(８)現在，假設我們被問到佛教最殊勝的字：

　　“什麼是“不死之法”？”

　　8) Now suppose we are asked about the supreme word in Buddhism,

　　8) “What is the amatadhamma

　　”

　　“阿馬答”(amata)的意思是“不死”，“阿馬答達磨”(amatadhamma)則爲“不死之法”。那是什麼呢？有次佛陀說“貪、瞋、癡止息是不死之法、不死之境。”內心一生起貪、瞋、癡，就是“有死之境”(mortai state)就痛苦，有“自我”就會有生、老、病、死苦。

　　AMATA MEANS “DEATHLESS”; the amatadhamma is the dhamma (thing or state) that does not die. And what is that

　　 The Buddha once said, “The cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion is the amata- dhamma. “The amatadhamma is the immortal state, or the immortalizing state. Wherever there is greed, hatred, and delusion, that is called the mortal state.One experiences suffering. One has the self-idea, which causes one to be subject to birth, aging, disease, and death.

　　當貪、瞋、癡止息，不再因感覺有“我”而起惑，就不會死亡，因爲沒有了“我”，那有什麼將會死亡呢？所以人如果要追求不死之境——不死之法，就必須尋求貪、瞋、癡止息的境界。這是佛陀所教導的“不死之法”，是我們經常聽到的佛陀最究竟、無上的教誡。

　　When greed, hatred, and delusion cease (the ceasing of delusion being the ceasing of ignorance and misunderstanding), then there no longer arises the false concept of selfhood, then there is no more self to die. So if one is searching for the deathless state, the amatadhamma, one must search for the state or condition that is free of greed, hatred, and delusion. This is what the Buddha taught. The amatadhamma, as we have so frequently heard, is the ultimate, the highest teaching of Buddhism.

　　其他的“不死”(undying)與這“不死”(amata)是不同的，如前所說，無上的“不死之法”是貪、瞋、癡的止息。

　　The “undying” taught by other teachers is a different amata. But in Buddhism it is, as I have just explained, the cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion.

　　最高、最深奧的“法”，有各種名稱，假使有人提出這個問題：“至高至深，能超越世間與死亡的法稱爲什麼？”佛陀稱它爲“空相應法”(sunnatappatisamyutta)或“空”(sunnata)，“空相應法”至高至深，它能超越世間和死亡，也就是“不死之法”。

　　THE BUDDHA CALLED it su..atāppa.isa.yuttā which means “Dhamma that treats of su..atā”, or even “su..atā” itself. Dhamma that treats of su..atā is Dhamma at its highest and most profound. It transcends the world, transcends death, and is none other than the amatadhamma (the immortal dhamma).