舍我

　　Banishing the Self

　　接待了一個鍾頭，與來自各地的各色人等進行了各種主題的交流。但令人遺憾的是，幾乎所有的話題都離不開一個“我”字。我的煩惱、我的家庭、我的修行、我的上師、我想解脫、我要成就……林林總總，都是這些話題。

　　I spent an hour”s time receiving visitors from various places and of different backgrounds. Many topics were touched upon but regrettably, almost all of them revolved around the single item of “I”—my problems, my family, my spiritual training, my teacher, my desire for liberation, my wish for accomplishment…. In short, that”s all there is.

　　爲什麼跳不出這個“我”呢？無始以來，爲了這個字，我們付出了太多的代價。“我”，如同一條無形的絹索，使人們生活在自我的禁锢與陶醉之中，因患得患失而始終不得自在。

　　Why can”t we escape from control of the “I”

　　 From time without beginning, we have paid dearly for this singular “I.” It”s like an invisible lasso that binds us in self-confinement and intoxication; it makes us worry about personal gains and losses and never allows us a moment”s rest.

　　《入中論》雲：“最初說我而執我，次言我所則著法，如水車轉無自在……”

　　In Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara) it says:

　　Initially fixating on this so-called I as an existing self,

　　“Mine” gives rise to grasping.

　　Helpless beings, driven as an irrigation wheel….

　　衆生因無明習氣，將四大聚合假立之我妄執爲有，從而産生我執及我所執，由執起惑，因惑造業，以至于流轉輪回，無有了期。

　　Driven by habits from ignorance, sentient beings mistakenly take the composite “I” of the four elements as truly existing and arouse the attachment of “I” and “mine.” Grasping leads to afflictions, and afflictions to misdeeds, resulting in samsaric cycling with no end.

　　當“我”在頭腦中占了上風的時候，仔細剖析一下“我”的本來面目，如果能通達一切身心，皆爲虛妄，芝麻許之實性，也了不可得。既然身心皆無，何來因外境而生煩惱的道理，自然會逐漸減少我執。依此修習，終將斷盡我與我所執，煩惱也必將隨之而煙消雲散。

　　If “I” is getting the better of you, you should analyze its true face meticulously. You will see that both the physical body and the mind are illusory; they don”t have the tiniest bit of reality and are ineffable. Now that neither the body nor the mind truly exists, how on earth can troubled emotion arise from external influences

　　 Meditating in this way, self-attachment will by itself diminish gradually. In the end, we will be able to eradicate completely the grasping to self and others and all afflictive emotions will vanish accordingly.

　　我們正行走在通往解脫彼岸的航線上，不要因爲“我”的暗礁而使修行的航船抛下沈重的鐵錨。

　　We are now sailing in the vast ocean toward liberation. Beware the submerged rock of “I,” lest we are forced to cast the heavy anchor and stall our ship of spiritual journey.

　　壬午年六月二十七日　

　　2002年8月5日　

　　27th of June, Year of RenWu

　　August 5, 2002