..續本文上一頁 is impermanent.”

　　佛這樣地告訴羅吒波羅：“世間遷流不息，無有恒常。”

　　One thing disappears, conditioning the appearance of the next in a series of cause and effect. There is no unchanging substance in them. There is nothing behind them that can be called a permanent Self (Ātman), inpiduality, or anything that can in reality be called ”I”. Every one will agree that neither matter, nor sensation, nor perception, nor any one of those mental activities, nor consciousness can really be called ”I”. [23] But when these five physical and mental aggregates which are interdependent are working together in combination as a physio-psychological machine, [24] we get the idea of ”I”. But this is only a false idea, a mental formation, which is nothing but one of those 52 mental formations of the fourth Aggregate which we have just discussed, namely, it is the idea of self (sakkāya-ditthi).

　　在一連串的因果關系中，一件事物的消逝，就構成另一件事物生起的條件。其中，並沒有不變的實體。它們的幕後，並沒有可以叫做“永恒的自我(神我)”、“個性”或真正可以叫做“我”的東西。大家都會同意，無論是色蘊、受蘊、想蘊、行蘊或識蘊中任何一法，都不能被認爲是真正的“我”。﹝注二十五﹞但是這五種精神與肉體的“蘊”，本來是相互依存的。在它們聯合活動的時候，就成爲一架身心合一的機器﹝注二十六﹞，因而産生了“我”的意念。但這是一個虛妄的意念，只是一種心所有法，也就是前文剛談過的五十二種心所法之一的身見——薩迦耶見。

　　These five Aggregate together, which we popularly call a ”being” are dukkha itself (samkhāra-dukkha). There is no other ”being” or ”I”, standing behind these five aggregates, who experiences dukkha. As Buddhaghosa says:

　　這五蘊和合之身，通俗稱爲“衆生”之物，就是“苦”的本身。在五蘊的幕後，再沒有其它的“衆生”和“我”在那裏承當這“苦”。就如覺音所說的：

　　”Mere suffering exists, but no suffering is found;

　　The deeds are, but no doer is found.” [25]

　　“僅有苦難存在，卻找不到受苦者。

　　事迹是有的，卻找不到行事之人。”﹝注二十七﹞

　　There is no unmoving mover behind the movement. It is only movement. It is not correct to say that life is moving, but life is movement itself. Life and movement are not two different things. In other words, there is no thinker behind the thought. Thought itself is the thinker. If you move the thought, there is no thinker to be found. Here we cannot fail to notice how this Buddhist view is diametrically opposed to the Cartesian cogito ergo sum: ”I think, therefore I am.”

　　在活動的後面，並沒有不動的推動者，只有活動本身。所以，講“生命是活動的”這句話是不對的。應當說生命就是活動本身。生命與活動並不是兩樣不同的東西。推言之，思想的幕也沒有思想者。思想本身就是思想者。除掉了思想，就再找不到思想者。于此，我們不能不注意到，佛教的這一觀點，與笛卡兒的“我思故我在”是何其相反。

　　Now a question may be raised whether life has a beginning. According to the Buddha”s teaching the beginning of the life-stream of living beings is unthinkable. The believer in the creation of life by God may be astonished at this reply. But if you were to ask him ”What is the beginning of God

　　” he would answer without hesitation ”God has no beginning”, and he is not astonished at his own reply. The Buddha says: ”O bhikkhus, this cycle of continuity (samsāra) is without a visible end, and the first beginning of beings wandering and running round, enveloped in ignorance (avijjā) and bound down by the fetters of thirst (desire, tamhā) is not to be perceived.” [26] And further, referring to ignorance which is the main cause if the continuity of life the Buddha states: ”The first beginning of ignorance (avijjā) is not to be perceived in such a way as to postulate that there was no ignorance beyond a certain points.” [27] Thus it is not possible to say that there was no life beyond a certain definite point.

　　現在可以提出“生命有沒有起源”的問題了。根據佛的教旨，生命之流的起源，是不可想像的。相信上帝創造生命的人，也許會對這答案感到詫異。但是，如果你問他：“什麼是上帝的起源？”他會毫不猶豫地答覆：“上帝沒有起源。”而且不會對他自己的答案感覺奇怪。佛說：“比丘們啊！這相續不斷的輪回，沒有可見的終點。也不見有衆生受無明所蒙蔽、被貪愛的桎梏所羁絆、在生死中飄泊輪轉的開端。”﹝注二十八﹞談到生死相續的主因——無明的時候，佛說：“無明的起源不可見，不可假定在某一點之前沒有無明。”﹝注二十九﹞因此，也不可能說在某一個確定的起點之前，世間沒有生命。

　　This in short is the meaning of the Noble Truth of Dukkha. It is extremely important to understand this First Noble Truth clearly because, as the Buddha says, ”he who sees dukkha sees also the arising of dukkha, sees also the cessation of dukkha, and sees also the path leading to the cessation of dukkha.” [28]

　　簡短地說，這就是苦的聖谛意義。明白了解…

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