(４５)在所剩的短短時間裏，我要提出最後一個問題：
“佛陀的遺教是什麼？”
45) Now in the short time remaining I shall put the final question:
45) “What were the Buddha”s last instruction to us
”
衆所皆知，遺言就是一個人臨終前所交待的話。佛陀臨入滅時，說出最後的遺言：“一切因緣和合法，必定敗壞，大家應自精勤，不要放逸！”
所有事物只是不斷地遷流，一切皆空。所有事物無常(anicca)，不停地變化，無止境地遷流，這樣不斷的遷流，完全無“我”、非“我所有”，大家應自精勤，不要放逸。換句話說，佛陀叮囑我們：別傻！別對事物入迷！別認爲有什麼可執著！別輕率地執著任何事物，這是佛陀所說“不要放逸”的意思。我們應該要時常具足精勤！
AS EVERYONE KNOWS, a person who is about to die usually makes out a will, a set of last instructions. When the Buddha was on the point of dying, he said these last words: “All compounded things are subject to decay. Be well equipped with heedfulness!” All things are nothing but a perpetual flowing-on, that is, they are empty (of selfhood). All things are anicca, they change incessantly, they flow on endlessly. That perpetual flux is devoid of any self or of anything belonging to a self. Be vigilant and well prepared. In other words, don”t be foolish, don”t become infatuated with things, and don”t regard anything as worth grasping at and clinging to. Don”t mindlessly attach to anything. This is what he meant by heedfulness. With such heedfulness we must always be well equipped.
且看現代年輕人的問題，他們是多麼輕率啊！他們認爲一切事物都可愛、可取，執著于愛、執著于恨，到頭來，只有使自己和他人苦惱罷了！這種人沒有遵行佛陀遺言中的教導，辜負生爲人身、長于佛教家庭，辜負自己是佛教徒，他們沒有實踐佛陀最後的期許！
Now young people are a problem. Look how completely heedless they are. They regard all sorts of things as thoroughly desirable, as worth grasping at and clinging to. Attaching to things as either desirable or hateful is ultimately a source of distress to oneself and to others. Such people are not carrying out the instructions given in the Buddha”s will. They are wasting the benefit of having been born a human being and of Buddhist parents. They are not carrying out the Buddha”s last wishes.
我們所有的人，不論老少，正面臨實踐佛陀遺教的處境，不要放逸、不要失念！別糊裏糊塗以爲事物可執、可取，要常觀世間“我空”、“我所有空”。若我們的心空掉執著，貪、瞋、癡就不會生起，那麼，不論做什麼，都將是人類所能達到最真、最善、最美的，也就是說，所有的問題都消失、結束了，所作皆辦了。
佛陀還給我們另一個最後的指示：“去！到處去！去宣揚妙法，初、中、後時法味一如。”這是叮囑我們要去作利他的事。我喜歡把這教導诠釋成佛陀囑咐我們都去教導“無執無著”——初級的對孩童說，中級的對成年人說，高級的對即將了悟無上法的人說，此外別無可說了。
All of us, young and old, are in a position to carry out the Buddha”s last instructions. Let us not be heedless or mindless. Let us not go thoughtlessly regarding things as worth grasping at and clinging to. Let us always view the world as devoid of any self or of anything belonging to a self. Our minds will be free of grasping; lust, hatred, and delusion will not arise in them. Thus we will accomplish the highest thing which is possible for humanity. In other words, all problems will cease, and that”s all there is to it.
佛陀只教導“無執無取著”，它可以不同的層次教導小孩、中年人和老人。或者也可用另一種方式來了解：爲得現世人間的利益而說法是低層次的；
爲得他方世界的利益而說法是中級的；最終極的是爲得超越世間的無上利益而說法。全部的教義精華可被歸納成：由于無執無著而不苦。因此空掉“我”、“我所有”而無執無著，是最重要的教誨。
The Buddha gave another final instruction: “Go forth and preach well the doctrine, splendid in its beginning, middle, and end.” I like to interpret this as enjoining us all to teach non-grasping and non-clinging on an elementary level to children, on an intermediate level to adults, and on the highest, most advanced level to those who are heading for the Supreme State and for whom nothing else matters. The Buddha taught only non-grasping, nothing more. It can be taught on different levels to children, to people of middle age, and to old people. Or it can be taken in another way. Teach Dhamma for the benefit of people living in this world, on a low level; for benefits in other worlds, at an intermediate stage; and then for the sake of the highest benefit, which transcends all worlds.
請各位好好記住一個宣說全部“法”的字——“空”(sunnata),它是佛教的核心與精髓。人因心不“空”而破戒；因心不“空”而沒有禅定；因心不“空”而沒有智慧。
佛陀有“空心”，“空心”正是佛陀的特性；“法”也是“空”——解“空”、行“空”、證“空”，“究竟空”即涅槃；僧伽是隨佛修行以到達“空心”的一群人，佛、法、僧歸納起來就是個“空”字。
持戒是因空掉煩惱、執著，而能無執無著；當到達“空心”，沒有煩惱時，就能到達圓滿的定；當了悟世間一切皆空，不再有任何執著，就有了究竟的智慧。道、果、涅槃是有次第地了悟“空”直到“究竟空…
《佛陀的遺教是什麼？What were the Buddha’s last instruction to us
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