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【一行禅师】骑在生死的浪头上

2023-12-09 00:10:00 发布：人气：7

直面生与死

应当如是修

我无法略过生死问题不谈。

I cannot leave out the problem of life and death.

许多年轻人或是其他人出于对受苦者的爱，挺身为他人服务，为和平工作。

Many young people and others have come out to serve others and to labor for peace, through their love for all who are suffering.

他们都很清楚生死是最重要的问题，却常常看不到意识不到生与死不过是同一实相的两面。

They are always mindful of the fact that the most important question is the question of life and death, but often not realizing that life and death are but two faces of one reality.

一旦领悟这点，我们就有勇气面对生死。

Once we realize that we will have the courage to encounter both of them.

在我年仅十九岁时，一位年长的比丘指定我禅观“墓园里的一具尸体”这个意象。

When I was only 19 years old, I was assigned by an older monk to meditate on the image of a corpse in the cemetery.

可是我觉得很困难，抗拒这个禅修练习。现在，我不这么觉得了。那时我觉得这种禅修应当留给年长一些的比丘。

But I found it very hard to take and resisted the meditation. Now I no longer feel that way. Then I thought that such a meditation should be reserved for older monks.

然而在那之后，我看见许多年轻士兵一个挨着一个动也不动地躺着，有些不过十三、十四或十五岁，他们对死亡没有任何的准备。

But since then, I have seen many young soldiers lying motionless beside one another, some only 13, 14, and 15 years old. They had no preparation or readiness for death.

现在我明白了，如果一个人不知道怎么死，就不知道怎么活，因为死亡是生命的一部分。

Now I see that if one doesn't know how to die, one can hardly know how to live，because death is a part of life.

就在两天前，摩比对我说，她认为一个人到二十岁就可以禅观尸体。

Just two days ago Mobi told me that she thought at 20 one was old enough to meditate on the corpse.

她自己也才刚满二十一岁。

She has only turned 21 herself.

我们必须直面死亡，辨识它，接受它，就像我们正视与接受生命一样。

We must look death in the face, recognize and accept it, just as we look at and accept life.

《正念经》谈到如何禅观尸体：

The Buddhist Sutra on Mindfulness speaks about the meditation on the corpse:

禅观身体的腐烂，禅观身体如何膨胀淤紫，如何被蛆吃得只剩下几丝血肉附在骨头上。

meditate on the decomposition of the body, how the body bloats and turns violet, how it is eaten by worms until only bits of blood and flesh still cling to the bones,

一直禅观到只剩下白骨，直至它慢慢朽坏、化为尘土。

meditate up to the point where only white bones remain, which in turn are slowly worn away and turn into dust.

像这样禅观，你明白自己的身体也将经历同样的过程。

Meditate like that, knowing that your own body will undergo the same process.

禅观尸体，直到你平静安详，直到你的心灵轻安，直到你的脸庞泛起微笑。

Meditate on the corpse until you are calm and at peace, until your mind and heart are light and tranquil, and a smile appears on your face.

在降服厌恶与害怕的过程中，你会把生命看作无比的珍贵，每一秒都该珍惜。

Thus, by overcoming revulsion and fear, life will be seen as infinitely precious, every second of it worth living.

不仅珍视自己的生命，每一个生命，每一个人，每一个存在，每一个实相，都应该受到珍视。

And it is not just our own lives that are recognized as precious, but the lives of every other person, every other person, every other being, every other reality.

我们不会再被“为了自己生存，有必要毁灭他人”这样的想法蒙蔽。

We can no longer be deluded by the notion that the destruction of others' lives is necessary for our own survival.

生和死是生命的两面，没有它们，生命不可能存在，就像一个铜板必须要有两面才能存在一样。

We see that life and death are but two faces of Life and that without both, Life is not possible, just as two sides of a coin are needed for the coin to exist.

只有在当下，我们才可能超越生死，才可能知道怎样去活，怎样去死。

Only now is it possible to rise above birth and death, and to know how to live and how to die.

佛经说，菩萨洞彻了相互依存的实相，突破了一切狭隘的见解，能够自由地出入生死，就像一个人驾着小舟乘风破浪，却没有被生死的浪头淹没或溺亡一样。

The Sutra says that the Bodhisattvas who have seen into the reality of interdependence have broken through all narrow views, and have been able to enter birth and death as a person takes a ride in a small boat without being submerged or drowned by the waves of birth and death.

有人说，如果以佛教徒的角度看实相，你会变得悲观。

Some people have said that if you look at reality with the eyes of a Buddhist, you become pessimistic.

但是悲观或乐观的想法都太简化了真理。

But to think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth.

重点是实相真正呈现出來的样子。

The problem is to see reality as it is.

悲观的态度，永远不会让安详的微笑绽放，那是浮现在菩萨和其他证道者唇边的微笑。

A pessimistic attitude can never create the calm and serene smile which blossoms on the lips of the Bodhisattvas and all others who obtain the Way.

——节选自一行禅师：正念的奇迹

Excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh: The Miracle of Mindfulness