Why would you rather rely on alcohol or cigarettes or even marijuana or heroin, and still not be willing to wait to go forward and welcome and receive the awakening of wisdom? Wisdom when awakened is like the fundamental spiritual light inherent in your life, and it will influence your life without you being aware of it.
佛家的真理有很多种名字，有的时候它叫“善”，有的时候它叫“美”，有的时候它叫“爱”。不过，它不一定是一般意义上的善、美、爱，而且它总是伴随着“大”字出现，比如大善、大美、大爱。严格说来，这个“大”字不是一种对立的概念，而是对某种境界的描述。它类似于《道德经》中的“大象无形”、“大音希声”等等，象征万事万物大到某种程度之后，就没有了一切局限与外相。这种大，类似于宇宙之无垠。
Truth has many names in Buddhism. Sometimes it is called “the good,” sometimes it is called “the beautiful,” sometimes it is called “love.” But this is not necessarily goodness, beauty, and love in the ordinary sense, and so these terms are often accompanied by the word “great” – as in great good, great beauty, great love. Strictly speaking, this word “great” is not a relative dualistic concept, but rather a description of a certain realm of experience. It is similar to terms in the Dao De Jing: “great form without form,” “great sound without sound,” and so on. It signifies that after the greatness of the myriad things reaches a certain degree, there are no limits or external forms. This kind of greatness is like the boundlessness of the universe.
有的话语体系，还赋予了佛家真理另外一个名字——道。但它同样不是一般的道，而是最究竟的道，是一种本有智慧的光明。这种光明，也叫真心。真心与我们平时所说的“真心实意”不太一样。两者的区别在哪里呢？前者是一种远离一切妄想的清明状态，而后者仅仅是不作假而已。不作假，说明你心里还有真与假的对立，但是在真心的世界里，是不存在任何对立与分别的。从真正意义上来说，一般人所说的真心，仅仅是此刻的真，而此刻的真，又会飞快变成下一秒的假，因为万事万物都在变化。
In some linguistic systems, they give the Buddhist idea of truth another name – the Tao, [which means “the Path” or “the Way.”] But again, this is not the same as the usual path; rather, it is the ultimate Path, the light of inherent wisdom. This light is also called the true mind. The true mind is not the same as what we speak of ordinarily in the Chinese phrase “true mind, genuine intent” [which means “genuinely and sincerely” or “with all my heart”]. Where is the distinction between the two? The former, “true mind” in the Buddhist sense, is a pure clear state far removed from all false thoughts. The latter, “true mind” in the everyday colloquial Chinese phrase, just means not being false with someone, not lying or cheating. Not being false in this sense means that in your mind there is still a dualism of true and false. But in the world of true mind, no dualism or distinctions exist. Speaking from the true meaning, when the ordinary person says “true mind,” it is only what is true at this moment, and what is true at this moment will quickly change into a moment of falsity, because the myriad things are constantly changing.
我举个简单的例子：这一秒你觉得自己很孤单，不爱任何人，也不被任何人所爱，但是下一秒突然有人打电话给你，问候你的近况，还说了很多自己的心里话。这时候，你可能就会把上一秒的负面情绪全都忘掉，又觉得自己是爱和被爱着的。所以说，言语也罢，情绪也罢，都是无常的。这个世界上没有任何东西能够永恒，因此不会存在究竟的真，也没有究竟的假。或者说，究竟的真只有“变化”，相应的，究竟的假就是“恒常”。
Let me give an example. At this moment you feel you are very much alone, and you do not love anyone, and you are not loved by anyone. But the next moment, suddenly someone calls you on the phone, and asks how you have been lately, and talks a lot about what is on his mind. At this moment, you may totally forget about the negative emotion you were feeling just a moment ago, and feel that you love someone and that you are loved. This is why we say that no matter whether it is words or feelings, it is all impermanent. In this world there is not anything that can last forever, and so there cannot exist anything that is ultimate truth, and there cannot be anything that is ultimately false. In other words, the ultimate truth is that there is only “change,” and correspondingly, the ultimately falsehood is that something is “permanent.”
不作假不能让你找到真心，因为你对真假的执著正好让自己远离了真心。真心是远离一切概念与逻辑，远离一切二元对立的，你执著于任何概念与逻辑——包括执著于我对真心的所有表述——都会让自己远离真正的真心，也就是佛家常说的“空性”。一定要明白，它不是想出来的，不是被发明的，而是被发现的，所以你没法想到它，只能见到它。
Not acting falsely cannot enable you to find the true mind, because your clinging to notions of true and false will leave you far away from the true mind. The true mind is far removed from all concepts and logic, and far removed from all dualistic oppositions. If you cling to any concepts or logic – including what I am expressing about the true mind – it will always take you far away from the genuine true mind, which is also the “empty inherent nature” that Buddhism is always talking about. You must certainly understand that it is not something you think up, and not something you invent, but rather something which you discover. Thus, there is no way for you to think it up: all you can do is see it.
见到空性，就是“悟道”，也叫“见道”，这是一个怎么样的过程呢？我举个例子：有一天，朋友给了你他家的钥匙，你按照地址找到他家，开门，按下门口的电灯开关，漆黑的屋子立刻一片光明，与此同时，你清楚地看到了他家的“真实面目”。此前已有许多人多角度、多形式地向你描述过它，比如左边墙角放了三张椅子，墙纸是淡黄色的，窗帘是田园风格的等等，但是你的脑海中始终无法形成一种确实而具体的印象。所以开灯的刹那，你的心里会有一种恍然大悟的感觉：“哦，原来如此。”见到空性、见到世界的本来面目时也像这样。
When you manage to see the empty inherent nature, this is “awakening to the Path,” and it is also called “seeing the Path.” What kind of process is this then? I’ll give you an example. One day a friend gives you the key to his house. You find his house based on the address, open the door, and turn on the light switch at the door. The dark room immediately is lit up, and at the same time, you clearly see the “true face” of his house. Previously there were many people who had described it to you from many points of view, in many forms: for example, that there were three chairs in the right corner, and the wall paper was pale yellow, and the curtains were country-style, and so on. But in your brain it had never been possible to form a realistic, concrete image of the house. Thus, the instant you turn on the light, in your mind there is a feeling of sudden awakening: “Ah, actually it is like this.” It is also this way when you see empty inherent nature, when you see the original face of the world.
见到世界的本来面目时，你就明白了万事万物运作的规律。当你将这时的明白渗透到生命的基因当中，它就会随时随地发挥作用，让你自然破除很多执著与烦恼。我举个简单的例子：你如果见过雪漠，就不会被一个也留着大胡子的冒名顶替者所蒙骗，就算不用理性去分析，你也肯定能洞悉假“雪漠”口中的谎言。同样的道理，你一旦明白了眼前的一切都是因缘和合的，总是在变化，也就不会执著于某种恒常的假象，或者强求某个不可能永恒的东西变得永恒。不去强求，自然少了很多烦恼。不过，这种明白不是字面上的“明白”。你就算明白这句话是什么意思，一遇到事情的时候，也很可能会忘记我说过的所有道理。所以，知识不等于智慧，它影响不了你的生命。要让自己的生命真正地从痛苦中解脱出来，就要真正地感受这个道理、见到这个答案，你不能去依赖酒精、香烟或者电视剧。为什么呢？因为它们的效果不会永恒，还很有可能会伤害你的身体。如果你依靠它们来麻醉烦恼、释放压力，一旦它们失去效力，烦恼和压力就会重新回到你疲倦的身心，把你折腾得痛苦不已。那么，为什么你宁可依靠酒精、香烟甚至大麻、海洛因，也不愿意期待进而迎接一场智慧的觉醒呢？
When you manage to see the original face of the world, you will understand the law by which the myriad things operate. When you take this moment of clear understanding and let it soak into the genes of your life, then it will operate everywhere at all times, enabling you to spontaneously eliminate clingings and afflictions. I’ll give you a simple example. If you have met Xue Mo, you will not be fooled by an imposter who also has a big beard, and even if you do not use your reason to analyze it, you will surely be able to see through the lies in the mouth of the fake “Xue Mo.” By the same principle, once you have clearly understood that everything before your eyes is all made up of the coming together of causal conditions, that it is all changing, then you will not cling to any false form of permanence, or desperately seek something that cannot last forever and try to make it last forever. If you do not go desperately seeking, naturally you will greatly reduce afflictions. But this kind of clear understanding is not “clear understanding” at the verbal level. Even if you understand what this sentence means, as soon as you encounter something, it is very possible that you will forget all the principles I have been explaining. Thus, intellectual knowledge does not equal wisdom, and it cannot affect your life. If you want to genuinely liberate your own life from pain and suffering, then you must genuinely perceive this truth, and see this answer. You cannot rely on alcohol or cigarettes or television shows. Why? Because their effects cannot last forever, and it is very possible that they will damage your physical body. If you rely on such things to numb your afflictions, and release the pressures you feel, once they lose their effectiveness, the afflictions and pressures will return again to your exhausted body and mind, and make you suffer endless pain. So why would you rather rely on alcohol and cigarettes and even marijuana and heroin, and be unwilling to expect to go forward and welcome the enlightenment of wisdom?
觉醒的智慧就像你生命中本有的灵光，它会不知不觉地影响你的生命。你无需刻意提醒自己，也自然会发现世界上既没有需要解决的问题，也没有与你作对的人，一切都是你锻炼心灵的道具，一切经历都在丰富着你的生命体验，使你变得更加博大、更加快乐。你的心里再也没有欲求不满，也没有愤愤不平，自然活得自在逍遥。从此，你的举手投足无不在诠释大善、大美的真理，你所说的每一句话，你所做的每一件事，都是佛法的真实体现。你再也不会问我“什么是大美？大美有多美？”因为你的心中已经充满了大美。你再也不会问我“大善有多善？它为什么区别于小善？”因为你的心中已经充满了大善。你再也不会问我“什么是大爱？大爱有多爱？”，因为你的心中已经充满了大爱。你毫无疑惑，也没有一丝一毫的彷徨失措，因为你不想猜度，不用计较，也自然知道自己该怎么做。
Enlightened wisdom is like the inherent spiritual light in your life, and it will influence your life without you knowing it. You do not have to deliberately remind yourself, yet you will spontaneously discover that in the world there are no questions that have to be resolved, and there is no one opposed to you, and everything is a stage prop for refining your mind and spirit, everything you go through is enriching your life experience, making you become more profound and more happy. In your mind there will be no more unsatisfied desires and cravings, and no more resentments, and you will spontaneously live independently and at ease. From this point on, every move you make will elucidate the truth of great good and great beauty, and everything you say and everything you do will all be a genuine manifestation of the Buddha Dharma. You will never again ask me, “What is great beauty? How beautiful is great beauty?” because your own mind will already be filled with great beauty. You will never again ask me, “How good is great good? Why is it distinguished from lesser good?” because your own mind will already be filled with great good. You will never again ask me, “What is great love? How much love is great love?” because your own mind will already be filled with great love. You will not have the least bit of doubt or confusion or hesitation or uncertainty about how to proceed, because you will spontaneously know how you should do things without thinking or guessing or calculating.
有个学生曾经问我：“什么是妙观察智？我总是在观察别人，从中分析他们的心理活动和行为背后的动机，这是不是妙观察智？”我告诉她，这只是一种聪明。聪明人懂得分析，懂得判断，但是未必能够真正地洞察。因为真正的洞察不是聪明，而是智慧的妙用。比如说，走在野外的时候，身上一湿，你就知道可能下雨了，要打伞，这中间有思考的过程吗？没有，它更多的是一种直感。
A student once asked me: “What is the wondrous observing wisdom [one of the four wisdoms of the enlightened ones]? I am always observing other people, and from this I analyze the psychological motives behind their actions and behavior. Is this the wondrous observing wisdom or not?” I told her that this is a kind of intelligence. Intelligent people understand analysis and judgment, but they cannot yet genuinely see through things. This is because genuine insight is not intelligence, but rather the wondrous functioning of wisdom. For example, when you are walking outside, when your body begins to get wet, you know that it could be about to rain, and you must open your umbrella – is there some thought process in this? There’s not, this is more of a direct feeling.
又比如，你从心底里爱你的妈妈，这种爱甚至超过了你对自己的爱，那么你还用去看“如何与母亲相处”这类书籍，才能确保自己不做任何伤害母亲的事情吗？不用，因为你希望她能幸福快乐，甚至不忍心让她担心失望，又怎么会做出伤害她的事情？所以说，不要把聪明当成智慧，也不要把机心当成智慧。要想知道什么是佛家所说的妙观察智、法界体性智、大圆镜智、成所作智、平等性智，就要好好训练自己的心灵，让它慢慢拥有一种专注，拥有一种宁静，在瞬息万变的世界中，锻炼出一种如如不动的境界。这个时候，你不用思维，也会知道什么是佛家所说的三身五智。此前的所有描述，都相当于指月的手指，不是月亮本身，也不是智慧本身。
Take another example: you love your mother from the bottom of your heart, and this love even goes beyond the love you feel for yourself. So do you still have to read a book like “How to Get Along With Your Mother” before you can guarantee you will not do anything to hurt your mother? No, you don’t, because you hope she can have good fortune and happiness, and you cannot bear to let her worry or lose hope, so how could you do anything to hurt her? Thus we say that you must not take intelligence for wisdom, and you must not take cleverness for wisdom.
If you want to know the meaning of Buddhist terms like the wondrous observing wisdom,the wisdom of the essential nature of the realm of reality,the great mirror wisdom, the wisdom to accomplish actions, the wisdom of inherent equality, then you must properly cultivate your own mind and spirit, and enable mind and spirit to slowly come to possess a certain focus, a certain tranquility, so that in the world where there are myriad changes every moment, you cultivate a realm that is as it is without moving. Then, without having to think about it, you will know what the three bodies and five wisdoms which Buddhism teaches about actually are. The foregoing descriptions all are like the finger pointing at the moon: they are not the moon itself, they are not wisdom itself.
