平常心 Normality - 神龕 The Spirit Shrine
1-2-2. THE SPIRIT SHRINE神龕
When I spend the rains retreat in Bangkok, a soldier ordained and lived with me. He told me that at home there was a spirit shrine and his parents revered it. I taught him what convention is and that ghosts don’t have an essence. If you want to be afraid, it’s better to be afraid of people because people are able to beat and harm you, whereas ghosts are not. If they were really good, they should be able to build their own house and find their own food, but they can’t do it. Instead they are people who build a shrine for the spirits and give them food to eat, people guard over the ghosts. We’re stupid to believe what our ancesters tell us.
當我在曼谷夏安居的時候，一位剃了度的士兵和我住在一起。他說他家中有一座神龕，他的父母對它很恭敬。我跟他說明這些世間習俗是怎麼回事，並且告訴他鬼沒有實體不可怕，要怕還不如怕人，因為人可以打你、傷害你而鬼不能，如果他們真的這麼有本事，他們應該就能為自己蓋房子和找食物了，但是他們不能，相反的，是人們為鬼神建神龕，並且還給他們食物吃，是人們在守護鬼神，可是，我們笨到去相信祖先告訴我們的這些鬼話。
The soldier understood and having disrobed told his parents and urged them to demolish the shrine but they wouldn’t have it. One day, .a grandchild was sick, the parents figured it was because the spirits had been wronged and a pig’s head should be offered. Especially the mother wouldn’t listen to reason, so what can you do ? That day, when mother offered the sacrifice of the pig’s head to the spirits, the son watched ; she bowed to the spirithouse many times and something, I don’t know what, fell on mother’s head which hurt a lot and made her scream out. The son grabbed a hammer and pounded the shrine to bits saying : ‘My mother bows down and gets you a pig’s head to eat, and you hit her on the head’ !!! Mother didn’t try to stop her son because she was in pain. So that was the end of the shrine.
那士兵了解之後就還俗了，他向父母說明道理，力勸他們毀掉那神龕，但他們不聽。有一天，一個孫子生病了，他父母說是因為他觸犯侮辱了鬼神，必須要供奉一個豬頭。尤其是他母親根本不講道理，你能拿她怎麼辦呢？那天，當他母親供奉豬頭牲品給鬼神的時候，他兒子在一旁看著；他母親向神龕不停地禮拜，突然間！不知道什麼東西，直落在他母親的頭上，痛得她大叫起來。她兒子逮住這個機會，趕快拿起鐵鎚一鎚！把那神龕打得粉碎，然後說：「我母親跟你禮拜還奉上豬頭給你吃，你竟然還打她的頭」！！他母親並沒有阻止兒子，因為她痛得沒時間去管。瞧！這就是那座神龕的結局，他自身都難保，如何守護人？
The most important thing is that the mind likes to cling to things that don’t have an essence.
我要說的最重要一件事就是：我們的心喜歡去執取一些虛幻不實的東西。