莫自艱難
林鈺堂
一般每個人都有自己一套想法及考慮，因此在種種處境裡，往往舉止都是「舉步唯艱」，怎麽做都擔心。修行者雖然已經瞭解，這些都是因爲被自己執著的念網所纏縛，但是在實際生活的處境裡，也無法脫困，依舊「步步爲營」。 禪宗古德有云：「莫自艱難」，就是憐憫世人的自縛，而吐露的開示。禪宗沒有長篇大論的講道理，因爲對於深陷念網者，講道理反而會使之陷入更深。 如何纔能「莫自艱難」？答案是在於：回歸直接經驗。念網也是直接經驗的一部分，它所以會形成問題，只是因爲個人把它視爲主宰，而遠離了整體融通的實相。說起來容易，做不到。所以實際的解脫途徑是專志持念一佛號或一心咒。修到念念都只是此聖號、此心咒，就安住直接經驗整體了。 要一生想東想西，或一生持一淨念，選擇就在當人了。
二〇二三年九月十三日
Yutang Lin
Usually, each person has his own thoughts and considerations; consequently, under all sorts of situations, often each action or non-action is difficult to undertake—whatever step one takes there are worries involved. Even though a Dharma practitioner has already comprehended that, all these are due to entanglements in the net of thoughts that one holds onto, nevertheless, in real-life situations, one still could not escape, and gropes about step by step as usual. One ancient Chan (Zen) master said, ″Not be self-confounded. ″ Such revelation was born of pity for worldly persons′ self-entanglement. In Chan school, there are no lengthy discourses with reasonings because, to persons deeply engulfed in net of thoughts, reasoning could, on the contrary, cause them to be trapped even deeper. How could one realize ″not be self-confounded″? The answer lies in: returning to direct experiences. Nets of thoughts are also a part of direct experiences, and they could become problematic only because a person regarded it as the master and thus drifted away from the factual phenomena which is a harmonious totality. It is easy to state this, and yet one could not realize it. Hence, a practical path of emancipation is to concentrate on repeating the epithet of a Buddha or a heart mantra. When one, through devoted practices, attains the state when thought after thought is merely this epithet or this mantra, then one abides in the totality of direct experiences. To spend this life always thinking this or that, or in sustaining one pure thought, the choice is up to the person facing this question.
Written in Chinese on September 13, 2023 El Cerrito, California [Home][Back to list] |