Part 2: Walking The Path 第2篇：行道

　　2-3. Stages of Practice 修学阶段

　　2-3-4. WORKING WITH THE MIND第二阶段：对治自心修习阶段 (或看念头(心)修习阶段)

　　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.

　　今天我们所有人都生活在苦恼里，吃东西苦，来来去去苦，而我们也被苦所困惑，如果我们不能离苦，我们将会停止呼吸而死。我们忘了自己，烦恼驱迫我们随之流转。如果我们能停止，剩下来的就是觉知和智慧。解脱苦恼是我们必须自己去做的事，任何人都做得到，但是，即使你用一千万或十亿铢也买不到解脱，乃至不管我们再怎么研究也无法获得解脱，只有实际去修行才有可能觉悟，我要再次强调，任何人都可以做得到，不论有钱或贫穷；只要有人来修行，他一样会觉悟，但必须真地下决心练习。男人和女人都可以练习，大人和小孩也可以练习，只要你是人类，不管是什么国籍、讲什么语言、信仰什么宗教…通通都一样，每一个人都可以练习。

　　(4 KINDS OF KNOWING : THROUGH MEMORY, COMPREHENSION, REALISING AND TRUE KNOWING四种智慧)

　　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.

　　原则是：如果你想趣向涅槃，你就必须先知道什么是涅槃；如果你想去天堂，你必须先知道什么是天堂，也必须知道哪一条路是天堂之路，哪那一条路是地狱之路，这样你才不会走错路。即便是做功德，你也必须先知道什么是功德；假若你不知道什么是功德，你将不会得到任何功德。

　　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.

　　我曾问一位来自雷力(Lery)省的年老女士，问她到过哪里，她说：“我去修一些功德！”“你从哪里修来呢？”她回答说，她从塔巴农(Taht Panom)的佛殿得来，意思就是说她去那里的佛殿礼拜。我进一步问她：“你修来的功德在哪里？你把它放在哪儿呢？她说：“在我里面。”但这只是表面话，是指出功德在每个人当中，在我们心中，从她的话中可以表示她知道什么是功德，也可以表示她不知道，但我想她并不知道什么是功德。当你不知道什么是功德，就不会得到任何功德。真正的功德是没有苦，那是我对传统世俗法的了解。举天神来说吧，就我所了解，天神是那些身做好事、口说好话、心起善念的人，但大多数人的理解却不是这样。现在来说说这个“法”，法就在我们自己里面，平常心就是法。瓦克力(Vakkali)比丘的例子可说是一个向我们提示“什么是法”的好例子？起初，瓦克力比丘从来就不观照自己，因此他既不见法亦不见佛，他只是向外到处去看其他人，这会让人失去觉性，不知道自己的行为是好还是坏，并且随着情绪走，因而也就失去见法、知法与悟法的机缘。这样的人他虽然知道但那只是知识，只是依见闻记忆而知，还没有进一步去思惟理解、觉悟与如实真知。

　　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.

　　所以请容我再次强调，如果有人是认真的，并且真正地下决心去培养觉性和观照自心，无论是谁都有机会证悟及如实真知。我说的都是真的，因为我希望所有出家道友、沙弥和在家众都能够正确了解佛教。