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应无所住而生其心

诸位进入农禪寺大门时，都看到墙上写了一句话：「应无所住而生其心」。「应无所住」这其中是一还是二？住於一是错误的，「应无所住」是更高的层次， 是不住於一，也不住於二；不住於整体的、统一的，也不住於对立的、分离的 ── 两种皆不住。

而「不住」的意思就是不执著、不在乎，即不在乎一，也不在乎二。 那是一种无我的境界，没有自我中心，超越一和二，超越於不二，故称无住。

可是「而生其心」，生的是什麼心？统一的心要有，对立的心也要有，应该用统一的心时，就用统一的心来处理；应该用对立的心时，就用对立的心来处理。面对我们环境裡的需要时，应该用什麼心来处理，就用什麼心来处理。

不要认为学打坐、学禪、学佛的人，什麼都不管就是无我，那不是禪。禪是既超越而又踏实，超越是为了不生烦恼，踏实则是有烦恼时除烦恼，没烦恼时度眾生。除烦恼时是一，是用统一来除烦恼；度眾生时则是二，一定要有眾生可度，有对象要处理，才能有行为、有作用，这裡讲的就是「不二」的观念。

这三个观念，一个是统一的，一个是对立的，一个是超越的、不二的、无住的。有相对之心，才有眾生可度，才能用智慧来处理；有统一之心才能断烦恼；有超越之心才能既不执空也不落有。我们凡夫总是带著自己的环境在走，带著自我在走，而每个人都是生活在个人的世界裡。

— 圣严法师

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Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

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When a person’s mind is saturated with love, like ground that has been moistened, the seed of compassion, once planted, will easily grow. Thus, having permeated the mind with love, cultivate compassion.

— Kamalasila

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Meditation means learning to control our minds, thereby protecting our minds from domination by delusion and other afflictions. We may think, “Oh, I wish my mind were not dominated by ignorance and other afflictions.” But these afflictions are very powerful and very destructive; they operate despite our wishes. We have to work to develop effective countermeasures. We cannot buy such remedies from a store; even very sophisticated machines cannot produce them for us. They are obtained only through mental effort, training the mind in meditation.

— HH the Dalai Lama

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The teachings are for living in this world — for having fewer problems and fewer tensions. Many people speak now about world peace. What does that mean? How can we have world peace if we don’t have peace in ourselves? We are each members of society — society meaning all of us together, not as individuals. Since many individuals make up society, it means that the individuals must have a kind of evolution. Although we have power and military might, and sometimes there are provisional changes, in the real sense it never changes.

Society is made up of individuals each having their point of view, their feelings, and their sensations. If we want to develop society so that there is more peace and happiness, each one of us must work with our condition. For example, our society is like numbers. When we count, we must always begin with the number “1.” If I think about society, I must start with myself as “number one.”

— Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

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I am not angry about a sickness that make me suffer. Why therefore should I have anger for others? They, too are under the influence of conditions (that make them act in this manner).

— Shantideva

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From time without beginning, our ego clinging has caused us to wander in samsara; it is the root of all our sufferings, it is indeed the culprit. Considering others to be more important than ourselves, we should give up our self-cherishing attitudes and decide to act without hypocrisy, emulating in body, speech and mind, the behaviour of friends who live their lives according to the teachings. Mind Training should be engaged in discreetly. It should not be done with external show, in a way that attracts attention and creates a reputation; it should act as the inward antidote to our self-clinging and defiled emotions. We should bring our minds to ripeness without anybody knowing.

— HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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Of all the ways you can think of, none has a sixteenth part of the value of loving-kindness. Loving-kindness is a freedom of the heart which takes in all the ways. It is luminous, shining, blazing forth.

Just as the stars have not a sixteenth part of the moon’s brilliance, which absorbs them all in its shining light, so loving-kindness absorbs all the other ways with its lustrous splendor.

Just as when the rainy season ends and the sun rises up into the clear and cloudless sky, banishing all the dark in its radiant light, and just as at the end of a black night the morning star shines out in glory, so none of the ways you can use to further your spiritual progress has a sixteenth part of the value of loving-kindness. For it absorbs them all, its luminosity shining forth.

— Buddha

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六道轮回不是无因无缘，不是偶然的现象，也不是造物主的安排，而是因缘和合的结果，其中最关键的就是我执。现在，我们已经认识了轮回的根本，那么，有没有办法推翻我执，断除我执呢？如果有办法，就有希望在轮回里找到一条出路；如果没有办法，就无法从轮回中获得解脱。

要想推翻轮回的根源——我执，是有办法的。什么样的办法呢？通过外在的事物，是无法推翻它、改变它的——外在的物质生活越好，贪欲心就越增长，这不但无法推翻我执，反而会使我执越发深重。我执是内在的一种概念，想推翻它绝不能向外驰求，只有另外寻找一种新的理性的概念，才能推翻这种旧有的非理性概念。

那么，仅用一个教条能不能推翻我执呢？不能。推翻我执所需要的，是一种内在的、强有力的、理性的智慧。

就像破坏了花的种子，它就永远无法生根、发芽、开花、结果一样，推翻我执以后，轮回的种子、轮回的根源就遭到了毁坏，轮回也就无从安立了。所以，如果不愿意轮回，就一定要破坏我执，否则就没有办法解脱。

— 堪钦慈诚罗珠仁波切

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Although I do not possess the best understanding, yet by studying with learned gurus, by accumulating the knowledge of hearing and contemplation, this is how my understanding of realisation arose. Similar to the yoke and the neck of an ocean tortoise, understand that a human body is difficult to obtain. Similar to the jewel of Takshaka’s crown, understand that it is difficult to find a guru. Understand the changes of the body through the four seasons as the secret sign of death. Similar to a person being exiled to an enemy country, understand everything is left behind in passing away. Similar to the colours of a peacock’s feathers, understand everything is born from karma.

— Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen