(３)如果有外国人问你：

　　“佛教中最简要的根本思想是什么？”

　　3) Now, suppose you meet a person from another country who asks you,

　　3) “Put as briefly as possible, what is the basic message of Buddhism

　　”

　　我们可以引用佛陀最简短的一句话来回答：“一切都不要执着！”

　　THIS CAN BE answered in one short sentence, a saying of the Buddha himself: “Nothing whatsoever should be grasped at or clung to.”

　　这句话是佛陀亲口宣说的简明格言。我们不必花时间到浩翰的三藏(Tipitaka)中去寻找答案，因为佛陀已用这句话，把佛教教义描述得相当清楚。

　　That nothing should be grasped at or clung to is a handy maxim from the mouth of the Buddha himself. We don”t need to waste time in searching through the Tipi.aka (the recorded Teaching), because this one short statement puts it all quite clearly.

　　若把佛陀所有的教诲，乃至八万四千法门归结起来，就是这么一句话——“一切都不要执着！”这句话提醒我们：执着只会带来痛苦。当我们了悟这道理时，可以说已经明了了佛说的八万四千法门；当我们实践这句话时，也可以说已实践了一切法门。

　　In all the discourses, in the entire teaching, there are as many as eighty-four thousand Dhamma topics, all of which may be summed up in the single sentence, “nothing should be grasped at.” This tells us that to grasp at things and cling to them is suffering (dukkha). When we have come to Know this, we can be said to know all the utterances of the Buddha, the entire eighty-four thousand Dhamma topics. And to have put this into practice is to have practised Dhamma completely, in its every phase and aspect.

　　为什么人会犯戒？因为他有所执着，如果没有任何喜欢或讨厌的执着，就不会犯戒。为什么人的心会散乱不定？因为执着某些事物。为什么人会没有智慧？因为他愚痴而执着某些事物。如果一个能修证到“一切都不执着”的地步，他当下便能悟道、证果，得到究竟涅槃。

　　The reason a person fails to keep to the rules of conduct is that he grasps at and clings to things. If he refrains from grasping at and clinging to anything whatever, and puts aside craving and aversion, he cannot fail to keep the rules of conduct. The reason a person”s mind is distracted and unable to concentrate is that he is grasping at and clinging to something. The reason a person lacks insight is the same. When he is finally able to practise non-grasping, then simultaneously he attains the Noble Paths, their Fruits, and ultimately nibbāna (Sanskrit, nirvāna).

　　 佛陀是个完完全全没有执著的人，佛法教导“不执着”的“行”和“证”，僧伽是一群正在修行或已经修证“不执着”的出家众。

　　The Buddha was a man who grasped at absolutely nothing. The Dhamma teaches the practice and the fruit of the practice of non- grasping. The Sangha (Community of Noble Disciples) consists of people who practise non-grasping, some who are in the process of practising, and some who have completed the practice. This is what the Sangha is.

　　当有人问佛陀：“可否将你的全部教导归纳成最简短的一句话？”佛陀回答：“可以！”接着说：“一切都不要执着！”

　　When people asked the Buddha whether his entire teaching could be summarized in a single sentence, he answered that it could, and said, “Nothing whatsoever should be grasped at or clung to.”