(３６)現在先檢視一個次要問題，好讓我們更了解以下的問答。我要提出的問題是：

　　“世間充滿著什麼？”

　　36) Now we shall examine a minor point to help give us a better understanding of the foregoing questions and answers. I shall put the question,

　　36) “What is the world full of

　　”

　　有些人以這樣的角度回答：“世間充滿著苦”，他們說世間只有苦的生起、苦的安住、苦的熄滅。這樣的說法沒有錯，但令人難以理解。

　　SOME PEOPLE WITH a certain outlook answer, “This world is full of suffering (dukkha).” For instance they say that there is nothing that arises, persists, and passes away but it is a source of suffering. This is correct, but it is hard to understand.

　　這個問題應像佛陀一樣回答：“世間充滿著“空”。世間都是“空”的，沒有什麼是“我”或“人”。”

　　The question should be answered as the Buddha answered it. “This world is full of empty things. This world is empty. There is nothing that is a “self” or that belongs to a “self”.”

　　因此，不要只滿意“世間只有苦，沒有什麼不是苦”的回答，而認爲這說法是對的。這說法確實是正確的，但太過含糊，一不小心就錯了，因爲只要對一切事物都不執著，就一點也不苦了。

　　Don”t be satisfied with saying simply “In the world there is only suffering, there is nothing that is not a source of suffering.” This is certainly a correct statement, but it is ambiguous and liable to be misinterpreted; for those same things, if one doesn”t go grasping and clinging at them, are not a source of suffering at all.

　　要充分了解世間和構成世間的任何東西，本身並不是苦，是人們起了執著才有苦，如果沒有執著就無苦。因此不可以說生命是“苦”或“不苦”，若只說“生命是苦”，那麼是太膚淺。且太過簡化了。

　　Let this be well understood. Neither the world nor any of the things that comprise the world is or ever has been in itself, a source of suffering. The moment one goes grasping and clinging, there is suffering; if one does not grasp and cling, there is no suffering. To say that life is suffering is shallow, oversimplified, and premature.

　　有執著的生命是苦的，若不執著就不苦了。生命不是毫無意義的，它有價值，喜歡說生命沒有價值的人，是因爲他們不知如何讓它有價值。

　　Life grasped at and clung to is suffering; life not grasped at or clung to is not suffering.This life has purpose, it is not pointless. Some people like to say that life has no purpose because they do not know how to give it purpose.

　　如果我們知道怎樣把“生命當成工具”，用它來認知世間、世間的起因、世間的滅盡和到達世間滅盡的修行之道，那麼生命就有價值了，它已成爲學習、修行和獲取成果的根據地，同時也是用來了解人類所能達到的至高無上境界——涅槃的基地。所以請記住！生命真的有意義，但是對不知如何利用它的傻瓜而言，生命一點價值也沒有。

　　If we known how to use this life as an instrument for finding out about the world, about the causes of the world”s arising, about the complete cessation of the world, and about the way of practice leading to the complete cessation of the world, then this life does have purpose. Life, then, is a means of studying, practising, and obtaining the fruits of practice. It is a means of coming to know the best thing that human beings can and ought to know, namely, nibbāna. So remember, this life does have purpose, although for the fool who doesn”t know how to use it, it has no purpose at all.

　　世間充滿著什麼？從某個角度看，你會說它充滿著“苦”，或簡單地說“它是苦”，但從較高層次的角度看，你可以說它什麼都不是，只有無止盡的生、住、滅，生、住、滅……。如果我們執著它，就會産生痛苦；如果我們不去執著，它只是繼續生、住、滅罷了。所以，已解脫和證阿羅漢果的人，不會把這些當成痛苦或快樂，他們清淨的五蘊只是隨著因緣而遷流變化，那不能說是苦的。

　　What is the world full of

　　 Look at it from one point of view and you say, “It is full of suffering,” or simply, “It is suffering.” But look at it from a higher point of view and you can say that it is nothing but an endless process of arising, persisting, ceasing, arising, persisting, ceasing. If we grasp at and cling to it, suffering will be produced. If we do not grasp at and cling to it, then it simply continues arising, persisting, and ceasing. So we must bear in mind that a person who has become free, who has become an arahant, does not regard these things as a source of suffering, nor of happiness either. The arahant”s unsoiled pa.cakkhandha (five aggregates or body-mind complex) cannot be said to be involved in suffering. There is only the causally conditioned flowing, changing, and revolving of the five aggregates.

　　世間充滿著什麼？充滿著生、住、滅的事物，執著就苦，不執著就不苦。

　　What is the world full of

　　 It is full of things that arise, persist, and cease. Grasp and cling to them, and they produce suffering (dukkha). Don”t grasp and cling to them, and they do not produce suffering.

《世間充滿著什麼？What is the world full of

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