..續本文上一頁 got the ten thousand baht, one suddenly wants to get a hundred thousand baht. No sooner has one got the hundred thousand baht, it”s a mil Going after something intelligently is not craving: then one is not a peta; one is simply doing lion baht that one wants, or a hundred million. It is a case of chasing and never catching. One has all the symptoms of chronic hunger. One further resembles a hungry ghost in having a stomach as big as a mountain and a mouth as small as a needle”s eye. The intake is never sufficient for the hunger, so one is all the time a peta. The peta”s direct opposite is the person who, on getting ten satang *, is content with getting just the ten satang, or on getting twenty satang is content with twenty. But don”t get the idea that being easily satisfied like this means one falls into decline and stops looking for things. Intelligence tells one what has to be done, and one goes about doing it the right way. In this way, one is filled to satisfaction every time one goes after something. One enjoys the seeking and then is satisfied. This is how to live without being a peta, that is, without being chronically hungry. Going after something with craving constitutes being a peta. what has to be done.
因此，希求滅苦的“欲”不是煩惱貪染。別把“欲”說成愛欲或貪染而誤導別人，愛欲或貪染必定是來自愚癡的“欲”；甚至求證涅槃的“欲”，如果是由于愚癡——瘋狂盲目地追求，而全然無知地修習內觀，就是煩惱貪染，這無知將導致痛苦，因爲它充滿執著。反之，如果有人想證涅槃，他如實觀照苦和滅苦之道，且正確、直接、認真地學習內觀，這種想證涅槃的“欲”就不是煩惱貪染，也不是苦。所以，“欲”不全然是煩惱貪染，全看它源自何處，如果源于無明或煩惱，那追求無厭的現象就會像長期饑餓，這樣處在長期饑餓的狀態，我們稱它爲化生的餓鬼。
Thus, a wish such as the wish to extinguish suffering is not craving. Don”t go telling people the wrong thing, spreading the word that mere wishing is craving or greed. To be craving or greed it must be a wish stemming from stupidity. The wish to attain nibbāna is a craving, if pursued with foolishness, infatuation, and pride. Going for lessons in insight meditation without knowing what it is all about is craving and greed; it is ignorance that leads to suffering because it is full of grasping and clinging. However, if a person wishes to attain nibbāna, after clearly and intelligently perceiving suffering and the means whereby it can be extinguished, and in this frame of mind steadily and earnestly learns about insight meditation in the right way, then such a wish to attain nibbāna is not craving, and it is not suffering. So wishing is not necessarily always craving. It all depends on where it has its origin. If it stems from ignorance or the defilements, the symptoms will be similar to those of chronic hunger — that chasing without ever catching. We speak of this chronically hungry condition as spontaneous rebirth as a hungry ghost (peta).
最後的惡道是阿修羅。首先解釋“阿修羅”(asura)這個詞：“修羅”(sura)意思是“勇敢”，“阿”(a)意思是“不”，“阿修羅”的意思即是“不勇敢”或“膽怯懦弱”。請大家注意：人一旦沒來由地膽怯，就化生爲阿修羅。例如懼怕無害的小蜥蜴、千足蟲或蚯蚓，是不應該的，是一種痛苦；若人常有不必要的恐懼，或憂慮過多而生恐懼，就生爲阿修羅。
每個人都怕死，但我們會恐懼死亡是由于自己把真實情況以十萬倍、百萬倍誇大而成的，這種恐懼一直折磨人。人正因爲害怕墜地獄，而成爲阿修羅；于是就真的每天墜四惡道，日複一日、月複一月、年複一年。如果我們現在行爲正當，不墜入這種四惡道，我們就能確保死後不會墜入刻畫在寺院牆上的四惡道。
The last Woeful State is the realm of the asuras (cowardly demons). First to explain the word asura: sura means “brave”, a means “not”, thus asura means “not brave” or “cowardly”. Take it that whenever one is cowardly without reason, one has been spontaneously reborn an asura. Being afraid of harmless little lizards, millipedes, or earthworms is unjustified fear and a form of suffering. To be afraid unnecessarily, or to be afraid of something as a result of pondering too much on it, is to be reborn as an asura. We all fear death, but our fear is made a hundred or a thousand times greater by our own exaggeration of the danger. Fear torments a person all the time. He is afraid of falling into hell and in so doing becomes an asura. Thus he is actually falling into the Four Woeful States every day, day after day, month after month, ye…
《怎樣才能稱爲抵達‘涅槃流’？ What is it to attain the Stream of Nibbāna
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