平常心 Normality - 了悟人人本具 Knowing that it exists in everyone

Part 2: Walking The Path 第2篇：行道

2-3. Stages of Practice 修學階段

2-3-4. WORKING WITH THE MIND第二階段：對治自心修習階段 (或看念頭(心)修習階段)

2-3-4-5. Knowing that it exists in everyone 了悟人人本具

All of us, these days, we live with suffering, eat with suffering, come and go with suffering and we are deluded by suffering too. If we can’t let go of suffering we will stop breathing and die. We forget ourselves, the defilements compel us to follow them. If we can stop. all that is left is awareness and wisdom. Freeing ourselves from suffering is something that we have to do by ourselves ; anybody can do it. But even with 100 or 1000 million baht we can’t buy it and no matter how much we study, it can only be known when one really practices. I would like to stress again that anybody at all can do it, regardless how rich or poor one may be ; if one practices one will know just the same, but one has to really determine to practice. Both men and women can practice, adults as well as children can practice ; if you are a human being, no matter what nationality, what language you speak or what religion you believe in : it’s all the same : everybody can practice.

今天我們所有人都生活在苦惱里，吃東西苦，來來去去苦，而我們也被苦所困惑，如果我們不能離苦，我們將會停止呼吸而死。我們忘了自己，煩惱驅迫我們隨之流轉。如果我們能停止，剩下來的就是覺知和智慧。解脫苦惱是我們必須自己去做的事，任何人都做得到，但是，即使你用一千萬或十億銖也買不到解脫，乃至不管我們再怎麼研究也無法獲得解脫，只有實際去修行才有可能覺悟，我要再次強調，任何人都可以做得到，不論有錢或貧窮；只要有人來修行，他一樣會覺悟，但必須真地下決心練習。男人和女人都可以練習，大人和小孩也可以練習，只要你是人類，不管是什麼國籍、講什麼語言、信仰什麼宗教…通通都一樣，每一個人都可以練習。

(4 KINDS OF KNOWING : THROUGH MEMORY, COMPREHENSION, REALISING AND TRUE KNOWING四種智慧)

The norm is, that if you’re going to Nibbana, you must first know what Nibbana is ; if you’re going to heaven, you must first know what heaven is, you must know which way is the way to heaven and which way is the way to hell, so you won’t take the wrong way. Even with making merit, you must first know what merit is ; if you don’t know what it is, you won’t get any merit.

原則是：如果你想趣向涅槃，你就必須先知道什麼是涅槃；如果你想去天堂，你必須先知道什麼是天堂，也必須知道哪一條路是天堂之路，哪那一條路是地獄之路，這樣你才不會走錯路。即便是做功德，你也必須先知道什麼是功德；假若你不知道什麼是功德，你將不會得到任何功德。

I’ve once asked an old lady from Ler-y province where she had been. She said ‘I went to get some merit’. ‘Where did you get it from ?’ She answered that she got it from the shrine in Taht Panom. It means that she’d payed respects to the shrine there. I asked further : ‘Where’s the merit that you’ve brought, where did you put it ?’. She said : ‘It’s within me’. These are just words ; emphasizing that merit is within one, that it is in the mind, could mean that she knows what merit is or it could mean that she doesn’t know, but I think that she doesn’t know what merit is and when one doesn’t know merit, one doesn’t get any. Real merit is to not have suffering. That is how I understand convention. An angel, for example, according to my understanding, is someone who does, speaks and thinks good things. Most people understand it differently.

Now Dhamma ; Dhamma is within us, normality is Dhamma. The example of the monk Vakkali should be a good reminder to us what Dhamma is. At first, the monk Vakkali didn’t look at himself at all and so neither saw the Dhamma nor the Buddha, he just went around looking at others. This makes one lose awareness ; whether one’s own actions are good or bad, one doesn’t know, and one follows moods, and so one misses the chance to see the Dhamma, know the Dhamma and understand the Dhamma. One knows but it is mere knowledge, just knowing from memory, there is not yet the opportunity to comprehend, realize and really know.

我曾問一位來自雷力(Lery)省的年老女士，問她到過哪里，她說：「我去修一些功德！」「你從哪里修來呢？」她回答說，她從塔巴農(Taht Panom)的佛殿得來，意思就是說她去那里的佛殿禮拜。我進一步問她：「你修來的功德在哪里？你把它放在哪兒呢？她說：「在我里面。」但這只是表面話，是指出功德在每個人當中，在我們心中，從她的話中可以表示她知道什麼是功德，也可以表示她不知道，但我想她並不知道什麼是功德。當你不知道什麼是功德，就不會得到任何功德。真正的功德是沒有苦，那是我對傳統世俗法的了解。舉天神來說吧，就我所了解，天神是那些身做好事、口說好話、心起善念的人，但大多數人的理解卻不是這樣。現在來說說這個「法」，法就在我們自己里面，平常心就是法。瓦克力(Vakkali)比丘的例子可說是一個向我們提示「什麼是法」的好例子？起初，瓦克力比丘從來就不觀照自己，因此他既不見法亦不見佛，他只是向外到處去看其他人，這會讓人失去覺性，不知道自己的行為是好還是壞，並且隨著情緒走，因而也就失去見法、知法與悟法的機緣。這樣的人他雖然知道但那只是知識，只是依見聞記憶而知，還沒有進一步去思惟理解、覺悟與如實真知。

So let me emphasize that if somebody is serious and really determines to develop awareness and watches his or her mind, one has the chance realize and truly know, no matter who it is. What I’m saying is the truth because I want all fellow monks, novices and lay people to understand Buddhism in the right way.

所以請容我再次強調，如果有人是認真的，並且真正地下決心去培養覺性和觀照自心，無論是誰都有機會證悟及如實真知。我說的都是真的，因為我希望所有出家道友、沙彌和在家眾都能夠正確了解佛教。