢記在心。任何來此像我們這般修行的人，如果沒嘗到覺悟的滋味，只是浪費了他們的時間。擁有家庭、財富及責任的在家人都能成就，一位出家人當然更應該辦得到啊!