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4 Opening to the True Dharma
Dharma is good at the beginning because it is fresh(新的) thought, inspired by the Buddha. . . .
The dharma is good in the middle because the process goes along in a very ordinary way. You have the sense that you are on a journey. . . .
The dharma is good at the end. . . . [Although] to say that the dharma is good in the end is deceptive(有欺骗性的,造成假象的), because there is no particular end. The notion of an end is purely a conceptual construct(构想,概念,理论).
IN ORDER to open yourself to the dharma, you need to drop any possible preoccupations(关注, 专注) of mind and simply try to listen and to understand. Sitting practice provides ground for that to happen, because in meditation all thoughts are regarded simply as discursive(散漫的) thoughts. None of them are regarded as at all valid(有效的) or real. However, although such thought patterns are not that important, because they come and they go, you should regard them as part of your dharma practice. But there is something that is not purely a thought pattern, which is hearing the dharma.
The word dharma has many meanings. The first meaning is “way,” “style,” or “system.” For instance, packages in Japan and China use the term to designate(命名,指定) the directions for how to open the package and use its contents. Dharma can mean “basic norm(准则,常规),” or “learning.” It can mean the “cessation(停止) of pain.” It can mean “what is perceived by the senses,” or “what mind can conceive(孕育,构想).” It can mean what might happen in one’s life: the possibilities, eventualities(可能发生的事), expectations, and realities. It can mean fear as well as bliss(极乐). In Tibetan it is chö, and in Pali it is dhamma.
In the early Indian tradition, the word dharma did not mean anything heavy or special; it just meant the “thatness” or the “isness” of things. Ordinary dharma is the basic norm that exists in every individual situation, such as the dharma of food, the dharma of fire, or the dharma of water. For instance, the dharma of food is to fill the eater’s belly; the dharma of fire is to make you warm and to cook your food; the dharma of water is to quench(解渴) your thirst. That is, things take place in their own certain way. Ordinary dharma refers to how things work at the functional, pragmatic(务实的) level.
Basic dharma is truth, but it is the lower level, bread-and-butter approach. Truth at that level is unimpressive(给人印象不深的) and mundane(平凡的). Although basic dharma has its own depth, it does not last beyond a few seconds, a few minutes, or a few hours. Even the biggest lower-level truth does not extend beyond that. It is like eating food: the time it takes to eat it, digest it, and finally flush(冲,冲马桶) it down the toilet is how long the mundane truth lasts. It does not last very long.
Ordinary dharma also includes the common norms of general morality(道德规范), such as not telling a lie to your friend, not killing your friend, or not treating your enemy badly. A slightly higher level of ordinary dharma may include trying to develop a friendly attitude to your enemy as well as to your friend. So the original sense in which Buddha used the word dharma was quite basic, referring to things as they are. For the early Indians, dharma was a kind of jargon(行话,专业术语). If they could not figure something out exactly, they would say it was the “dharma of that” or the “dharma of this.” The basic formula is: the dharma of this is that it is able to accomplish that. That is the first type of dharma, or ordinary dharma.
Along with that, we can then develop higher dharma. In order to distinguish lower dharma from higher dharma, we must distinguish purely functional dharma—like the dharma of food or the dharma of water—from the dharma of psychology, or one’s state of mind(心理状态). Reflecting on(深思) one’s state of mind, whatever it is, is what distinguishes this higher level of dharma. We in the West do not seem to have an equivalent(等价物) for the word dharma. People use words like truth, norm, or doctrine(主义), but all those terms seem to have a hint of religion in them.
This is not purely an old-fashioned topic. Hinduism still uses the word dharma, as do other religions. Some teachers treat the word dharma as an expensive antique(古董) or work of art, implying(暗指,意味) that what they are presenting is much more expensive than mere teaching. By using the word dharma, they can push up the price another hundred or thousand. But according to Buddhist and Indian tradition, dharma simply means the straightforward(简单的) truth. Dharma means truth, whether it is referring to the teachings of the Buddha or to more ordinary, mundane reality.
Dharma is not something to be abandoned or cultivated, but it is something you can work with. It is very simple and basic. Your entire life is filled with dharma. You are brought up with the dharma of your parents, who raise you in the dharma of bringing up children. You enter into the dharma of school, and after that you begin to take on the dharma of a certain profession or the dharma of dropping out of college and becoming a rebel(叛徒), ascetic(苦行者), or bandit(土匪). You get married, and have the dharma of marriage; fall in love, and have the dharma of love; start your own household, and have the dharma of raising children. The list of dharmas is very long. Basically it is just what happens in your life. Dharma involves facts, but those facts are not conceptual, mathematical, or analytical(可分析解析的) facts—they are realistic facts, personal experience, facts as they are. We seem to have a problem facing the facts of life straightforwardly, but dharma is both straightforward and ordinary.
Dharma is about more than simply using our resources. When we begin to realize the dharma of things, we see that it is about more than just feeding ourselves, going to sleep, or being entertained. We are educated human beings with a notion of things as they are, and we would like to explore them in-depth. At that point, the dharma becomes a path rather than a doctrine, and that path shows us that in order to understand the basic necessities of ordinary life, we need greater vision. Without such a reference point, we tend to make everything unnecessarily complicated, so that even cooking an egg sunny-side up is a philosophical and artistic issue. We might paint our eggs and sell them. We might fall in love with our eggs and be afraid to break them. We might feel that eggs are sacred and give birth to the world. However, we can go beyond that and handle the implications of our life very simply and directly. The dharmic lifestyle involves having a basic reference point(参考点) of things as they are, precisely and clearly. It is not too philosophical, too humanistic, too poetic, too artistic, or too whatever.
SADDHARMA
Dharma is not regarded as a scheme(计划), strategy, or trick, but as the real thing. It is known as the real thing because it has been practiced, worked out, tested, and proved to be effective for twenty-six hundred years of nonstop continuity, right up to the present. The one last legitimate(合法的, 合理的) thing is the dharma. When the Buddha talked about dharma, or truth, he meant something more than bread-and-butter language, something that lasts longer. To the term dharma, Buddha added the word satya, which means “truth,” or “suchness,” which combined with the word dharma becomes saddharma. Saddharma is slightly different than basic dharma. Saddharma is beginning to speak the truth, rather than simply referring to facts and figures. It is based on something deeper and more fundamental than the problems you have in your ordinary, everyday life.
Saddharma, or buddhadharma, has a particular definition: it is that which tames(驯服,控制) the mind. The meaning of mind in this case is somewhat negative, as mind is presumed(假设,推测) to have passion, aggression, ignorance, hang-ups(情绪问题), and all kinds of conflicting emotions, or kleshas, that arise as mental contents. So saddharma is that which subjugates(征服) or tames the mind. That is the purpose of the teachings of the Buddha: to tame the mind.
Saddharma is said to cool off(变冷静) the mind. It is referred to as the medicine that cools off the heat of samsara or the heat of neurosis. It is that which cools off, or pacifies(使安静), any heated aggression, passion, or ignorance. We have an expression that says, “The sound of the dharma creates peace and utter coolness.” That is, through dharma we are liberated from the turmoil(混乱) of aggression, anxiety, paranoia(多疑, 恐惧, 偏执), and confusion. We are purified completely by listening to dharma and by practicing the dharma. So dharma is cooling.
Saddharma is genuine because it begins to affect your state of mind thoroughly, much more than subconscious(潜意识) gossip. At the same time, saddharma does not fit into your thought patterns, because there is an element of foreignness in it—not because the dharma came from India, but because it does not fit into your scheme(计划, 格局). It terrifies you a little, because it does not allow you any ground to indulge(沉浸) in your ego, and it tends not to cooperate with your basic desires.
Each of us comes to the dharma in our own particular way. We carry our own hang-ups, baggage, or garbage; and when we begin to click into the dharma, we click in a certain way. Because we want to hear things our own way, everything is interpreted in accordance with(按照) our own expectations, which gives us reassurance. Our expectations have been met and everything feels good, so we get turned on(兴奋). Consequently we find that the dharma is suitable, that it makes sense, and that it seems to be right. Therefore, we begin to get into the buddhadharma.
As perceivers of the dharma, we are divided. In part we become emotionally attracted to our version of the teachings, and in part we have genuine(真实的) insight(见解) into the teachings. A true presentation of the dharma is based on trying to wipe out the first part and keep the second. It is based on wiping out our habitual(习惯性的) neurotic(精神混乱的) pattern of being inspired by the dharma purely insofar as(在...的程度,在...范围) it fulfills our expectations, and keeping the part of being inspired because dharma is related to our inherent(内在的) insight. Generally, the sorting-out(去除) process takes place through sitting practice. Letting go of the first approach is an outcome of sitting practice and the feedback(反馈) of the teacher and the sangha, who refuse to cooperate with your ego. It is a very living process(生活的过程) by which people who have insight will study dharma, and people with ego trips will not.
No matter what aspect of the dharma we might be studying, there is always an element of picking and choosing. In regard to the teaching, the teacher, or our own experience, there is always a question of what needs to be given up and what needs to be taken along. On one hand, we could use the teachings to embellish(装饰) our own ego and create a very secure situation. On the other hand, our attraction to the dharma could have nothing to do with ourselves personally, but be based on an intuitive connection and our ability to click into it. Those two options occur whenever the dharma is presented. Dharma in the fundamental sense is based on the second category, that of pure intuition. At that inherent(内在的,固有的) level, a student is exposed to the true dharma. True dharma does not have to be excessively artistic, technological, political, humanistic, or anything of that nature. It can be dharma in a very ordinary sense.
The fundamental meaning of true dharma is passionlessness, peacefulness, and nonaggression. It has profound meaning and good words. If you are communicating the dharma to other people and you actually understand the dharma as it is, you will have no difficulty in relating it to others even though they may have confused notions of themselves and may never have heard the truth before, because you understand what you are speaking about and because of your conviction(坚定的信念) as to that particular truth. Communicating the truth of the dharma in this way has the quality of actually responding to people. Therefore, the dharma is well spoken. It is not mere verbosity(冗长的,啰嗦的).
Students who relate to dharma as a spiritual journey, rather than purely an ego embellishment, can actually hear and understand the meaning of dharma in its fullest sense. Such students begin to realize that there is something more true than the truth that is spoken on the spot. That is very impressive. The real truth is not actually spoken fully; rather, it is somewhat implied. This approach to truth makes things very powerful and thought provoking(激怒,对...挑衅)(耐人寻味的). It is an expression of the elegance(优雅,高雅) of the Buddha.
The Buddha was able to make a great impression on people’s minds when he spoke the dharma. To begin with, he taught the very hard-core(顽固不化的) students, his five friends who were extraordinarily critical of him. Later on, he extended his teaching, and according to the sutras(佛经), or discourses(演说,讲述) of the Buddha, eventually several thousand people at a time attended his talks. Everybody got something out of it—not because of the Buddha’s flair(才华,天赋), or his personality, or how articulate(有口才的) he was, but because it was the living truth, an example of true dharma. The dharma was no longer dead or being copied from anywhere else, but it actually was presented in its own right, with honesty, authenticity(真实性), and sincerity(真诚).
Saddharma has a quality of fathomlessness(深不可测, 不能理解). You never know how far the saddharma is going to go, or how much truth it has to tell you. Fathomlessness is difficult for those who seek comfort, or self-snugness(温暖, 舒适), in their own existence—those who seek to perpetuate(使继续) their own ego. Saddharma is unworkable from that point of view, because you can’t fit it into your particular scheme. You cannot promote your ego agenda(推进议程) and follow the dharma at the same time. Your personal inspiration to promote your own individuality, your so-called uniqueness, becomes questionable when you begin to study the dharma.
True dharma is at the same time both loving and threatening. In some ways, saddharma is a very complicated truth. There are a lot of descriptions of the various categories and levels of dharma and a lot of facts and figures. There are descriptions of the journey, including the mechanics(运作方式) of how we can do it, who is doing it, what is being done, what needs to be done, and what is the process.
Saddharma also has a quality of universality(普遍性,广泛性). When one person understands the dharma, that person’s discovery is universal. Millions of others could do the same thing, in exactly the same way. What is this extraordinary saddharma all about? It is extremely simple; therefore, it is effective. Saddharma transcends the three worlds(the world of desire or passion, the world of form, and the formless world) and the kleshas.1 Once you begin to recover from the kleshas, saddharma ceases to be a trick: it becomes real. Life is very simple. You are born, you get old, you get sick, you die, and that’s it—you perish(死亡). It’s very simple! That is saddharma, truth. Nothing can go wrong with that simplicity. Everything happens in that way. |
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发表于 2014-6-9 10:22:41