第二周的英语交流小组参考资料Week2_Three Types of Learning and Four Marks of View

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3   The Path of Individual Salvation
  
The path of dharma is unlike the ordinary conception of religion as separate from secular(世俗的) life. Usually when you talk about business, you assume（假定） your business hat, and when you talk about religion, you assume your spiritual hat. But in this case, you don’t wear two hats, you have only one hat—in fact, you have no hat.
     
THE HINAYANA is referred to as（被称为）the path of individual salvation, or pratimoksha. In Tibetan it is called soso tharpa. Soso means “individual,” and tharpa means “salvation,” or “liberation”; therefore, soso tharpa means “individual salvation.” The hinayana path of individual salvation is based on the desire to develop peace or tranquillity(安定) within yourself and to prevent actions that are harmful, or possibly harmful, to others. On this basis you enter into various disciplines, such as taking the refuge vow(誓言).1
      
KEY HINAYANA TEACHINGS
  
A Nontheistic(无神论) Path
  
In order to study the hinayana teachings and the buddhadharma, or the “teachings of the Buddha” altogether, you need to let go of theism(有神论,一神论). You might think that nontheism amounts to（相当于） a reaction against spirituality（灵性） and that there is no hope in such an approach. However, people who have given up the theistic approach to religion and spirituality still feel a quality of magical power. They feel it is possible to practice and study very hard, and to develop strength or power over their situation. When you see that such nontheistic practitioners（修行者） are becoming more sane(健全的,理智的), solid, and calm, you may begin to suspect(怀疑) that, in fact, something good is going on. As a reasonable person who is perturbed by(被……扰乱;担忧……) your relationship with the so-called bread-and-butter(基本生活所需) world and uninspired by the prospects(前途) presented by this ordinary version of reality, you may begin to think of the possibility of getting into a different and higher realm of discipline and experience. If you do not want to do so within a theistic framework, you might decide to follow the nontheistic Buddhist path. The way to begin is with the hinayana, so it is important to understand how the hinayana teachings are structured.
      
Three Types of Learning
  
Hinayana understanding is structured according to three key principles: discipline, meditation, and knowledge, or in Sanskrit, shila, samadhi, and prajna. Together, they govern the hinayana path.5 Shila, samadhi, and prajna represent three types of learning: first, trusting in oneself; second, practicing one’s trust in a meditative way; finally, expressing what one has trusted and learned. Discipline is the teacher as well as the teachings, the Buddha as well as the followers of the Buddha. Meditation is a way to relate your life to the spiritual path. And as for knowledge, if you want to learn the dharma, there’s tons of it. There is so much to know that you can’t cope(处理) with it all. But intellectual understanding alone cannot accomplish all that learning if it is without discipline and meditation. The three aspects of learning always work together.

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Four Marks of View  (四法印)

Having developed the three aspects of learning, you can begin to realize how to view the world from the point of view of the path or the doctrine(教义，信条). In the hinayana, this is described in terms of(以...方式来解释) the four marks of view: impermanence(无常), suffering(受难,受苦), egolessness(无我), and peace(平静,涅磐). The first two marks are based on looking at the samsaric environment, and the last two are the possibilities and potentialities you might discover out of that examination(检查,考察). In Tibetan, the four marks are known as chaggya shi. Chaggya means “mark,” and shi means “four”; so chaggya shi means the “four marks,” or four ways of viewing the phenomenal(现象的) world.
      

IMPERMANENCE(暂时,非永久). The first mark of view is the impermanence of time and space. Time and space could not exist if there were no limitations put on them—and if there were no understanding of those limitations, time and space would be incomprehensible(费解的). Similarly(同样地), when you are speaking a language, you use words, but in order to make the language function, space is also necessary.
     
Impermanence is not particularly terrifying(骇人的,令人恐惧的). It is a natural process that allows things to happen, a process connected with the gaps between situations, the gaps between space and subject matter(主题,主旨). The Tibetan term for impermanence is mitakpa. Takpa means “permanent,” and mi means “not”; so mitakpa means “not permanent.” Whatever is collected is dispersed(分散的), and whatever comes into existence is subject to dissolution(溶解,分解). The creation of something is at the same time the creation of its dissolution into something else or into nothingness. Very ordinarily, we could say that what goes up must come down.
      
All the happenings of the universe are subject to decay(腐烂,衰退). No matter how glorious something may be in the beginning, it ends in decay and death. People are so naïve(天真,幼稚): they think that they can construct something that will last forever. They fail to see that all composite things will dissolve in the end and cease(停止, 终止) to exist. Nothing is permanent. Everything is formulated(构想出), gathered, and put together by our own conceptual mind—our own neat(可爱多) little ego-trip—and our attempt to put things together in that way is impermanent. We try to put things together or to figure things out, but that logic naturally dissolves. It’s like building a house: if you build a house, since you built it yourself, it is also possible to dismantle(拆除) it. That’s the way it is.
     
SUFFERING. The second mark of view is that whatever you create could be regarded(看作,认为) as a source of pain and suffering. Any comfort you might create is impermanent, and therefore liable(有...倾向的,易...) to deteriorate(恶化,变坏) sooner or later, and turn into discomfort. The Tibetan term for this is sak-che tham-che dug-ngalwa. Sak-che means “that which is collected or produced,” tham-che means “all.” Dug means “wretched(可怜的,不幸的),” ngal means “continuing,” and wa makes it a noun. Dug-ngalwa is like somebody continuously crying. So sak-che tham-che dug-ngalwa is the ongoing suffering resulting from the futility(无用,徒劳) of creating anything permanent.
      
Pain cannot exist by itself. It exists if you have produced a comfortable situation with the idea that such perfection of comfort will continue. But then you begin to have second thoughts about that, or your comfort dissolves even before you have a second thought. So pain is based on the expectation that things will last continuously, although the truth is that the rug(小地毯) could be pulled out from under your feet at any moment. Therefore, anything that is produced is subject to(使。。。经受) pain.
      
Everything is suffering because the experience of our life becomes a nuisance(讨厌的东西). We are not just saying, “Our baby is a nuisance; therefore, we should send him or her to the babysitter.” In this case, nuisance is not ordinary nuisance, but fundamental(基本的) nuisance. Whenever you try to do something, it is always a nuisance. This makes things very inconvenient, but if you ask what else you can do, there is no answer.
      
Whatever we experience in our whole life takes effort(努力) and energy. We try to put something together and then we try to enjoy it. We try to make something out of our existence(存在) all the time, for the sake of(为了...的目的) goodness and happiness. This trying to put things together is painful, in varying(不同的) degrees. For instance, you have a good cup of coffee in your hand. You put cream and sugar in it, and you stir(搅拌) it with satisfaction. You inhale(吸入,吸气) the aroma(芳香, 香味), you drink, and you have a great sense of satisfaction. At last, a good cup of coffee! You have been looking forward to it for a long time—but now you have drunk it, it is gone, and your appreciation has become pain. You feel as if you never drank that cup of coffee at all. It is all gone, which is quite disheartening(令人沮丧的). You could fill the gap by drinking a second cup; but the second cup disappears as well, and you end up drinking so much coffee that you feel sick.

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  EGOLESSNESS. The third mark of view is that all dharmas, or experiences, are regarded as free from the fixation(固定，定位) of ego. In Tibetan this is chö tham-che dagmepa. Chö means “dharmas,” thamche means “all,” dag means “self,” or “ego,” me means “without,” and pa again makes it a noun; so chö thamche dagmepa means that all dharmas are free from ego in their true nature.
      In the hinayana sense, “free from ego” means that there is nothing to hang on(牵挂) to from the point of view of(从...的角度) the self. That makes an interesting nontheistic reference(参考) point: nobody can be saved because there’s nobody home. Egolessness means that the situation is already clear. There could be a God, but who would worship(崇拜 礼拜) God if there were no worshiper? The point is that you yourself do not exist, rather than that God does not exist and you are just sort of(有点像) dangling(悬摆). There could quite possibly be a house with furniture, but there is no one to occupy it. That is a far more important nontheistic reference point than believing that there is no God. From this point of view, all dharmas can be regarded as egoless.
      By “all dharmas” we mean both the dharma of the projections(投影) and the dharma of the projector(投影机): the dharma of phenomena and the dharma of self or individuality. Basic, ordinary dharmas, or things as they are, like the dharmas of sky and earth, are referred to as projections. The projector is the person whose state of mind is deluded(被蒙骗的). The projector is the dharma of individuality, and the projection is the dharma of existence: me and my-ness. We keep holding on to(紧紧抓住) things in order to make ourselves happy, but in fact we have no one to hang on and nothing to hang on to. It is futile(无用的,多指不可能成功). Nothing exists. Experiences that happen to us are no longer extraordinary, and things that exist within us are no longer serious. They are both equally bubbles, a futile mirage(海市蜃楼,幻想). I am taking a lighthearted(快乐的,心情愉快的) approach, but actually it is very heavyhearted(心情沉重的) Altogether, this mark qualifies(补充说明, 通常用于缓和语气) the previous statement on suffering, in that there is no substance(实质) to suffering at all.
      Saying that all dharmas are egoless means that everything we handle, feel, perceive—everything we do—has no receiver. You might find that somewhat outrageous(不可接受的), but it’s true. When things happen they may look good at first, but when we begin to cuddle(拥抱) with them, we always have second thoughts(改变主意) about the whole thing. With even the most enjoyable experiences, we inevitably(不可避免地) say to ourselves, “What am I doing? What is that?” The flair(天赋,才华) or melodrama(传奇剧,惊险故事) of the situation may be enjoyable, but when we try to take it in, there is no one to receive it. In our depth of depth, in the core of our being, there is nothing with which we can actually receive and nourish(使有营养) such a situation or fully enjoy it. So we find ourselves nowhere, nonexistent. We feel sort of(有几分,差不多) hollow(空洞的,无价值的). A lot of people freak out at that point.
      That experience of everything seeming to be hollow is the first discovery of egolessness. Egolessness is not a tremendous(极大的,惊人的) revelation(被揭露的真相,往往出人意料). It is simply the realization that there is no landing platform in our whole being—things just go down the drain. It is the realization of the nonexistence of thisness. There is no satisfaction of being here, actually existing, and being able to take pleasure in things.
      PEACE. The fourth mark of view is that freedom from defilement(污染,亵渎) is peace. In Tibetan, it is known as nya-ngen ledepa shiwa. Nya-ngen means “hangover(宿醉,不必要的遗留物),” or “unnecessary state of occupying oneself(忙于),” and nya-ngen le means being free from that; depa means “transcending,” and shiwa means “peaceful state”; so nya-ngen ledepa shiwa means “free from(解放,摆脱) unnecessary states of existence, which makes one peaceful.” That is the definition of nirvana, so we could call the fourth mark “nirvana” as well.
      Anytime Buddhism talks about peace, we should be quite clear and precise as to how it differs from other usages of the word. In Buddhism, peace has nothing to do with pleasure. Peace is just simply peace. It is nonaggression. Nothing takes place. We simply quiet down, and in doing so, things become very clear. Peace refers to an absence of(没有,缺乏) chaos(混乱). Holding on to your particular philosophy creates pain because you cherish(视...非常重要,珍爱) your beliefs so much, and when your particular beliefs do not match what you are told, that also creates pain. Nirvana transcends the pain of fixation, of holding on to ideas. You begin to feel that the rug is being pulled out from under your feet(rug地毯 不再获得支持和帮助)—but at the same time, the pain of fixation is also pulled out. So the basis of peace is cutting through(刺透,切穿) fixed views.
      We understand at last that it was our efforts to express(表达) our individuality that led us into misery(痛苦). When we give up that search for individuality, we find a different kind of individuality—individual salvation. And when we begin to realize that, we find peace and a sense of real existence and genuineness(真实). Such peace is utterly(completely) good news. It is fantastically(极,超乎寻常的) good news that our constant struggle to cover up(遮盖) what we have done and what we might do—that cosmic(宇宙的,广大的) cheating game—could be avoided. Therefore, we feel less anxiety, less pressure, and less heavy-handed(粗暴的,严厉的) effort. When we go beyond torturing(摧残,虐待) ourselves, beyond fighting ourselves to achieve everlasting(永恒的, 接连不断的) youth or everlasting goodness, we heave a big sigh(深深呼吸)  of relief. We begin to realize that we don’t have to struggle so much. I wouldn’t exactly call it satisfaction, but breathing space. It is not like taking a break—we feel relief because we have discovered that there is no break!
      To begin with, we have to find out who we are. When we do so, we realize that we are buddha already, that we possess buddha nature. We might like that, or we might find that difficult to accept. We may prefer the approach of behaving like cats and dogs and monkeys because we’re used to it, having been brought up that way; but on the deeper level, we are actually like the Buddha. Recognizing this brings peace and the relief that we don’t have to try so hard.
      We are constantly trying to cover up, constantly putting on an act(装模作样). Therefore, we have problems. But then we begin to realize the nature of that covering up, that trying to be somebody. We see that the “myself” we are trying to be is something quite horrendous(恐怖,可怕). Realizing that we don’t have to go through all that, there is tremendous relief. We can actually be ourselves, at peace.
      Cutting through that ape instinct(本能) of habitual struggle takes ambition; but at the same time, it is very simple and natural. According to the Buddha, nobody is an ape, but everyone possesses ultimate(最终的) wakefulness(觉醒). That wakefulness is not an effort. The only effort needed is to give up that struggle. When you do so, you have a pleasant surprise. You find something gentle and quite delightful. You realize tharpa, or “liberation.” Tharpa happens when you realize that the ape-style needs maintenance(维护), whereas your fundamental style does not need any maintenance, but comes somewhat(有些,几分) naturally.