(１)假如有人問你：

　　“佛陀教導什麼？”

　　1) Suppose we are asked,

　　1) “What subject did the Buddha teach

　　"

　　這個問題最好引用佛陀所說的話回答：“比丘們！現在和從前一樣，我只有教導苦(dukkha)和苦的止息。”(泰本巴利藏第１２冊，２７８頁)。

　　THE BEST WAY of answering this is to quote the Buddha himself, “Know this, O Monks: Now, as formerly, I teach of only dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness) and the elimination of dukkha.”

　　不管這回答是否符合你原來的想法，請好好思惟它。我們當然也可用其他方式回答，但是在這段話中，佛陀確實已將自己的教導歸納得相當簡潔了。

　　Whether or not this answer agrees with what you had thought, please take good note of it. There are many other ways we may answer, but this one saying of the Buddha sums up his teaching very succinctly.

　　佛陀只教導“苦”和“苦的止息”，所有和止息苦沒有直接相關的問題就不回答，例如“死後會再投生嗎？”、“是什麼去投生呢？”這些問題可以日後再思考。

　　The Buddha taught only dukkha and the quenching of it. This renders irrelevant any questions without a direct bearing on the elimination of dukkha. Don”t consider such questions as “Is there rebirth after death

　　” or “How does rebirth take place

　　” These can be considered later.

　　所以，若有西方人問起這個問題，我們應依照這個准則回答：佛陀除了教導“苦”和“苦的止息”之外，再也沒有其他的了。

　　So, if a Westerner asks us this question, we shall answer it by saying, “The Buddha taught nothing other than dukkha and the elimination of it.”