Many people think that greed is something for greedy officials, and only greed for wealth can be called greed. But in fact it is not like this. When you come in contact with the external world, and you develop an inordinate liking for something, and want to have it and do not want to lose it, then greedy thoughts are produced.
佛家说“人身宝”，人属于三善道，积累许多福报，才能做一回人，可见人身的重要。有了身体，我们的灵魂就有了承载之物；有了身体，我们就能实现灵魂的指令；有了身体，我们就能创造岁月毁不去的价值。因此，我们必须照顾好这个得来不易的身体，保证它的健康。但是，渐渐地，我们忘记了灵魂才是生命的主体，反而把肉体当成生命的全部，就像把豪华轿车看做自己的尊严一样。我们不明白，豪华轿车总有它的寿命，肉体也是一样。
Buddhists say that “a human incarnation is precious.” Humans belong to the three good planes of existence. Only when one has accumulated a lot of merit can one become a human, and obviously a human incarnation is important. When we have a human body, then our minds and spirits have something to carry them. When we have a human body, then we can carry out the directions of the spirit. When we have a human body, then we can build value that time cannot destroy. Because of this, we must take good care of this body that is not easily attained, and preserve its health. But gradually, we come to forget that the spirit is the principal subject of life, and instead we take the physical body as the whole of life. This is like looking on a limousine as the same as one’s own dignity. We do not understand that the limousine has its own lifespan, and it is the same for the physical body.
不明白这一点的我们，总是放纵身体的各种欲望，变得越来越懒惰，变得越来越愚痴，变得越来越贪婪。我们听不见灵魂的声音，不知道这并不是我们需要的生活，只是隐隐约约地感到，内心深处仿佛藏着一个巨大的黑洞。为了填满这个黑洞，我们不断往自己的心里塞东西，工作、聚餐、游戏、购物，我们不敢让自己停下来，害怕静止的自己会被一种巨大的空虚与不安所吞噬。我们不知道，那巨大的旋涡将把我们卷到什么地方。我们害怕未知，我们也害怕思考。我们知道，自己一旦陷入思考，就会发现天大的谬误，发现自己耗费整个人生所追求的，并不是自己真正需要的东西，但我们又不具备改变的勇气与智慧。因此，我们对思考的恐惧，甚至多于我们对答案的期待，我们不得不在迷途上狂奔。但是，没有方向的狂奔，怎能医治灵魂的阵痛，怎能带来快乐？对迷宫中的荆棘林妥协，又怎么能让我们走出无尽的暗夜？
When we do not clearly understand this point, then we are always indulging in various physical desires, and we become more and more lazy, and more and moreignorant, andmore and more greedy. We cannot hear the voice of the spirit, and we do not know that this is not the life we need. We just dimly feel that the depths of our inner minds seem to be hidden in a gigantic black hole. To fill this black hole, we are constantly stuffing things into our minds: work, meals, games, shopping. We don’t dare to let ourselves stop, for fear that if we quiet down and stop, we will be swallowed up by a great void and sense of unease. We don’t know where that giant whirlpool will spin us to. We fear the unknown, and we are afraid to think about it. We know that once we fall to thinking about it, then we will discover an enormous error, and discover that what we have wasted our whole lives pursuing is not the thing we truly need. But we are still not prepared with the courage and wisdom to change. Because of this, our fear of thinking about it, and our expectations about the answer, we cannot help getting lost and madly running away. But if we are madly running away without direction, how can we remedy the labor pains of the spirit, and how can we bring happiness? If we compromise with the forest of thorns in the palace of delusion, how can we let ourselves get out of the endless dark night?
有的人也明白，痛苦和不安是欲望带来的，可他们还是甘心听从欲望的支配。这又是为了什么？因为他们认假成真，执幻为实，觉得放下欲望会失去许多做人的乐趣。他们不明白，放下欲望的结果，其实跟他们的猜想刚好相反。
Some people do understand that suffering and uneasiness are brought on by desire, but they are still willing to submit to the dictates of desires. Why is this? Because they accept the false as true, and cling to the illusory as real, and the feel that if they let go of desires, they would lose the many pleasures of being human. They do not understand that the result of letting go of desires is in fact the complete opposite of what they think it would be.
举个例子，你讨厌青蛙，也讨厌它们的声音，当你被蛙鸣包围的时候，一定会不堪其扰，还会觉得蛙们在对你进行噪音攻击。但认知真心、放下欲望的人们则刚好相反。他们的心里没有烦躁，只有一种由衷的快乐。因为，在他们心中，那是大自然的爱语，是蛙们友好的表示，是免费的交响音乐会。无论是听昂贵的音乐会，还是静静凝听大自然的声音，他们都一样快乐自在。你说，他们减少的到底是乐趣，还是折磨？
Let’s take an example. You are disgusted by frogs, and disgusted by the sounds they make, and when you are surrounded by frogs, you certainly will not be able to tolerate the harassment, and you will feel that the frogs are launching a noise attack at you. But for people who know the true mind, and have given up desires, it is exactly the opposite. In their minds there is no troublesome agitation, there is only a kind of heartfelt happiness. This is because, in their minds, the noises the frogs make are nature’s words of love, the expression of the frogs’ friendship, a free symphony. No matter whether they are listening to an expensive concert, or quietly listening to the voice of nature, they are in the same happy and independent state. So you tell me: ultimately, is what they have reduced pleasure, or is it torment?
不要害怕面对自己的真心，更不要害怕在真心的指导下生活，用真心感受这个世界，你将会发现，世界虽然不像一些人期望的那样单纯，但是也没有你想象中的那么复杂。归根到底，无论单纯还是复杂，都是概念化的你对它的归纳，一切不过是梦幻泡影。叶子上那颗晶莹剔透的朝露还在吗？它早被阳光蒸发了，它的存在就像一种幻觉。你小时候做过的荒唐事，现在还被人津津乐道吗？恐怕只有你自己才记得吧，再过两年，连你也忘了，它也就像梦一样消失了。
Do not be afraid of the true mind that is facing you, and do not be afraid to live under the direction of the true mind. When you perceive this world with the true mind, you will discover that although the world is not as simple as people wish it to be, it is not as complicated as you imagine. Fundamentally, no matter whether simple or complex, this is all the deductions you make about it when you when you are conceptualizing it, and all of this is no more than a dream, an illusion, a bubble. Is that glittering morning dew that was on the leaves still there? It has already been evaporated by the sunlight, and its existence is like an illusion. Do people now still enjoy talking about the absurd things you did when you were young? Probably only you yourself remember them, and a couple of years from now even you will have forgotten them – they too will disappear like dreams.
我们的生命是一场巨大的幻觉。明白这一点，就坦然地面对生命中的所有事情，不以好坏、喜恶来分别它们，不要生起分别心，然后品味生命中的一切，宁静、快乐地生活。或者像我这样，找到一种方式，创造一种岁月毁不去的价值，在虚幻无常中建立一种相对的永恒。这样的人生，难道还不够幸福吗？
Our lives are a giant illusion. When you understand this point, then you will face everything in life calmly, and not differentiate things in terms of good and bad and liking and disliking. Do not give rise to the discriminating mind, and then you will savor everything in life, and live tranquilly and happily. You may be like me, and find a way to create something of value that time will not destroy, and in the midst of empty illusion and impermanence, establish a relative permanence. Can we say that such a life is still not fortunate enough?
再者，欲望是啥？欲望是沙漠中的海市蜃楼，是饿死鬼眼中的食物，它们虚幻无比，却能点燃你心中的毒火，让你在焦躁中坐立不安。为啥它有这么巨大的影响力呢？因为认假成真的我们，心中总是充满了贪婪。
Furthermore, what is desire? Desire is a mirage in the desert. It is food in the eyes of a hungry ghost. Desires are incomparably empty and illusory, but they can light a poisonous flame in your mind, and make you so anxious you cannot sit still. Why do they have such vast power to influence us? Because, when we accept the false as real, our minds are always full of greed.
但好多人都不愿意承认这一点，因为他们对“贪婪”的认知非常片面。他们常常以为，贪婪是贪官们的事情，只有贪财才称得上贪婪，但事实并非如此。当你接触外部世界，对某种东西产生偏爱，想拥有、不想失去的时候，贪念就产生了。比如，你很喜欢吃荔枝，明知吃多了会上火，还是忍不住越吃越多，这就是贪；你很喜欢恋爱的感觉，明明觉得对方不适合你，还是轻易地接受了对方的追求，这也是贪。生活中的每个细节，都能折射出一个人的贪欲，正是因为无法抵挡贪欲的诱惑，人才会做出许多违背善道，甚至超越道德底线的事情。所以说，“贪”是诸恶之源。人们总是以为，只要找到合适的处理方法，自己在乎的东西就会永恒存在，包括生命。所以，他们费尽心思地维护自己的利益，对一切都不肯放手，贪名、贪利、贪财、贪色、贪世间一切，疯狂地追逐，拥有越多执著便越多，执著越多欲望越多，于是堕入恶性循环。这时，他们就像落进蛛网的蜜蜂，无论如何挣扎，都被牢牢地缠于其中，难以挣脱。
But many people are unwilling to accept this point, because their knowledge of “greed” is very one-sided. They often think greed is something for greedy officials, and only greed for wealth can be called greed. But in fact, it is not like this. When you come in contact with the external world, and you develop an inordinate liking for something, and want to have it and do not want to lose it, then greedy thoughts are produced. For example, you like to eat lychee fruit, and you know that if you eat too many of them you will get sick, but you still can stop eating more and more of them – this is greed. You like the feeling of having love affairs, and though you clearly understand that this partner is not right for you, you still casually accept the partner’s advances – this too is greed. Everything that happens in life can reflect a person’s greed. It is precisely because they have no way to resist the enticing delusions of greedy desires that people can do so many immoral things, and go beyond the moral baseline. Thus it is said that “greed” is the source of all evils. People always assume that all they have to do is find the appropriate way to handle things, and then the things they care about will last forever, including life itself. So they think of nothing but protecting their own advantage, and will not let go of anything – they are greedy for reputation, greedy for profit, greedy for wealth, greedy for sex, greedy for everything in the world. They madly pursue all this: the more they have, the more they cling to it, and the more they cling, the more desires they have, and so they descend into a cycle of evil. Then they are like bees who have fallen into a spider web, and no matter how they struggle, they are firmly tangled up in it, and it is hard to escape.
但也有人认为，欲望是推动人与社会不断前进的原动力，如果没有欲望，人与社会的进步都会停歇。我告诉他，事情不是这样的。为什么这么说？因为，以利己欲望为动力的进步，是以损害众生利益的代价来实现的。罔顾社会责任、缺乏爱心的技术上的进步，往往导致足以使人类灭亡的大灾难。泥石流、洪水、海啸、核事故……多少人葬身于群体贪欲招致的恶果，难道这不是大自然对人类吹响的警笛吗？假如鲜血的代价还是不能让人醒悟的话，人类的未来也就堪忧了。
But there are people who think that desire is the original motive force that pushes people and societies to constantly make progress. They think that if there were no desires, then the progress of people and societies would all cease. I would tell them that things are not this way. Why do I say this? Because progress that is motivated by selfish desire is brought about at the price of damaging what is beneficial for living beings. Technological progress which disregards social duty and lacks a loving heart often brings about great disasters which would be enough to obliterate the human race. Landslides, floods, tsunamis, nuclear accidents…. How many people lose their lives in evil consequences brought on by mass greed? Isn’t this nature sounding the alarm for the human race? If the price paid in blood is still unable to make people wake up, then the future of humanity is something to worry about.
同样道理，如果一个人将利己的欲望当做前进的动力，那么他的所有行为就都是为了获得更大的利益，甚至不惜损人利己。这时候，无论他拥有多少东西，获得了怎样的地位，对于世界来说，都绝不是一个有益的存在。再者，一个人在埋没良知、伤害别人的时候，必然无法活得坦然，即使他不懂忏悔，也会感到心虚，害怕自己保不住那些用良知换来的东西。扪心自问，追名逐利也好，享受生活也好，难道不是为了让自己活得更快乐吗？那么，如果失去坦然、安宁，时刻活在惶恐与担忧之中的话，你的一切行为，又有什么意义呢？
By the same principle, if one person takes his own desires as the motive force for making progress, then all his actions will be for the sake of gaining greater profits, and he will not hesitate to hurt others to profit himself. Then, no matter how much he has, and what kind of position he has attained, none of it has been of any benefit for the world. What’s more, when a person buries his conscience and harms other people, there will certainly be no way for him to live in peace, and even if he does not repent, he will feel a sense of guilt, and fear that he will not be able to hold onto those things he traded his conscience for. He may examine his conscience, he may pursue fame and gain, he may enjoy life, but isn’t this just to enable himself to live more happily? So then, if you lose calmness and tranquility, and are always living amidst anxiety and worry, what meaning do any of your actions have?
