佛教“四圣谛”对当代的价值探微 文｜唐黎标

“四圣谛”(The Four Noble Truths)是佛法的精华，又称为“四妙谛”佛教教义，是佛陀和佛教徒所说的具有教育和指导意义的教言。内容包括世间的苦(称作苦谛)，苦的原因(称因谛或集谛)，说苦的消灭(称灭谛)，灭苦的方法(称道谛)。“谛”是真理的意思。笔者认为，佛教四圣谛立足于现实人生，深切关怀一切有情众生，乃至无情世界的生灭苦乐，因此它的内容和功能从站在佛教心理学的视角看，注定对众生心理健康和行为规范有不可忽视的指导性和可操作性。

一、心理痛苦的共同性——苦谛

佛殿中有三种苦相。第一，苦苦相，就是遭受到饥渴、寒热、疾病等逼迫而感受到的痛苦。第二，坏苦，是指遇到乐事变迁，如众生由富贵变为贫贱，健康状况的改变，亲人离世等痛苦。第三，行苦，即众生由于事物迁流无常而产生的苦。苦也是现实社会中随处可见并真实存在的，比如：当今社会，作为富人在财富、地位、权力已样样不缺情况下，内心却无法填满自身欲望而充满了极大的压力和不安等痛苦。然而，对一般民众而言，大部分人都有无财、求财、谋财、守财、失财的痛苦经验。正如根顿曲佩大师所说：“高官心里有大苦，小民身上有小苦。”

二、心理痛苦的原因——集谛

集谛阐述众生一切痛苦根源都可以归依为某某烦恼，即贪、痴、慢、疑、不正见等烦恼。比如贪为例：对金钱、权利、地位等的过分贪欲，使人失去清晰的意识、清净的心态，造成盲目(痴)的念头而作出一些自杀、犯罪的极端行为。佛教认为人生本质为苦、无常，但一部分众生因为无缘接触佛法，无法了解无常、无我，则常常把人生看成是快乐、恒常不变、有我的空间模式，一部分众生明白无常、无我的本质，明白“我执”造成的痛苦等真理，但因为无法正确观注“贪”的生灭无常，选择壁之不论“苦”无处不在的事实。著名精神分析学家佛洛伊德也发现，人和动物是避苦趋乐为生活原则，他把这个称为“快乐原则”。集谛从根本上揭示了痛苦产生的根源和原因——欲望得不到满足产生执着，而出现各种烦恼，最后导致痛苦。比如：根据世界卫生组织的统计，全球抑郁症患者已达到2亿多人，更有专家预言，于2020年抑郁症将成为人类的第二号杀手，仅次于癌症。以香港为例，作为一个国际金融和贸易中心，香港过去十年的抑郁症和自杀现象有不断上升趋势，当中涉及不同年龄、不同职业组别的人。造成抑郁症原因很多，比如过分执着于财政、家庭、疾病、人际关系、学业和工作等生活事件中，为了满足我的种种贪欲造成的“我执”，这些“我执”日积月累，造成心灵无法安宁、清净、放松，最终导致病态心理的出现，也导致自身和他人的痛苦结局。

三、对治与疗救——灭谛与道谛

佛陀教给我们如何辨识苦的存在，也教给我们灭苦的“道”，这种“道”引导我们避免做使我们痛苦的事情。佛陀将其称为“八正道”。八正道内容包括：正见，对佛教真理“四圣谛”的正确见解、深刻理解。舍利弗(Shariputra)把正见描述为区分善根和非善根的能力，正思维，对四谛的正确思维，正思惟反映了事物存在的方式，比如错误的思维导致我们一种颠倒的方式，正语，即不妄语、不恶语、不两舌、不绮语等，正念，带回和关注当下的力量，不执着过去未来，正精进，为正确或利他的事精进，正定，培养一颗能够心专一镜的心，正命，即过正当的生活，远离一切不正当的职业，不违背慈悲，正业，即不杀生、不偷盗、不邪淫、不做一切恶事。总之，八正道在现实生活中的作用可以分为两类。第一，从个体精神生活而言，以正见为主，正思维、正念为辅。比如：正见、正思、正念教人对外物的执着从自心进行主宰，力做自心的主人。正如《长阿含经》说：自能调伏，能调伏人，自得止息，能止息人，自度彼岸，能使人度，自得解脱，能解脱人，自得灭度，能灭度人。第二，对个体物质生活而言，个体作为社会的组成部分，每个个体生活在现实社会中，首先需要有正确的价值观，人生观，世界观。佛教认为一个“三观”健康的人是不允许把自己的利益建立在别人的痛苦上的。例如：佛教大力反对贩毒、偷盗、杀生为职业而为自身谋取利益，这种作法是人类社会共之愤怒、共之厌恶的行为。并且国家法律也有规定，凡是危害公民的人身安全、财产安全的都应该服刑事责任。佛教“八正道”以人们的精神生活和物质生活为要点，以正命为主，正业、正语、正精进为辅。折射出一条与当代很多民众追求的道德标准，精神健康极为贴切、高度一致的教理。对维护个体身心健康，促进社会和谐发展有巨大的意义。

四、佛教“四圣谛”的当代价值

人类正处于科学技术昌明，物质生活丰富的时代，但同时对每个人的心灵带来了极大的震荡。比如：抑郁症、强迫症、恐惧症、焦虑症、心理压力等普遍存在的心理障碍不仅使个人的精神健康受损，甚至会造成个人生命的损耗，同时会对家庭和社会造成不良影响。如何正确应对这些负能量的袭击？这是值得各界人士关注的问题。佛陀从公元前6世纪就已经发现了这类问题的存在，并提出了解决的方法。佛教大谈四圣谛旨在如实揭露人生之苦，首先四圣谛揭露人类痛苦的根源。其次，试图唤起人们正视现实生活中存在的老苦、病苦、死苦、怨恨会苦、爱别离苦、求不得苦等的力量。最后，教导众生以佛教的智慧战胜诸多烦恼——就是对金钱、名利、地位不过分执着，了悟人生无常的本质。如果众生了悟所有事物包括金钱、地位、权利、自身都有生灭无常的内在本质，自然就能不过分贪欲、执着于其中，达到得失坦然、来去自如的精神境界。佛教四圣谛的教义确实也具有这样的心理对治和提高精神修养的效果，比如无常观抵御诱惑，用无我观排解压力和消除痛苦。四圣谛可以说是对治恐惧、焦虑、压力、强迫等心理障碍的良药，具有预防因负面情绪而引起的自杀、抑郁、犯罪等行为的产生。比如：时刻观注无常、无我的心境，使个体有调伏自心、净化自心、守护个人身心健康的效果。正如“治疗灵魂”是荣格的工作和任务，受苦、从痛苦中解脱，或得到自由是佛教四圣谛的终结目标。因此，四圣谛有一种保护自心、把痛苦转化为慈悲心和利他心，提高个体精神修养的内在价值，延伸至促进社会和谐发展的外在价值。

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Abandon wrongdoing. It can be done. If there were no likelihood, I would not ask you not to do it. But since it is possible and since it brings about blessing and happiness, I do ask of you: abandon wrongdoing.

Cultivate doing good. It can be done. If it brought deprivation and sorrow, I would not ask you to do it. But since it brings blessing and happiness, I do ask of you: cultivate doing good.

— The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya

Being Present with Suffering by Justin von Bujdoss

My work in care giving, both in hospice and at Rikers Island’s jails, has brought me face-to-face with pain, sorrow, loss, terror, fear, frustration, and anxiety. Since shutting down is not an option — I have found that I cannot serve without feeling — I am well-steeped in the pain and suffering that arise when you maintain a connection to others while journeying together toward a greater sense of peace and insight in the midst of great difficulties.

This journey requires that I remain mindful of my own brokenness, yet flexible enough to remember that within this brokenness is perfection. As a teacher in the Mahamudra tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, whether at Rikers or when I am with someone who is dying, I remember that my mind is the same as the mind of Maitripa, Saraha, Milarepa, and the other great saints of the Mahamudra lineage. It is the same as the mind of every incarcerated person, every officer, every person at the end of life, and every caregiver.

What is the nature of this mind? The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, in his Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer, tells us:

The ground of purification is the mind’s nature, a union of lucidity-emptiness.
What purifies is the great vajra yoga of Mahamudra.
What is purified is the stains of adventitious delusion.
May the result of purification, the stainless dharmakaya, be revealed.

According to the Mahamudra tradition, the entire universe is a vast and ever-unfolding display of appearance that never ends and is constantly changing. It is reflected in the way we interact with the richness of all that arises. Whether it is the visual field of colour and form, the tactile nature of physicality, or the emotional ways in which we interact with others, our life is a field of amazing, ever-changing appearance.

Typically, we spend most of our time less oriented to the flowing constancy of change and the artfulness of this tapestry. Thus we forget that this play of phenomena is also a constant display of perfection — a series of moments pregnant with enlightened nature that arise as they do.

Instead, in the act of forgetting the basic purity of our mind and the joy associated with recognising its true nature, we create threads of narrative and explanation. We apply patterned ways of seeing and referencing what is naturally arising. This leads us further out of relationship with the true nature of mind and the way in which it arises.

Sometimes we land on narratives of pain and sadness, stories rooted in hard bone and soft flesh that feel real and permanent. At other times, the conflicting emotions caused by the three poisons (kleshas) of attachment, aversion, and ignorance make our experiences all the more difficult, all-consuming, and overwhelming. This is all too common when experiencing painful emotions like fear, loss, anxiety, and lack of safety.

This is part of the timeless story of what it means to be human. Our suffering is a thread that weaves us all together. Elsewhere in the Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer, Rangjung Dorje captures this point:

We mistake self-appearance, which has never existed, to be an object.
Under ignorance’s power, we mistake self-awareness to be a self.
Under the power of dualistic fixation, we wander in the expanse of samsara.
May we get to the bottom of ignorance and delusion.

Real-time response to crises borne of violence has been a powerful teacher for me, whether it be in an ER or a jail facility where the atmosphere is charged with adrenaline and, on occasion, the residue of pepper spray. In moments like these, the arising of challenging emotions and the constriction of mind that occurs when I am stuck in my reactivity becomes a valuable teacher. Getting stuck is a way to experience wisdom, to make a friend, and to rest in awakening.

Awareness practices like zazen, vipassana, or lhaktong in the Mahamudra tradition expose all experiences for what they are — arising appearance, the very subject of our practice. The Third Karmapa’s words resonate an aspiration that highlights the potential of these practices:

May clinging to experiences as good be naturally liberated.
May the delusion of thoughts being bad be purified in the expanse.
May ordinary mind, with nothing to remove or add, to lose or gain,
Unelaborate, the truth of dharmata, be realised.

What does it mean to stop chasing, to stop and to look at our relationship to life’s challenges? Does the radical acceptance of awareness practices liberate our clinging and aversion to whatever arises? Can the cultivation of awareness liberate fear, illness, addiction, injustice, and violence?

It can. We can stop and rest together and learn to appreciate the richness of this very moment.

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The supreme sign of great practitioners is not that they sprout halos, have extraordinarily auspicious dreams, experience bliss continuously, or can foresee our miserable futures. The supreme sign is that they no longer have any interest in material gain, fame, the respect of others, or being the centre of attention.

— His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

放下并不是放弃 随缘更不是随便 衍慈法师

随缘两个字，是很多人的口头禅。尤其是遇到困难，无法做好某件事情，不想管或管不了之时，脱口而出说：“随缘吧！”其实，随缘并不容易做到，要有真智慧的人，才能办得到。

所谓“随”，不是随便或跟随，是有一定的原则，顺其自然，不怨恨，不躁进，不强求。何为“缘”，万事皆有缘，不论是人缘、机缘、善缘、恶缘等，到处都有，无时不在，缘的存在是一个过程，有聚亦有散。

“随缘”有积极和不积极两方面。他可以说是随着我们的条件去做事，如努力去做一件善事，至于努力之后的成果如何，便不会计较得失，用这种随缘的态度来面对世事，这是积极的，既不强求，又把握机缘，不悲观，不刻板，不慌乱，不忘形，达观又洒脱。反过来说，如果我们只是随缘而不尽份，听天由命，不思进取，用逃避问题及困难作为理由，这是负面的态度，随缘成为懒惰或消极的借口。

那么“随便”如何呢？他是得过且过，顺着当前的环境与因缘，随波而流，没有原则、没有立场，马马虎虎，不负责任。举个实例：有一个人，他对我说很烦恼，因为与人共处时人缘不好，但他又自慰而言：“随缘吧，有缘即住，无缘即退”。虽然他不执着一定的环境，但却没有认识自己的为人处事方法，随随便便，任由因缘去发展。又有一个例子，被人偷了东西，损失严重，心苦恼万分，但不努力去寻找线索，把失物追回来，只管坐在那里，将就从事，等待结果，以为这是？，其实是随便放弃。

“随缘不是随便”，它不是没有原则、没有立场，更不是随便去放弃！若能随顺因缘而不违背真理，对现实有正确、清晰的了解，对人生的聚散离合有一种从容达观的体会，超然地去面对成败得失，这才是真正的随缘。拥有一份随缘之心，你就会发现，天空无论是阴云密布，还是阳光灿烂，生活的道路无论是坎坷还是畅达，心中总会拥有一份平静和恬淡。随缘是告诉世人万事莫强求这个真理，不是叫你随便行事、因循苟且，而是积极地去把握机会，随顺当前的环境因缘去做人处事。

在这个世界上，不可能事事都一帆风顺，天气也不会日日晴朗，长久的晴朗会变成旱灾，不断的下雨亦会变成水灾，所以一段时间晴，一段时间雨，才是天作之合。明白这道理，事成了，只是淡淡的欣慰，不用过激的兴奋乃至产生成事后的我慢心；事不成，就坦然地去接受，不用有难堪和懊恼的追悔。总之，谋事之时，随顺因缘，尽力而行，甚至知其难行而积极去奋斗，直到无着力点为止。事情过后，检讨得失，不为成败而喜、忧。大家学会随缘吧。

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Smiling is a very simple way to feel good. It’s amazing how you can lift your mood instantly just by smiling. It may sound too easy or simplistic, especially if you’re someone who mistakenly believes that the wisdom of life should always be somehow obscure or unattainable, but the simple act of smiling makes uncommonly good sense. It also fits into the Buddhist practice of positive perception. By smiling, the body is giving your mind and heart a positive message. You feel more lighthearted as if the world had suddenly become more enjoyable.

Not only does smiling lighten your outlook, but your open, cheerful face brings joy to other people. The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, a contemporary Buddhist teacher, advises us to smile all the time. If you are not ready to do that, you could at least smile more often. That’s a good beginning.

You don’t have to force a smile and actually shouldn’t. Smiling takes so little effort: it’s as if the muscles controlling the smile were just waiting for their chance. Notice any instant mood lift and enjoy it. It can be just a little smile; often that feels the most natural. Feel as though you have an inner smile, like sunshine within you, and that you’re smiling inside without needing a reason. You may discover that your unhappy mood or mind-set is not so rigid.

— Tulku Thondup Rinpoche

Advice on Spiritual Practice by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje

The practice of dharma involves certain possibilities. How these potentials evolve into actual situations for the practitioner, and how much is possible within these situations depends on the capacity of individual beings. It depends upon the level of teachings that one is able to relate to, such as Mahayana or Hinayana. At this particular time in our lives, the practice of the Mahayana teaching is possible. It is absolutely precious and absolutely rare. Our concern for development and our sense of responsibility has placed us in a position to integrate the preciousness and rarity of the Mahayana teaching with our lives. Through it there is the possibility of the experience of no-returning back into Samsara and the experience of ultimate bliss that is self knowing and in which there are no doubts.

In the midst of the wanderings of our minds we might sometimes fall into thinking that whether one practices or not, the Dharma will always be available. If you have that kind of notion, it is a very serious mistake. Any brief moment, any time at all that one could use as an opportunity for Dharma practice, one must use. If one does not take this responsibility and offer sincere respect to the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings, there is a definite possibility of causing harm to oneself as well as to those spiritual friends to whom one is linked. A lack of attention to the responsibilities of the Mahayana path constitutes a breaking of the Samaya principles, therefore, in whatever way one can hold to the teachings, one must sincerely do so.

If you think that the teaching is negligible, such a reality will manifest because of your attitude, to your great loss. The fact is that the teaching is very much hidden from you, so you cannot really make speculations about it. On the other hand, the validity of the teaching has been witnessed by its ageless effectiveness from the time of the Buddha to this day. This is something to dwell upon. You must sincerely realise the sacredness of the teachings, to the extent of understanding that there is actually nothing more important than the practice of the Dharma within this lifetime, and in lifetimes to come. In a simple mundane life situation, in the field of ‘business’ we know that the businessman develops a plan for a project, he knows what it will cost him, perhaps one million dollars, and every detail of the project is regarded with the utmost care. Absolute importance is attached to such a project in the business world, and a great deal of energy is put into bringing it to a successful conclusion. The point is if one is going to expend such effort for a result of such a temporary nature, why not put at least as much effort into a project that is going to cause one’s temporary as well as ultimate benefit? Whether you are receiving an empowerment or an explanation, if you are able to have or develop that sense of importance about the Dharma, then there is purpose in your relationship with the Mahayana teachings and there is going to be fulfilment, too. If there is a genuine commitment to the teaching, you will be able to develop direct and meaningful trust and confidence in the teachings and sincere compassion towards beings. A true understanding of the universality of the working of karma, the nature of cause and effect, will occur.

The Bodhisattva’s aspiration and actions are powerful because from the very beginning when bodhisattva embarks on the journey of the bodhi path he aspires to work for the benefit and liberation of all sentient beings with a very determined, definite and powerful intention. Because of the sincere resolve that is within this aspiration, whatever actions need to be performed to benefit and liberate beings are performed with great power and tirelessness. Having undertaken such a profound journey by virtue of the aspiration to help beings, as the different stages of the Bodhisattva are experienced, one finds oneself increasingly capable of benefiting countless beings. That is how the Bodhisattva first treads upon the path.

When the bodhisattvas work for the benefit of all beings with such appropriate aspirations and actions there is total fulfilment. The fulfilment appropriate in the sense that there is no selfishness involved in the way of expectations, doubts, hopes, attachment or aversion regarding gains and losses of any kind. The Bodhisattva is completely pure and spotless, working incessantly and wholeheartedly for the benefit of beings. Not for a moment is there any hesitation or doubt, as these obstacles have been transcended. The ways of a Bodhisattva are gentle, since all harmful actions and indulgences have been abandoned. Not only are harmful deeds themselves eliminated in a Bodhisattva’s life, but also the creation of causes of future harmful situations. Work is done solely for the benefit of other beings, not only in direct deeds, but in laying the foundations for future benefits to accrue. When these bodhisattvas initiate work, then, they are able to cause immeasurable benefit towards beings, and they do so manifesting fearless generosity without doubts or expectations, like the great Bodhisattva of Boundless Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, or the Bodhisattva of Boundless Power, Vajrapani, and so on.

All who comprise the great assemblage of Bodhisattvas are equally powerful and equally beneficial to countless beings, so that all things seem to be at their command. Sometimes beautiful lotuses and lotus trees are caused by them to grow from the middle of the ocean, or a teardrop is transformed into an ocean. Everything in nature is at the Bodhisattva’s call. Fire can appear as water; water can appear as fire. It is all because of the strength of the Bodhisattva’s attitude, the aspiration and action. For us this says that the practice of compassion must be given full consideration and it must at all times be in our awareness and at all times performed.

If one is going to attempt to do meditation, for example, on emptiness, Sunyata, one must never fail to relate to the enlightened objects of the Refuge on one hand, and to consistently generate genuine compassion towards beings on the other hand. The true nature of emptiness is compassion. Without the experience of the fullness of compassion, even if one claims to have realised emptiness, Sunyata, it does not have any significance.

At this particular point you have the opportunity to receive the teachings. There are teachers, there are facilities. You have been receiving many levels of teachings, and it is important that you don’t miss the point in terms of putting into practice what is taught. It is absolutely important. I am emphasising today something you must have heard many times. And yet there is always the need for complete integration, for mindfulness and respect, for the treasuring of what one has understood, what one has received. There is the need of working towards the fulfilment of the teachings and the complete realisation of the meaning. And toward that end the most important factor, once again, is the practice of bodhicitta, the Enlightened Mind, by which you will gradually tread the Vajrayana path. At every turn bodhicitta is indispensable. Unless the profound techniques of the Vajrayana are being supported by bodhicitta one will not necessarily make meaningful realisations. So, you see, that everything is actually rooted in the practice of bodhicitta, and to pursue with sincerity whatever enhances and supports the practice of bodhicitta creates favourable situations for its development.

An example of a means to develop bodhicitta is Pratimoksa. In the Pratimoksa tradition there are seven families or levels of Pratimoksa, or self-discipline. These are known as the precepts or vows. Refuge is the most important prerequisite to enter into the practice of discipline. After taking refuge, you take whatever other precepts you can. Keeping them strengthens your practice of bodhicitta, and enables you to tread on the path of Buddhadharma more simply, sincerely and sanely. The importance of the application of self-discipline, the precepts, must not be neglected. Strongly ingrained are the patterns of the three poisons: aggression, attachment and ignorance. If one is to uproot these patterns and to apply the proper antidote for these poisons, the practices of discipline as outlined in the Pratimoksa are necessary tools.

Then we have the Mahayana principles. We must practice living the Mahayana ideals which we have been talking about: the development of the Enlightened Attitude, a concern for the benefit and liberation of all beings. From the material point of view this country is very rich, which means life is busier for everyone than in other places in the world, and people are occupied by all kinds of mundane demands. Because of the overwhelming material concerns that surround one, the speed of life activity increases. One busy situation leads to another, and on and on. You are constantly busy. The truth of cyclic existence is very well manifested in your lives. To remedy this state of affairs one first needs to calm down the mind. Do not be completely absorbed by your surroundings. Develop some degree of stillness. Cultivate simple control of mind, tranquillity. At least some openness of the mind needs to be developed. No matter who you are, everyone needs first to relate to basic meditation practices, meditation practices that are specifically designed to bring about the calmness of the minds of beings who are occupied in such constant, busy involvement. This is the first step in the practice of the Dharma, the Dharma that is so very important for oneself and for others.

If you could see and appreciate the truth of the Dharma, and in the light of that appreciation continue to practice, there is no doubt about your being of tremendous benefit to the people you encounter and to this country especially. There would be no doubt about your ability to save beings from countless problems and conflicts. So the practice of the Dharma must be taken very seriously and done very sincerely. It plays a crucial part in shaping of one’s life, and not this life alone but all lifetimes to come. If one is to have temporary as well as ultimate fulfilment of happiness, the incomparable and the only reliable connection is the practice of the Dharma. The notion of perception and perceiver has existed from beginningless time, and it is part of the pattern of clinging. From beginningless time our shortcoming has been to fall back into Samsara. In the past, in the future and in the present, the mind has been in many ways very playful. But where the true nature of the mind is concerned, neither the colour nor the shape nor the location of the mind nor its consciousness can be pinpointed.

The nature of mind goes beyond all such substantialities. This being so, in the meditation practice it is important neither to invite the future nor recollect the past, but to remain in the state of nowness. The nowness of the mind is the practice which should be developed by you all.

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When a wintry wind strikes and stirs up water, though soft, it takes the form of stone. When concepts attempt to disturb mind’s nature, where ignorance cannot take form, appearances become very dense and solid.

— Mahasiddha Saraha

世间的一切如梦幻泡影 慧律法师

我当时要出家的时候，我冷静了一星期，我就拿起笔写着：出家的好处、出家的坏处，第一、出家的好处，第二、出家的坏处，第三、在家的好处，第四、在家的坏处。然后就开始思量了，我当时要走这条路的时候，我就想：我若是在家，在家的好处，结了婚，最大的好处，就是生个孩子，回家有人喊你：“爸爸！”就是这样，然后你就回一句：“心肝宝贝！”偶尔看一看还想：“幸好儿子长得象我。”否则就让人很怀疑了。或是抱着孩子逗他玩，然后换儿子帮我挠痒，我帮他挠痒，最快乐的事情，大概差不多是这样了。若是想听他喊一声爸爸，那要赚很多钱，忙得昏头转向。

上班工作，从早忙到晚才能回家，娶到好老婆还算很安慰，要是娶到恶妻，看你如何是好？对不对？在家的好处，就差不多是当父亲，做事业赚钱。若是要论在家的坏处，现在是讲我啦，不是讲你们，那可就多了，我常看到左邻右舍那些夫妻，老是吵得不可开交，常常听到邻居吵架时，总会说一句话，那句话我已经听了二、三十年了：“我要不是为了这三个孩子，我早就跟你离婚了！”这句话我听了二十几年了，到现在还不是没离婚，已经听了二、三十年了，整天就是听到震耳欲聋的锅铲声，一吵架就老是讲这句话。

所以说，快乐、追求，我都想过了，若是出家，很快乐、自在，没有人管，对不对？半夜不会有人要你起来泡牛奶喂小孩、换尿布等等，就是自己一个人，对不对？若是修行，我们出家想了生死，就比较容易，没有人会干扰你。

所以说，电视上辩论的人说：“成佛并不一定要出家。”没有错！但是问题呢，有几个维摩诘居士啊？有几个人，有维摩诘居士那种功夫？对不对？释迦牟尼佛的常随众，一千二百五十个阿罗汉，个个都是出家人，证阿罗汉果的，个个都是出家人，有修有证的，都是出家人，修行是很专业的事情，所以不能找一、两个例外来为难。若是论到究竟，当然没有话说啦，佛性人人平等，但是在尚未成佛以前，出家总是比较没有挂碍，在家的障碍一定比较多，这是难免的事情，所以我们不可以执理废事。

再来，我们要观万法皆空。

这个“空”，很难去体会，世间人，他就是生活在一个严重的错误的观念，他不了解空的思想，譬如说，这是什么？卫生纸，这是一，从小老师就教我们：这是一，这是一张卫生纸。对不对？但是如果在圣者的角度来讲，佛说这是一张卫生纸，即非一张卫生纸，是名卫生纸。套用《金刚经》上讲的，这是一张卫生纸，可是真的有一吗？把它撕开，就变成两张了，再撕开就变成三张了，变成四张了、变成五张了，这“一”的观念是什么呢？

“一”只是一个观念。所以真正的佛法就是彻底的觉悟，一绝对不是一，知道吗？譬如说，这是一朵花，这是真的一朵花吗？我们把它撕一点点，那这个是什么？这不能讲是花啊，花不过是种种的植物的细胞构成的，没有一个真正的一。“一”不过是人类生命的一种执著的观念，错误的观念。我们到现今的教育，都是执著的教育，只有佛陀的教育，是破除执著的教育，记住！一绝对不是一；我绝对不是我；杯子也绝对不是杯子；麦克风也不是麦克风。方便说是麦克风，方便说这是我，方便说这是一盆花，方便说这是文化中心，对不对？这都是方便说。

为什么说是方便说呢？因为这是因缘生、因缘灭的东西。所以圣人的标准是什么？圣人的标准，就是没有任何的标准——就是标准，法无定法！（众鼓掌）法无定法，因为这个法是天天都在变的东西，你今天拿这个做标准，明天这个就不标准了，你说世界选美大会，那一个是最漂亮的呢？这是很难论定的，是不是这样？所以说，我们一定要了解，法无定法，这叫做标准法。

圣人没有一定的标准，也没有绝对的善，也没有绝对的恶。这个问题困扰很多人，他说：“请问师父！什么是善？什么是恶？”我说：“这没有一个定论，只能勉强的定义，很勉强的给它下定义。”怎么定义呢？对大多数的人有利益的，利益多数的众生，这样叫做善，那么有害一切的众生、多数的众生，这叫做恶。这是很勉强的定义，很勉强的说：这样叫做善、这样叫做恶。不然你说什么是绝对善跟绝对恶的东西？善与恶本来就无法绝对，没有绝对，只有空性的思想，是绝对的东西。

什么是绝对？万法皆空，这是绝对的。处处相，处处无相，处处缘起，处处性空。譬如说，这是一张卫生纸，因缘生，它就存在，有一天因缘灭了，卫生纸就不存在。对不对？我们今天，父母生我们，借着父亲、母亲的因缘而生，有一天我们死亡，因缘灭，就没有我们了。所以缘起，处处缘起，处处就是性空。所以万法从小到大，从小东西到大东西，没有一法不是因缘生、因缘灭，没有一法不是缘起，没有一法不是性空。所以这样我们就能观照万法皆空，我们若是有这一层智慧，这样子的清净的头脑，我们就不会被假相迷惑。

有一次人家叫我去助念，有人往生了，打电话要我去助念，亡者的家人，并不是个个都信佛，来请的这个师姐有信佛，她打电话来，我说：“好啊！”我问：“她家在那里？”这师姐说就是她的邻居，我说：“你邻居又没有信佛。”“没关系啦！师父你慈悲！”然后我就去了，到那里正准备要为她加持、助念，她一个读医学院的儿子，还是博士哦，正巧赶回来了。他的母亲死于癌症，等他赶回家时，已经来不及了，整个人是哭得痛不欲生，他觉得很痛苦、自责哭泣，他说：“我读到医学博士，我救了那么多人，就是救不了自己的母亲，我真是不孝！”

他一直很自责，我就问他，“你哭完了没有？哭完的话就要换我了。”他说：“这个师父怎么这样讲？”我说：“你哭了老半天，对你母亲没有一丝毫帮助。你母亲往生时很痛苦，面貌很不好看。”他哭了老半天，母亲的脸是纠结成一团，对儿子更执著了！“你站到一边去，站到一边去。”我说：“这种事情，你们医学博士没办法啦，这种事要法师来才有办法，要由法师来处理。你站到一边去。”他是对我很怀疑，就盯着我看，可能是认为我英俊吧，他就乖乖站到一旁去了，因为他平时对佛法也不认识。

我们知道人往生之后都会执著，我就靠近对她开示，跟他母亲说：“你的儿女们都很有出息，老菩萨！你不要执著，我现在给你招魂，为你加持，如果阿弥陀佛现前，你要跟阿弥陀佛去，你不要执著。”我们就开始结手印，为她放蒙山，为她加持，经过十五分钟之后，她母亲竟然面带微笑、开始微笑了，面貌开始变了，一直改变……本来他母亲是很执著儿子，很执著、很痛苦，我们就给她加持，然后用毗卢遮那佛大灌顶光真言，给她加持，旁边的人则一直念佛……莲友一直为她念佛，我告诉他们：“你们要念大声一点，阿弥陀佛……要大声为她念佛。”才十五分钟，还不到半个钟头，他就说要替母亲换衣服，我说：“不行！不行！要等十八个小时后。”他看到我这样讲，顿时愣在一旁，他虽然是个博士，但是对这个并不懂，我说：“你有时间读博士，竟然没有时间来了解生死的问题，我也是觉得你很奇怪！”

他觉得我出家很奇怪，我也觉得他很奇怪。对不对？我们俩个相见恨晚啦！对啊！结果他亲眼目睹，看到他母亲从原本的病容，很痛苦的面貌，经由大家为她助念，为她加持后，全身柔软，面貌变成非常庄严，现出微笑。我交代着：“十八个小时内不能动她。”我说：“在母亲生前，你孝顺她，现在你母亲死了，你要听我的。”他说：“我为什么要听你的？”我说：“我是法师啊，你要听我的，因为你不懂啊！”他也真的肯听我的话，幸好没有揍我。十八个小时之后，看到他母亲面带微笑，笑容明显可见，我说：“现在可以了，可以为她换衣服了。”

结果为她更衣的时候，全身非常的柔软，让人很容易替她更衣，整个脸庞看起来，就知道很欢喜，我摸摸她的头顶，头顶上有热气，顶圣眼生天嘛，头顶上有热气，往生极乐世界了！这个博士感触很大，他说：“我读到博士，我竟然不懂这些事。”我说：“就算让你读到超博士，你也不懂啦！”他有时间读博士，但是没有时间读死亡，他不会想去研究，如何死亡才有艺术，没有想过！

人都只会活在现实的社会，我说：这就叫做面对现实。所以我才对你讲，出家人是真正在面对现实。面对什么？生、老、病、死！出家人是真正在面对现实，这是真正的问题，这一关你没办法，对死是茫茫渺渺。这个博士说：“师父！你有那里有没有佛书？”我说：“有啊！”我就送他佛书，送他录音带。听了录音带之后，度了他全家人，后来他非常的感谢。

人一定要等到家人往生了，或是家里碰到困难，真的遇到逆境，才真正需要佛法了，才会彻底地，想要追求真理。要是他每天活得很快乐，他就不肯去探讨，他有饭吃、他有车子开、有冷气吹，他不会想到死亡的事。今天听人家讲一讲，明天还是跑去媚登峰，她还是为了这个臭皮囊，拼命的化妆，打扮得再美也一样，都是白忙一场！

所以要观照，万法皆空不可得，心时时刻刻，统统要学习不要执著，要学习放下。放不下，我告诉你，你也无奈生死何。你说：“师父，我放不下。”放不下，百年之后你照常要死，你放不下，你能怎么样呢？你也是得死啊！所以很重要的观念——对一切相，莫求、莫著！不要求，不要执著。不要求，莫求，也不要执著，莫求莫著，这是修行的心的法要。

修行人只有八个字，可以决定修行：第一、决定不求，无所求；二、决定无所著。决定不求，决定不著，此人必定成道，这个人一定会成道！

为什么？因为我们求也没有用。我们求，求到最后，我们还是得不到东西。所以不求，才是真正的得法、得道。不著，才是真正的求道。若是求来的东西······要记住，世间人在拜佛拜神，那差别就很大了，世间人在拜神就是祈求：“你要保佑我发财。”保佑你发财，你就会永远富有吗？或是祈求：“你要保佑我儿子联考上榜。”我说：要是十万人都来求观世音菩萨说，你要保佑我儿子、女儿联考榜上有名，观世音菩萨就头痛了，因为一定有人上榜、一定有人落榜嘛，那么他要怎么做呢？我问你，对不对？

所以求人不如求已，求人不如求已。我们一定要记住，我们的心跟佛陀的心，究竟是平等不二的，平等不二的。我们今天虽然是凡夫，但是我们只要肯修行、肯觉悟，肯下决心来听经闻法，实实在在来解决我们生老病死的问题，就算是听到一句、听到两句，或是看一本书，懂得一点智慧的佛书，对我们的解脱也很有帮助。

所以说想要解脱，第一个，观无常；第二个，观死亡，时时刻刻，我们都要面对死亡；第三点，观世间不可得；第四点，要观无我，一切法无我；第五点，观万法皆空，观照万法皆空，无相可得。世间都是暂时性的，只是暂时性的而已，没有一样东西是永久的。我们今天长得很漂亮，也不必骄傲，有一天你也会年华老去，老到牙齿全掉光了，这是事实。今天你长得很丑，你也不必很有自卑感，虽然长得丑不是你自愿的，但是别常常出来吓人就行了！

再来就是莫求、莫著。那么这样子，我们的生命慢慢就会升华，对于这个世间的假相，慢慢地突破。所以要记住！修行跟学问没有关系，世间的学问，如果跟修行有关系，那读到博士的人就成佛了。没有这个道理！修行，识字也好、不识字也好，这个不关文字、不关学历的问题，六祖一个大字不识，广钦老和尚也不识字，为何能成为一代祖师呢？你记住！修行跟学问是两码事——修行是修真正的智慧，解脱的智慧，不关学问。学问是累积的执著，是一种累积的经验，它只是符号而已，人类创造出来的符号，你加上这一层的执著，那个叫做学问。没有错，学问能够解决我们许多现实的生活，衣食住行的问题，学问也能够解决我们很多交通、科学的问题，没有错，但是学问不能令我们解脱，饱学之士不一定是解脱的人。

所以我跟诸位讲过，电视上办的call in、辩论，一点意义都没有。你若是跟广钦老和尚辩论，也许你比广钦老和尚更会讲话，但是你是凡夫，广钦老和尚他是圣人啊，他不必跟你辩论，你讲得天花乱坠，你还是束缚的凡夫，因为你没有开悟啊，对不对？所以透过语言、文字，这不能代表佛法，那只是方便而已。

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To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.

— Thich Nhat Hanh