道

　　The Tao

　　想要返本還原，就要由「一」回到「○」；若恢複○字，

　　即回到本來的面目，就能轉妙*輪。

　　If we want to return to the origin, we must go from the One back to the Zero. Returning to the Zero,

　　we return to our original countenance; then we will be able to turn the wonderful Dharma wheel.

　　魚在水中，不知在水中；人生存在空氣裏，但看不見空氣。空氣雖然沒有形象，看不見，但不能說空氣不存在。魚生存在水裏，看不見水，但它一離開水，就不能生存。人要依賴空氣而生存，雖說空氣吃不飽，但需要空氣來生存，否則所有物質都會死掉。

　　Fish live in the water, but don”t know that they are in water. People live surrounded by air, but cannot see the air. Although the air is invisible, we cannot say it doesn”t exist. Fish cannot see the water, but they cannot survive outside of it. People depend on air for their survival. Although we can”t live on air, we need it to live. Without air, all forms of life would die.

　　人間有空氣，在天上就有一股神氣、神性，在佛就有佛性。佛性和神性雖然都看不見，但在聖人的境界而言，也是不能沒有的。若無神氣，神也會墮落；若無佛性，佛也就沒有了，這都是妙不可言的境界。我們人修行，就是要修無形的大道、無情的大道、無名的大道。所以太上老君在《清靜經》上說：

　　In the human realm, there is air. In the heavens, there is a spiritual energy, a spiritual nature. And in the state of the Buddhas, there is the Buddha-nature. Although the Buddha-nature and spiritual nature cannot be seen, sages cannot be without them. Without that spiritual energy, the gods would fall into the lower realms. Without the Buddha-nature, there would be no Buddhas. These are all ineffably wonderful states. When we cultivate, we want to cultivate the great Tao which has no form or sentiment, the great Tao which is nameless. Lao Zi said in the Classic of Purity and Stillness,

　　大道無形，生育天地；

　　大道無情，運行日月；

　　大道無名，長養萬物；

　　吾不知其名，強名曰道。

　　The great Tao is formless;

　　 it nurtures heaven and earth.

　　The great Tao is emotionless; it moves

　　 the sun and moon in their orbits.

　　The great Tao is nameless;

　　 it causes the myriad things to grow.

　　I do not know its name,

　　 so I merely call it the Tao.

　　「道」字一開始就有兩點，即陰點、陽點，這也就是「人」字的變化，人字分開就是一陰一陽，這兩點是人字倒過來的寫法。修道就是要倒過來，要逆流、非順流；順流就是生死流，逆流則是涅槃。「逆」字也是上面有兩點，所以這都是因人爲之，要順就順，願逆就逆。

　　The Chinese character Tao(道) has two short strokes on top representing yin and yang. If the character for “person”(人) is taken apart, it becomes one yin and one yang. These two strokes are the character ren(人)“person” inverted. Cultivating the Tao means turning around and going against the current. Going along the current is birth and death; going against it is Nirvana. The character ni(逆), “going against,” also has the two strokes on top representing “person, ” because it is a person who decides whether to go along or to oppose the current.

　　兩點之下，又加上一橫，這是個「一」字。人道從何處得？在「一」字找，要從「一」字開始，「一」字爲數目的本體。「一」字又是從何處變來的？它從「○」字而來。○是無內無外，無始無終，掃一切法，離一切相，放之則彌六合，卷之則退藏于密。一切萬物的開始，都從○字開始；一切山河大地，房廊屋舍，森羅萬象，都從○字開始。再往清楚了說，○字就是本有的佛性，它是大光明藏，圓陀陀、光灼灼。它小，比微塵還小；它大，大過法界，所以無限大、無限小都是它，沒有限量。

　　In the character for Tao, beneath the two strokes is a horizontal line─ the character yi, which means “one.” Where do we find the Tao of being a person

　　 We start with One, the basic substance of all numbers. Where did the One come from

　　 Zero. Zero has no inside or outside, no beginning or end; it sweeps away all dharmas and is apart from all appearances. “Expand it, and it fills the universe; roll it up, and it hides away secretly. ” The Zero is the beginning of all things. To put it more plainly, the Zero is our inherent Buddha-nature. It is the great, bright, perfect treasury of light. It can be tinier than a speck of dust, or greater than the Dharma Realm. It can be limitlessly great and limitlessly small; it has no bounds.

　　可是人不守規矩，將「○」字弄破了，就變成「一」字。所以單是「○」字，沒有「一」字，就沒有數目；必須要有「一」，才有數目。本來是圓陀陀、光灼灼，然後變成「一」，一方面成陰，一方面成陽，所以「一陰一陽之謂道，偏陰偏陽之謂疾」。

　　When people do not follow the rules, the Zero breaks up and turns into One. When there is only Zero, there are no numbers. The numbers start with One. In the beginning, there is only the round, bright circle, and then it turns into the One, which is both yin and yang. “One yin and one yang make the Tao. Excessive yin or excessive yang causes sickness.”

　　人修道要從「一」字開始，要從自己找「自」，就是眼目的「目」上面加一撇，這也就是教你回光返照，教你眼睛向裏看，不要往外看。合起來就是「自」，再加上「這」的偏旁，就成一個「道」字。

　　Cultivation of the Tao must begin with One, and with searching for one”s own self. The word zi (自)“self” is the character mu(目)“eye” with a stroke added on top. This tells us to look within, to turn our eyes inwards, not to look outwards. When you add the radical for “walking ”(這), it becomes the character Tao(道)“path.”

　　「道」必須要修它，才是道，所以韓愈在〈原道〉一文中說到：「由是而至焉之謂道。」意思是從這個地方，走到那個地方，就是道。道是走出來的，所以修道要躬行實踐，努力認真。想要返本還原，就要由「一」回到「○」，也就是「得一萬事畢」。若恢複○字，即回到本來的面目，就能轉妙*輪。

　　It becomes the Tao, or Path, only when it is walked. Thus when Han Yu says in the essay “Yuan Tao”(“Path to the Origin”), "A path goes from one place to another." People form a path by walking it; to walk the spiritual path, we must practice with serious effort. If we want to return to the origin, we must go from One back to Zero.

　　When the One is attained,

　　All things are settled.

　　When we return to the Zero, we return to our original countenance; then we will be able to turn the wonderful Dharma wheel.

　　一九八二年十月十日開示

　　A talk given on October 10, 1982

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