平常心 Normality - 寂靜與涅槃 Peace And Nibbana

1-2-9. PEACE AND NIBBANA寂靜與涅槃

Nibbana translates as peace. People’s mind, when it is just in its normal state, is peaceful, it’s called nibbana. On seeing lights, colors, ghosts and angels, how can it be in peace ? I ’m asking you sitting here now : ’Right now, what is your mind like, is it peaceful, is there any greed, hatred or delusion?

Answer : ‘Ordinary’. Ordinary and peaceful are the same. The Buddha teaches that there is no higher happiness than peace. There are 2 kinds of peace or it has 2 characteristics. Please reflect on this well and choose the right one:

涅槃可以翻譯為寂靜安祥，當我們的心恢復平常的狀態時是寂靜安祥的，那就叫做涅槃。當看到光、色彩或鬼神時，心怎麼能寂靜安祥呢？我現在問在坐的諸位；」你們的心現在當下怎樣呢？寂靜安祥嗎？有任何貪、瞋、痴嗎？」(大眾回答：「平常。」) 平常和寂靜安祥是一樣的，佛陀教導說沒有比寂靜安祥更高的喜樂。不過要注意，有二種的寂靜安祥或者說是它有兩種特質，請諸位好好地思惟選擇正確的一種：

1. Peace under the influence of delusion, it is called peace in the cave. Someone in a cave is in the dark, wherever you go, it’s a hassle. This is the person who sits for the sake of peace, sitting as stiff as a rock. He or she doesn’t see the mind, doesn’t see thought arising.

l. 第一種是帶有無明與愚痴的寂靜安祥。這種被稱為洞穴內的寂靜安祥，在洞穴中是一片黑暗的，不管你到哪里都是很麻煩的(洞穴內的寂靜安祥亦復如是)。這種寂靜是某些人為了想要寂靜而坐著不動，坐到像石頭一樣，所以他們不能看見自心，不能看見念頭生起。

2. Peace through awareness and wisdom. Because it is without greed, hatred and delusion, one knows and sees one’s own mind and is aware of acting, speaking and thinking.

3. 第二種是帶有覺知與智慧的寂靜安祥。這種因為沒有貪瞋癡，所以他們能知道和看見自己的心，並且能覺知到身、語、意的行為。

To summarise : Nibbana means the extinguishing of defilements, the normal mind. Someone with a normal mind like this, as soon as a thought comes up, whack, it is caught straight away. But someone who does not have a normal mind can think about 100 or 1000 things without seeing one’s own thought.

總的說來：涅槃是煩惱的止滅，是平常心。一個有這樣平常心的人，當念頭一起來，叭！一聲！立刻就被抓到了。但一個失去平常心的人，可能想了一百或一千件事情，卻都還看不到自己的念頭。

As for the words virtue-concentration-wisdom, the Buddha teaches that virtue is a tool for uprooting coarse defilement, concentration is a tool for uprooting medium defilement and wisdom is the tool for uprooting the subtle defilements. These are words, they are in the books, in the scriptures, handed down by teachers. In practice, the crude defilements are greed, hatred and delusion, impurities, craving, clinging and intentional action. The middle defilements are being stuck, not seeing clearly, it is called a not knowing-kind-of-knowing or peace under the influence of delusion. The refined defilements are getting stuck in the most subtle knowledge of the mind, namely knowing the origin of thought and knowing and seeing the state of arising/passing, which is still a white kind of darkness, it is extremely refined but abnormal. We don’t know these subtle defilements, we see suffering as happiness but in reality it is a white kind of darkness, it comes softly and gently, in a flash. So in practicing Dhamma; observe thoughts arising in the mind, as soon as there is a thought, whack ! See it, just like a cat catching a mouse !

至于所謂的戒-定-慧，佛陀教導說：「「戒」是斷除粗重煩惱的工具，「定」是斷除中等煩惱的工具，「慧」是斷除微細煩惱的工具。」這在歷代老師們流傳下來的著書或聖典中都有載明。修行中，粗重的煩惱就是指貪、瞋、癡、雜染、貪愛、執取及有意志的造作行為。中等煩惱是指我們心為境所困而不能清楚明見，這種叫做不知道的知道，或帶有無明愚痴的寂靜安祥。微細煩惱是指執著心中最微細的智慧，也就是說他有了智慧，能知道念頭的起處，也能知道並看到那生滅的狀態，但因為有執著，所以這種還是白光中的一絲黑暗，這已經是非常微細了，但還是不正常的。我們由于不知道這種微細的煩惱，所以把苦看成是樂的，而事實上，它是白光中的一絲黑暗，還是會不知不覺的剎那生起。所以，在修習正法時，要覺知心中生起的念頭。只要一有念頭，叭的一聲！就看到它！像貓捉老鼠那樣。