..续本文上一页at there is no self, but it seems safe to assume that if one forces those statements to give an answer to a question that should be put aside, one is drawing inferences where they shouldn”t be drawn.

　　因此，与其对自我是否存在这个问题回答“不存在”——无论这个自我是指相关、独立、是否永恒——佛陀认为这个问题从一开始就有误导性。为什么

　　 无论你怎样划定“我”与“他”的界线，自我这个概念包含了某种自我认同与执取因素，因此就带着苦与紧张。这个分析适用于一个独立的自我，也适用于一个与外界相通的自我，这样的自我不承认“他”。假如一个人认同自然的一切，他便为每一株落木而苦。这个分析也适用于对整个“其它”宇宙[的认同]，在那里的隔绝感与徒劳感极其有害，使人对快乐的追求(无论为己为他)成为不可能。出于这些原因，佛陀的忠告是，不要去注意“我存在吗

　　 ”、或者“我不存在吗

　　”这类问题，因为无论你怎样回答，都会导致苦与张力。

　　So, instead of answering "no" to the question of whether or not there is a self — interconnected or separate, eternal or not — the Buddha felt that the question was misguided to begin with. Why

　　 No matter how you define the line between "self" and "other," the notion of self involves an element of self-identification and clinging, and thus suffering and stress. This holds as much for an interconnected self, which recognizes no "other," as it does for a separate self. If one identifies with all of nature, one is pained by every felled tree. It also holds for an entirely "other" universe, in which the sense of alienation and futility would become so debilitating as to make the quest for happiness — one”s own or that of others — impossible. For these reasons, the Buddha advised paying no attention to such questions as "Do I exist

　　" or "Don”t I exist

　　" for however you answer them, they lead to suffering and stress.

　　为了避免有关“我”与“他”的问题内部隐含的苦，他提出另一种解析经验的方式: 有关苦、苦因、灭苦、灭苦之道的四圣谛。 他说，不要把这些事看成与我、与他有关，而应该把它们看成存在现实本身、直接的经验本身，接下来对它们各自施行相应的责任。 应当去理解张力、消除其因、实现其止息、培养止息之道。 这些责任，构成了理解anatta学说的最佳背景。如果你培养了戒德、定力、明辨，达到一个宁静的状态，在这个状态下，以四圣谛的原则看待经验，在心中升起的问题就不是“有没有自我

　　 我是什么

　　” 而是“我在受苦，是不是因为我执着于这个特别现象

　　 它真的是我、我自己、我的吗

　　 如果它是苦，但实际上却不是我或者我的，又为什么要执着呢

　　 ” 后面那组问题，就值得一个直接了当的答复了，因为这时的答案能帮助你理解苦，放下导致苦的追求与执着，即放下残余的自我认同，直到最后，一切自我认同的痕迹消失，剩下的是无限的自由。

　　To avoid the suffering implicit in questions of "self" and "other," he offered an alternative way of piding up experience: the four Noble Truths of stress, its cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. Rather than viewing these truths as pertaining to self or other, he said, one should recognize them simply for what they are, in and of themselves, as they are directly experienced, and then perform the duty appropriate to each. Stress should be comprehended, its cause abandoned, its cessation realized, and the path to its cessation developed. These duties form the context in which the anatta doctrine is best understood. If you develop the path of virtue, concentration, and discernment to a state of calm well-being and use that calm state to look at experience in terms of the Noble Truths, the questions that occur to the mind are not "Is there a self

　　 What is my self

　　" but rather "Am I suffering stress because I”m holding onto this particular phenomenon

　　 Is it really me, myself, or mine

　　 If it”s stressful but not really me or mine, why hold on

　　" These last questions merit straightforward answers, as they then help you to comprehend stress and to chip away at the attachment and clinging — the residual sense of self-identification — that cause it, until ultimately all traces of self-identification are gone and all that”s left is limitless freedom.

　　在这个意义上，anatta 的教导并非是个无我(no-self)的学说，而是一个非我(not-self)的策略，藉着放下苦因、走向最高快乐，这样来消解苦。在那时，我、无我、非我这些问题就落到了一边。有了这样彻底自由的经验，又何必关心是谁、是不是我在经历它呢

　　In this sense, the anatta teaching is not a doctrine of no-self, but a not-self strategy for shedding suffering by letting go of its cause, leading to the highest, undying happiness. At that point, questions of self, no-self, and not-self fall aside. Once there”s the experience of such total freedom, where would there be any concern about what”s experiencing it, or whether or not it”s a self

《无我，还是非我

　　》全文阅读结束。