眼識

　　Visual Perception

　　人們習慣于贊美日出日落。盡管日心說已誕生500年，太陽從地平線升起、隕落的觀念仍在人們的心中揮之不去。即使在讀小學時，老師再叁地告訴他們，不是太陽圍繞地球旋轉，而是地球的自轉導致了日出日落的假相，但人們似乎更相信自己的眼睛。

　　For ages people have been admiring the spectacular beauty of sunrise and sunset, and have had a firm notion that the sun rises and sets from the earth”s horizon. Such a perception still prevails even though the heliocentric theory has been in existence for 500 years. Since elementary school, teachers have taught us: The sun does not move; rather, it is the earth”s daily rotation on its axis that causes the sun to appear as though it goes up and down in our sky. Yet people tend to lean more toward what they see with their eyes.

　　如果你再告訴他們，不僅日出日落是錯覺，而且眼中所見的日月星辰、山川大地均是幻象時，他一定會張大雙眼，並考慮是否將你送進瘋人院。

　　Still, if you tell them that not only are the sunrise and sunset erroneous, but also that everything we see—the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, and rivers—are all illusory, your audience will widen their eyes and wonder if they should check you into a mental hospital.

　　無始以來，人們執著于自己的眼睛所看到的東西，認爲是實有，從而産生貪嗔癡等染汙意識，並建立了自己心中固有的世界觀。一旦看到佛教中關于世界觀的提法、關于佛刹的種種描述，立刻會用自以爲證據確鑿的現量眼識加以否定，並有更多的人簇擁左右爲其搖旗呐喊。這種自以爲是的行爲，實在無異于井蛙之見。

　　From time without beginning, humans are fixated on what they see with their eyes. Believing all visual objects truly exist, they become attached, averted, or indifferent to these objects and establish their inherent view of the universe. The cosmic view of Buddhism and the various descriptions of Buddha”s Pure Land, on the other hand, are flatly denied, as they cannot be validly proven by direct sensory perceptions, the seemingly indisputable gauge. Many followers identify with this viewpoint and champion it. This kind of self-righteous attitude is simply very shallow and confined.

　　《叁摩地王經》雲：“眼耳鼻非量，舌身意也非，若此爲正量，聖道複益誰？”

　　The King of Concentration Sutra says:

　　Eyes, ears, and nose are not valid instruments of measurement;

　　Nor are tongue, body, and consciousness reliable.

　　Should their perceptions be true,

　　Whom should the holy Doctrines benefit

　　說明了凡夫的眼識不是究竟的。在你眼前一名活生生的美女，若詳細觀察，不僅可將其粗分爲皮、肉、骨、血，甚至可分至無分微塵，並最終抉擇爲空性。這個“大膽”的觀點，一定會讓很多世間人大跌眼鏡，然而它卻是放之四海而皆准的真理。

　　This teaching explains that our mortal eye consciousness is not something ultimate. For instance, a lively and pretty lady in front of you, if subjected to careful analysis, can be mentally dissected grossly into skin, flesh, bones, blood, and other components, and even pided further into subtle inpisible particles, which in the end are not intrinsically existent and thus empty in nature. Such a “bold” conclusion is sure to shock many ordinary people, yet it is a truism applicable everywhere.

　　如同牛不僅是色盲，而且在它眼中，所有的東西都是橫著的。鵝看一切東西，都比實際的尺寸小，才導致了它不可一世的個性。在昆蟲的複眼裏，世界一定又是另外一番模樣。六道衆生、菩薩與佛陀觀察世界所得出的結論也是大相徑庭的。所以，眼見爲實的觀點怎麼會是究竟的呢？

　　Cows are color-blind; moreover, they see all things as lying on the side. In the eyes of a goose, things all look smaller than their actual size, and that”s the reason for the goose”s overbearing manner. To insects with compound eyes, the world is totally different from how it appears to us. The conclusions of the world viewed from beings of the six realms and from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all completely different. Therefore, how can the statement “to see is to believe” be an ultimate and irrefutable one

　　千萬不要相信自己的眼識！

　　Never trust your own eyes!

　　壬午年七月十八日 　

　　2002年8月26日 　

　　18th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 26, 2002