飢餓的煩惱 Starving Defilements

Starving Defilements

　　飢餓的煩惱

Those just beginning often wonder what practice is. Practice occurs when you try opposing the defilements, not feeding old habits. Where friction and difficulty arise, that’s the place to work.

　　那些初學者，常常會想知道什麼是修行?修行是在你嘗試去對治煩惱(雜染)，不去長養舊有的習氣時產生的；沖突和困難生起的地方，就是要下功夫的地方。

When you pick mushrooms to eat, you do not do so blindly; you have to know which kind is which. So too with our practice-we must know the dangers, the snake’s bite of defilements, in order to free ourselves from them.

　　當你采磨菇吃時，你不會盲目的去探，你必須去認識它的種類。所以，對我們的修行也是一樣的──我們一定要知道危險的地方，以便能從它們中解脫出來。

The defilements-greed, hatred and delusion-are at the root of our suffering and our selfishness. We must learn to overcome them, to conquer and go beyond their control, to become masters of our minds. Of course it seems hard. It is like having the Buddha tell you to split up with a friend you have known since childhood.

　　煩惱(雜染)──貪、嗔、癡，既存在我們的苦和自私的根部，我們必須學者去克服、戰勝它們，並超越它們的控制，而成為自己心靈的主宰。這看起來當然很困難，就像佛陀告訴你必須和一個童年的摯友分開一樣。

The defilements are like a tiger. We should imprison the tiger in a good strong cage made of mindfulness, energy, patience, and endurance. Then we can let it starve to death by not feeding its habitual desires. We do not have to take a knife and butcher it.

　　我們在剛開始修行時將不可避免地會感到熱惱與痛苦。但是切記，只是煩惱(雜染)在熱惱。人們想：「我從來沒有這樣的問題，是哪里出了問題?」以前，當我們去長養欲望時，我們總和它們和平共處。

Or defilements are like a cat. If you feed it, it will keep coming around. Stop feeding it, and eventually it will not bother to come around any more.

We will unavoidably be hot and distressed in our practice at first. But remember, only the defilements are hot. People think, ’1 never had problems like this before. What’s wrong?” Before, when we fed our desires, we were at peace with them, like a man who takes care of an internal infection by dressing only the external sores.

Resist defilements. Do not give them all the food or sleep they want. Many people consider this the extreme of self-torture, but it is necessary to become inwardly strong. See for yourself. Constantly watching the mind, you may think you are seeing only effects and wonder about the causes. Suppose parents have a child who grows up to be disrespectful. Distressed by his behaviour, they may ask, ’Where has this child come from?” Actually, our suffering comes from our own wrong understanding, our attachment to various mental activities. We must train our mind like a buffalo: the buffalo is our thinking, the owner is the meditator, raising and training the buffalo is the practice. With a trained mind, we can see the truth, we can know the cause of our self and its end, the end of all sorrow. It is not complicated, you know.

　　抗拒煩惱(雜染)吧!不要給它們所需求的一切──食物或睡眠。很多人會認為這是極端的自我折磨，但使內心變得堅強卻是必要的。自己去體會，持續的看顧你的心，你也許會認為你看到的都只是結果，而想知道其因由。假設父母有一個小孩，長大後變得粗暴無禮，他們被他的行為所煩擾，他們也許會問：「這個孩子是從那兒來的?」事實上，我們的痛苦是來自錯誤的知見，及對種種內心活動的執著。我們必須像訓練水牛般地訓練我們的心：水牛就是我們的想(念頭)，而主人是禪修者，飼養和訓練水牛則是修行。有一顆經過訓練的心，我們就可以看到真理，可以知道造成我們自己煩惱的起因和它的盡頭──所有悲苦的盡頭。這並不複雜，知道嗎？！

Everyone has defilements in his practice. We must work with them, struggling when they arise. This is not something to think about but to do. Much patience is necessary. Gradually we have to change our habitual ways of thinking and feeling. We must see how we suffer when we think in terms of me and mine. Then we can let go.

　　每一個人在他的修行中都會有煩惱(雜染)。我們必須對治它們，在它們生起時努力掙扎。這不是光空想，而是要實踐，這是需要相當的耐力的。逐漸地，我們必須改變我們潛慣性的思惟和感覺模式。我們必須看清楚，當我們以「我」和「我的」觀點去思考時，我們是如何的痛苦，之後，我們方能放下。