无我，还是非我
作者] 坦尼沙罗尊者
[中译]良稹
No-self or Not-self
by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu
西方人了解佛教的过程中经常遭遇的第一个障碍，是有关 anatta的教导，这个词常被译成无我(no-self)。这个教导成为障碍，有两个理由。首先，没有自我这个观点与佛陀的其它教导并不吻合，比如业与轮回。假如没有自我，是什么承受业的后果，继续轮回
第二，它与我们自己的犹太-基督教背景也难以吻合，后者把永恒的灵魂或者自我，当成一个基本前提。假如没有自我，灵性生活的目的又是什么
许多书籍试图解答这个问题，但是如果查看记载着现存最早的佛陀教导的巴利文献，你在经中根本找不到与此相关的陈述。实际上只有一处，有人当面直接问佛陀，自我是否存在，而他却拒绝回答了。后来有人问他为什么，他说，认定有我、无我两个观点中的任何一个，均属极端妄见，不可能走上佛法修持之路。因此，这样的问题应该放在一边。为了理解他对这个问题保持缄默意味着anatta 的释义是什么，我们首先必须阅读他的教导，有关怎样提出问题、解答问题、以及怎样理解他的答复。
One of the first stumbling blocks that Westerners often encounter when they learn about Buddhism is the teaching on anatta, often translated as no-self. This teaching is a stumbling block for two reasons. First, the idea of there being no self doesn”t fit well with other Buddhist teachings, such as the doctrine of kamma and rebirth: If there”s no self, what experiences the results of kamma and takes rebirth
Second, it doesn”t fit well with our own Judeo-Christian background, which assumes the existence of an eternal soul or self as a basic presupposition: If there”s no self, what”s the purpose of a spiritual life
Many books try to answer these questions, but if you look at the Pali Canon — the earliest extant record of the Buddha”s teachings — you won”t find them addressed at all. In fact, the one place where the Buddha was asked point-blank whether or not there was a self, he refused to answer. When later asked why, he said that to hold either that there is a self or that there is no self is to fall into extreme forms of wrong view that make the path of Buddhist practice impossible. Thus the question should be put aside. To understand what his silence on this question says about the meaning of anatta, we first have to look at his teachings on how questions should be asked and answered, and how to interpret his answers.
佛陀把一切问题分为四类: 一类值得明确答复(直接的是与否); 一类值得分析式答复，即对该问题加以定义与限制; 一类值得反问，即把球送回提问者的场地; 一类值得放在一边。这最后一类，则包括那些不能终止苦与紧张的问题。一位老师接到问题时，首要责任是弄清这个问题属于哪一类，之后以相应方式作答。比如你对一个该放在一边的问题，便不以是与否作答。假如你是提问者，得到一个答复后，便要决定对其推论该走多远。佛陀说，误解他的人有两类: 一类对不该作推论的陈述去作推论，还有一类该作推论却不作。
The Buddha pided all questions into four classes: those that deserve a categorical (straight yes or no) answer; those that deserve an analytical answer, defining and qualifying the terms of the question; those that deserve a counter-question, putting the ball back in the questioner”s court; and those that deserve to be put aside. The last class of question consists of those that don”t lead to the end of suffering and stress. The first duty of a teacher, when asked a question, is to figure out which class the question belongs to, and then to respond in the appropriate way. You don”t, for example, say yes or no to a question that should be put aside. If you are the person asking the question and you get an answer, you should then determine how far the answer should be interpreted. The Buddha said that there are two types of people who misrepresent him: those who draw inferences from statements that shouldn”t have inferences drawn from them, and those who don”t draw inferences from those that should.
这些便是理解佛陀教导的基本原则，不过如果看看多数作者对 anatta学说的解释，我们发现这些基本原则给忽略了。有些作者试图对无我的铨释加以限定，说佛陀否定的是永恒自我或者独立自我的存在，不过这样做，是对一个佛陀表明该放在一边的问题，给出分析式答复。其他人则试图从经文中几个似乎暗示自我不存在的陈述里作推论，不过可以肯定，迫使这些句子对一个该放在一边的问题给出答案，那么他是在作不当推论。
These are the basic ground rules for interpreting the Buddha”s teachings, but if we look at the way most writers treat the anatta doctrine, we find these ground rules ignored. Some writers try to qualify the no-self interpretation by saying that the Buddha denied the existence of an eternal self or a separate self, but this is to give an analytical answer to a question that the Buddha showed should be put aside. Others try to draw inferences from the few statements in the discourse that seem to imply th…
《无我，还是非我
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