Everything in the world is a part of emptiness. It is born in emptiness, and is extinguished in emptiness. Everything in the world, including ourselves, is to the emptiness just as the ocean spray is to the ocean.
你不断感知的一切，是身体在感知，还是心灵在感知？如果是身体在感知，为什么梦里仍有非常真实的触觉、嗅觉、视觉与行为言语？为什么还会有喜悦、恐惧、悲伤、幸福和失落？为什么你几乎分不清梦境与现实的界限？可见，人的一生，不仅是身体感知的一生，也是心灵感知的一生。只要眼耳鼻舌身意这六根仍然能发挥作用，你就会听到许许多多的声音，手指敲击键盘也会有相应的触觉，睁开双眼能看见周围的一切，也能闻到远处飘来的花香和泥土的味道。但这一切都是幻化没有自性的，不是永恒不变的，时时刻刻都在发生着变化，所以彼此之间并没有什么本质上的区别：没有时间的区别，没有好坏的区别，没有美丑的区别，没有好听和不好听的区别，没有远近的区别，没有大小的区别……当你明白了这一点的时候，就会发现，自己的心和外部世界一样，都是幻化的，两者都归于空性。这时，你自然会消除“我”和外部世界之间的对立，达到一种佛家所说的“一味”，这是一种真正的平等。这时候，世界上的诸多显现，都会融于你的智慧光明当中。
All that you constantly perceive – is your body perceiving this, or is your mind and spirit perceiving this? If it is your body perceiving, why is it that in dreams you still have very realistic sensations of touch, of smell, of vision, of acting and speaking? Why do you still have joy and fear and sorrow, a sense of good fortune and a sense of loss? Why is it that you almost cannot distinguish the boundary clearly between dreams and real life? Obviously, a person’s life is not just a life of bodily perceptions, it is also a life of your mind and spirit perceiving. As long as the six sense faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, conceptual mind) can function, you will be able to hear many sounds, and when your fingers hit the keyboard you will have the corresponding sense of touch, and when you open your eyes you will be able to see everything around you, and you will be able to smell the scent of flowers and the earthy odors wafting in from afar. But all these are illusory transformations without inherent nature: they cannot go forever without changing, and they are undergoing transformations every minute. Thus, there is no distinction in substance between this and that, no distinction in time, no distinction of good and bad, no distinction of beautiful and ugly, no distinction of good to hear and not good to hear, no distinction of far and near, no distinction of large and small. … When you clearly understand this point, you will discover that your own mind is the same as the external world – it is all illusory transformation, and both return to the empty inherent nature. At this point you will spontaneously eliminate the dualistic opposition between the “self” and the external world, and reach what Buddhism calls the state of “one flavor.” This is a state where everything is truly everywhere equal. Then all the many appearances in the world are all fused into your light of wisdom.
我们举个例子，浪花是一种偶然的现象，不能代表大海的全貌，但是它跟大海没有什么本质上的区别，它是大海的一部分，也总会与大海融为一体。所以，你绝不会把大海和浪花看成两个对立的东西。明白这一点时，你就会发现，世上的一切都是虚空的一部分，生于虚空，灭于虚空，世界上的所有事物——包括我们自己——与虚空之间，都是浪花与大海的关系。
Let’s consider an example. Ocean spray is an apparent form that happens by chance, and it cannot represent the whole of the ocean. But there is no difference in substance between the spray and the ocean: the spray is part of the ocean, and it can merge into one body with the ocean. Therefore, you cannot take the ocean and the spray and see them as two opposed things. When you understand this point, then you will discover that everything in the world is part of emptiness. It is born in emptiness, and is extinguished in emptiness. Everything in the world, including ourselves, is to the emptiness just as the ocean spray is to the ocean.
你或许还是不大理解这种说法，因为你可能会觉得，人与浪花不可能是同一种东西，浪花很快就会消失，但人的一生却要漫长得多。事实上，时间跟万事万物一样，也是虚幻无常的。我们举个简单的例子，你跟心爱的人在一起的时候，总觉得时间过得很快，但是当你跟一个自己非常讨厌的人在一起时，却总是觉得度日如年。同样的道理，人生对于我们来说，不是几十年，而仅仅是几个难忘的瞬间。面临死亡的时候，我们也总会觉得自己只活过了那么几个瞬间。无论什么时候走到人生的尽头，我们都会觉得自己还没有活够，还有太多的事情想要去做，还有太多的东西放不下。所以说，时间也是一种幻觉。
You may still not understand this explanation, because you might feel that humans and ocean spray cannot be the same thing, that ocean sprays disappears very quickly, while human life lasts a lot longer. In fact, time and the myriad things and events are the same – they are all empty and illusory and impermanent. Let’s take a simple example. When you are with a person you dearly love, you always feel that time passes very quickly, but when you are with someone you are sick and tired of, you always feel that time goes by extremely slowly. By the same reasoning, a human lifetime to us is not a few decades, but only a few unforgettable moments. When we are facing death, we always feel that we only lived those few moments. No matter when we come to the end of life, we always feel that we still have not yet lived enough, and there are still so many things we want to do, and so many things we cannot give up. This is why we say that time too is an illusory perception.
当你发现自己与海浪一样，都是一种幻觉的时候，就会明白，想要永远拥有一样东西，尤其是不择手段、不惜一切代价地去强求一样东西，是多么荒谬的想法。因为，连“我”都是一个幻觉，还有什么东西会永远都是“我的”？
When you discover that you are like a wave in the ocean, and both are illusory perception, then you will understand what a preposterous idea it is to want to hold onto something forever, and especially to seek something insistently, regardless of the methods and the costs. This is because, if even “I” am an illusion, is there anything that will be “mine” forever?
假如真正明白了这个道理，你就不会强求许多东西，你会把一切都看得很淡，不会再去在乎别人怎么评价你，也不会在乎自己会不会一无所有，你只会专注于自己所笃信的方向，并且把这种淡然与坚定变成一种人生态度与处世方式，于是你自然就会变成自己心灵的主人。
If you genuinely understand this truth, then you will not insistently seek so many things, and you will look upon everything neutrally. You will no longer car how other people judge you, and you will no longer care whether or not you possess anything. You will only focus on the direction you sincerely believe in, and you will make this neutrality and this steadfastness become your means for living life and dealing with the world. At this point, you will naturally become the master of your own mind and spirit.
保持这种清醒的觉知，与旁观者一般的出离，会让你的心变得一天比一天更加博大，不再以得失、苦乐来分别自己所经历的许多事情，而仅仅用各种生命体验来完整自己对世界的认知，然后一天比一天更能理解各种各样的人和事物，一天比一天更接近生命的真谛，一点又一点地消解那个由幻象所构成的自我以及由这个自我所衍生出的贪、嗔、痴、慢、疑。有一天你会发现，其实也不存在什么清醒的觉知与旁观者的出离，甚至也不存在什么需要释怀的东西和需要弄清楚的问题。你会发现，世界的纹路虽然错综复杂，但是它也像掌纹一样清晰。
Preserving this clear lucid awareness, and staying detached like an onlooker, will enable your mind to increase in scope day by day, and no longer discriminate among the many things you experience in terms of gain and loss and pain and pleasure, and instead only use the various kinds of life experience to complete your own knowledge of the world. Then day by day you will be more able to understand the various kinds of people and events, and day by day you will get closer to the truth of life. Bit by bit you will dissolve away that self constructed of illusory forms, and what is derived from this self: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt. One day you will discover that, in reality, no separation exists between that clear lucid awareness and that onlooker, and that there no longer exists anything which must be dismissed from your mind, or any questions which must be clarified. You will discover that, although the texture of the world is intricate and complex, it is as clear as the lines in the palm of your hand.
这时候，你即使身处最嘈杂、最危险的地方，也是宁静、快乐与专注的，你的心灵时刻安住在一种轻松但清醒的状态之中，你明了外界发生的一切，但它们无法扰乱你的心。这个空寂明朗的心，就是我们所说的真心。
At this point, even if your body in somewhere noisy and chaotic, or in someplace very dangerous, you will still be tranquil, happy, and focused, and your mind and spirit will abide in peace at every moment in a state that is relaxed but clearly awake. You will clearly understand that nothing that happens in the external world can throw your mind into confusion. This empty quiet clear bright mind is what we call the true mind.
相信它的质朴与简单，相信凡夫与圣人同样拥有它，消除一切傲慢与怀疑，用心灵触摸真理，渐渐地，你就会亲尝它的滋味，这时候你也就觉醒了。
If you believe in its plainness and simplicity, if you believe that both ordinary people and sages alike possess it, if you wipe away all arrogance and doubt, and you use your mind and spirit to contact the truth, then gradually you will be able to personally taste its flavor, and at this time you too will wake up.
当你真正觉醒的时候，便看清了生活乃至世界的脉络。你对一切都不存在疑问，达到了一种真正的“不惑”。因此，你不但能够恰当地处理生活中的一切，还会对整个世界充满了悲悯与无我的爱。因为你知道，愚痴所导致的悲剧，每一分每一秒都在世界的舞台上公演，但绝大部分的主角却无法从悲剧中汲取有益的营养，仍然一而再再而三地重蹈覆辙、一而再再而三地作茧自缚。比如，物质水平的不断攀升要求大量的能源支持，为了获取更多能源，人类之间不断以各种借口发生纷争。更可怕的是，我们为了追求现世的利益，和一点点比现在更好的享受，不惜以人类的未来做赌注，发展能够毁灭一切的力量，比如核能量。觉醒了的你明白这一切，但你也深知，只有人们愿意直面自心、接受真理，进而改变心灵，他们的命运才有改变的可能。所有外来的力量仅仅是“助像”，要治病还得人们相信并且愿意喝下苦口的良药。
When you really wake up, then you see clearly the interconnectionsbetween life and the world. You will have no doubts about anything, and you will arrive at a true state of “no confusion.” Because of this, you will not only be able to deal appropriately with everything in life, but you will be filled with compassion and selfless love toward the whole world.This is because you know that the tragedies brought about by ignorance are being played out every minute on the stage of the world, but the great majority of the players have no way to draw beneficial nutrition from these tragedies. They make the same mistakes over and over again, and get tangled up in the webs they weave over and over again. For example, the continuous rise in the material level of life requires more and more energy sources to support it, and to obtain more and more energy sources, conflicts break out among the human race under all sorts of pretexts. Even more frightening, in order to seek immediate profits, and a level of consumption that is a bit better than the present one, we do not hesitate to gamble with the future of humanity. We develop the power that can destroy everything, like nuclear power. After you wake up you will clearly understand all this, but you will also know at a deep level that only if people are willing to face their own minds directly, and make contact with the truth, and go on to change their minds and spirits, will there be the possibility of changing their lives and fates. All the powers that come from outside are just the “cooperating conditions.” To cure the sickness, people must believe and be willing to swallow the bitter medicine.
理解了这一点，你就会明白，为什么我的小说《西夏咒》中的大成就者（超凡入圣的人）久爷爷，在面对村庄里蔓延的瘟疫时，仅仅与五个空行母（一种类似于女神的存在）化身的小女孩一起载歌载舞，不断歌唱着无常的真理：
When you have understood this, then you will understand why in my novel The Spells of the Xi Xia, the man of great achievement (the man who transcends ordinary life and enters sagehood), Grandfather Jiu, when he confronts the plague that is spreading through the villages, just sings and dances together with five girls who are the transformation bodies of dakinis (beings who are like goddesses). They continuously sing of the truth of impermanence:
山川并大地，本是因缘聚，
虽显诸形色，觅其自性无。
奉劝世上人，窥破真面目。
无执亦无舍，无嗔亦无怒。
呜呼再呜呼，我等好卖力。
奉劝世上人，何必太痴迷。
万境转瞬空，万缘带不去。
何不随我来，哈哈复嘻嘻？
Mountains and rivers and the great earth
Are fundamentally the coming together of causal conditions.
Though they appear with all sorts of shapes and colors,
If we look for their inherent nature, they have none.
We offer this advice to the people of the world:
See through to the true face.
It has no clinging and no abandoning.
It has no anger and no wrath.
Alas, how sad!
We better make an effort.
We offer this advice to the people of the world:
Why must you be so ignorant and deluded?
The myriad objects are empty in an instant,
The myriad objects cannot be taken away.
Why don’t you come along with us,
Laughing and happy?
