第七周的英语交流小组参考资料Week7_Achieving Sanity Here on Earth

banmadanba

6    Achieving Sanity Here on Earth  
   
THE IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECT  In order to understand dharma, we need to develop intellect, or prajna. It is the starting point of the hinayana path. Prajna enables us to discriminate(区别,辨别) dharmas. By doing so, we can also see the true dharma in its own purest sense. There are two types of prajna: lower prajna and higher prajna. With lower prajna, we see ordinary reality. When you say, “I’m thirsty, I need water to drink” or “I feel cold, I have to turn up the heat,” lower dharma is being perceived by lower prajna. It is very basic and ordinary. With higher prajna and higher dharma, you might say, “I need water because I’m thirsty. But why am I thirsty?” or “Why am I nervous, and why do I need relief from my nervousness?” or “I’m here, sitting on my meditation cushion, but why am I doing that? What makes me do such a thing at all?” That is a slightly higher level of prajna, a more psychologically oriented(以……为方向，导向） prajna.  

In the hinayana tradition, what we are trying to do is to cultivate the higher level of dharma by means of(用,依靠) the higher level of prajna, known as the prajna of discriminating awareness. You might wonder what is so high about that. It seems to be just slightly better than ordinary. But if you think about it, it is very high when you begin to tune your mind in to(调台,调频) a psychological approach to reality. The Tibetan for discriminating-awareness knowledge is chö raptu nampar jepa sherap. Chö means “dharma,” raptu means “very,” or “profoundly,” nampar means “completely,” jepa means “separating,” or “qualifying,” sherap means “prajna,” or knowledge; so chö raptu nampar jepa sherap means “prajna that enables you actually to separate dharmas one from the other.” That is to say, you are able to distinguish the dharmas, or norms(准则), that exist in your ordinary, everyday life.  

Because you are able to separate one factor from another, completely and fully, you have an understanding as to how to work with ordinary problems, such as washing up your dishes. You also realize that certain problems are not workable without studying Buddhism properly under an appropriate teacher and within a sangha. That may sound impressive, but it is still only higher-level babyhood(婴儿时期). Instead of just jumping at the mother’s nipple(乳头), the baby has enough intelligence and physical coordination to be spoon-fed solid food.  

The psychological approach has much more profundity than the impulsive(冲动的,神经刺激的), or animal-level approach. There is no religion and no spirituality in the purely functional approach. The notion of spirituality comes into the picture(出现在画面中,被牵涉进去) when we begin to relate to(涉及) more than just our needs, more than just the problems at hand. That is precisely why Western psychology is turning to Buddhism. With discriminating awareness, comforts of all kinds, including the religious experiences of spiritual materialism, begin to turn into something else. We begin to feel that we are engaged in a much more profound(深刻的,极大的) project—a project that has depth and brilliance. When we realize that, we are no longer spiritual materialists(唯物主义者), using spirituality only as a means of comfort or self-confirmation.  

You can’t be a Buddhist if you think in a naive way that the height of living is if your vacuum cleaner is working or if you are rich enough to pay off your bills. Moreover, you can’t be a Buddhist if you keep looking for different means of comfort. Spiritual comforts, such as twenty minutes of soothing meditation, may make you feel happy, carefree, gleamy(闪光的), or euphoric(狂喜的,high到爆), but that’s it. That’s the end of it. It is naive to approach spirituality as another way of looking for comfort in one’s life.  

The psychological approach of actually being able to see what you are doing and what you are up to is very important. It is the foundation. You need to be able to extend your intelligence further in order to reveal the higher dharma that exists in our ordinary, everyday life. With the higher prajna of discriminating-awareness knowledge, you are able to distinguish which part of your being is purely seeking various subtle(微妙的,不易察觉的) levels of comfort and pleasure and warding off(避开,挡住;warder守护者,看守) hassles(烦扰), and which part is not able to, and is not particularly interested in, warding off hassles, but wants to get into the depth of the depth of your profundity. At that point, Buddhism begins to happen.  

What Buddha said at the very beginning was that it is very necessary for you to be intelligent about what you are doing. Lack of intelligence is one of the most significant problems in spirituality or religion. Buddha’s statement that you have to be intelligent about what you are doing and about your commitment to(信奉,投入) spirituality automatically brings up the notion of nontheism. If you are getting into the true dharma, you have to check out your own psychological setup, first of all. You cannot simply trust somebody’s blessing or magical power. You have to understand that your wretched(可怜的,贬义) setup is not so great, not so fantastic. That approach automatically eliminates(消除,排除) the possibility of worshiping God, Brahma(梵天,印度教主神之一), or any other deity(神). All of that must go. You no longer worship your own emotionalized anything-at-all. You simply relate to your immediate psychological surroundings. You have to make that the important point. You no longer worship anybody or try to gain magical powers, so you are stuck with(无法摆脱,肩负,黏住) what you are—your existence, your livelihood, your everything.  
      
In the theistic approach to dharma, the object is to achieve eternity and avoid the possibility of death. The basis for doing so is the belief in your own existence. But you then need someone else to confirm your existence—and conveniently, you find a friend. As Christopher Robin(小熊维尼中的主角之一) says in Now We Are Six,1 “Binker’s always Binker, and is certain to be there.” Unlike Christopher Robin’s imaginary friend Binker, however, this friend does not actually babysit(照看婴儿) you—rather, you babysit him, her, or it. The idea of such a babysitter appears in different traditions and cultures under different names, such as Amaterasu Omi Kami(天照大神,日本天皇始祖,神道教最高神),2 Jehovah(耶和华), or Brahma. The names of the babysitter cannot all be spoken, there are too many of them. The discovery of a being who constantly cares for us, loves us, and creates things for us, including our own plastic toys, is a convenient trick of theism. The problem with that approach is that we are constantly preoccupied(被迷住) with that, so we begin to forget this, meaning ourselves. We feel that we do not have to look into ourselves.  
      
In the nontheistic approach, sacredness(神物 圣物) does not have to descend upon us or be exported from Mount Sinai(西奈山) or Mount Kailash(冈仁波齐). We are not dependent on local deities; we depend only on ourselves. That is why individual salvation is such a key idea. If you wonder why you go about things the wrong way, you need to ask yourself. When you do, you find that fundamentally, you don’t want to wake up. You prefer to sleep, which seems much more enjoyable and less painful. But trying to maintain that sleep becomes a terrible burden, and trying to act according to social norms becomes a burden, as well. Truth is what actually happens—so avoiding the truth, or approaching the truth philosophically as a way to detour(绕道而行) around it, takes a lot of work. It is quite ludicrous(荒谬的).  
      
There is a traditional four-line chant(圣歌,赞美诗) attributed to the great Kagyü(噶举派) teacher Gampopa, called the Four Dharmas of Gampopa, that goes:  
        Grant your blessing so that my mind may be one with the dharma.  
       Grant your blessing so that dharma may progress along the path.  
       Grant your blessing so that the path may clarify confusion.  
       Grant your blessing so that confusion may dawn as wisdom.  
冈波巴四法是愿法（心）向法，愿法向道，愿道断惑，断惑显真。有些法本将愿法向法称为愿心向法。但在这一部法本中提到的是愿法向法。
In this chant, it is said that your mind should be one with the dharma. You individually are trying to mix your stream of being, your mind, with the dharma. You find dharma in yourself, in what you are, so your understanding of the dharma and your experience of it become a part of you. True dharma is found within your lifestyle, within your pain and within your pleasure. Rather than being something external, truth is within you constantly. You do not have to bring somebody else’s style into your being—your style is the style of a buddha. If you work fully and thoroughly, if you look into yourself completely, you find individual salvation within you—you become buddha. The nontheistic approach is very simple and compassionate: you take a stand(表明态度) on giving up your trip and you do it. It’s as simple as peanut butter.  
      
NONTHEISTIC DHARMA  
Nontheistic dharma can be divided into four aspects: view(观察), practice(练习), action(行动), and result(结果).  
View: The Four Norms(常规,准则) of Dharma  
The first aspect of nontheistic dharma, view, includes the four norms of dharma: impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and peace.3  

IMPERMANENCE. The first norm of nontheistic dharma is that all things are subject to impermanence. The theistic approach is to see the universe and oneself as creations that are everlasting(接连不断的,永不停息的) and eternal(永恒的). You look for ways to avoid death. The death of Christ is not accepted, and the doctrine of resurrection(复活) gives you the hope that you could sneak out of your coffin and exist eternally. The reality of decaying(腐烂) and dying is not acknowledged and causes tremendous fear, but in fact, nothing lasts. At the cosmological(宇宙论的) level things don’t exist. They just disappear. So there is nothing to hang onto and nothing to fight. There is no Kingdom of God or Eternal Jerusalem(耶路撒冷). Things just begin to lift. And when they go, they are gone completely.  
      
SUFFERING. The second norm of nontheistic dharma is that everything is suffering. The theistic approach is based on the possibility of enjoyment. You keep trying to get a rush of goodness or a zap(突然的大量的,一声巨响) of pleasure, so you chant more and more or inhale(吸入,吸气) more and more. But you do not see that such a merchandise(商品) approach to spiritual practice only brings suffering. Even while you are enjoying a seemingly pleasurable experience, there is always an edge. When that happens you tend to blame yourself, saying, “I’m not relaxed enough. If I were relaxed and knew how to enjoy myself, I would have a good time. I’ll try again next time.” But somehow that next time never comes to anybody. Nobody in history has ever had any real satisfaction out of anything. You could write books about how fantastic a certain situation was, but if you examine your state of mind on the spot, although you are having a great time and enjoying yourself, you find that there is a tremendous edge to it. You discover that you are cheating yourself rather than actually enjoying anything. In the samsaric world there is no such thing as enjoyment at all. There is no enjoyment whatsoever.  
      
EGOLESSNESS. The third norm of nontheistic dharma is that all dharmas are egoless. That experience of egolessness is something the theistic approach rejects altogether. You do not want to supersede(替代,常指更新换代) your practice with egolessness. Instead, you pursue your spiritual discipline in accordance with your ego ambition to reach the highest level of samsara—the realm of the gods.4 By means of meditative absorptions(吸收,全神贯注), or jhanas(禅那,可用“安止”（absorption）来表达，事实上，它是心的特质，将心固守在一个特别的对象上（奢摩他），以慧对它进行观察与思索（毗婆舍那），由此进入四禅，进而得到解脱智 [1][2][3]。禅那与禅定可视为同义词，但是两者的分别在于，禅那的范围窄而定的范围宽。禅那专指色界以上的四禅境界，而欲界诸定因智慧狭小，不能称为禅[4]。因为佛陀与其弟子多以四禅力证入涅盘，所以四禅又称根本定（dhyana-maula）), you hope to reach the highest levels of the god realm. But in the nontheistic approach, samadhi, or meditation, is simply clear thinking. In samadhi, you can be absorbed in clarity and ordinariness.  
      
PEACE. The fourth norm of nontheistic dharma is peace, or relief. On the nontheistic path, step-by-step, every minute, you are giving up pain and developing peace. The theistic approach to peace is to cultivate tranquillity or euphoria(精神欢快). But for nontheists, peace is the absence of pain and grasping—it is the absence of everything. The process of things dropping away is peace. When you begin to draw away from ego hang-ups(烦恼), there is peace. You discover that at the beginning there is blue sky.  

The four norms of nontheistic dharma have to do with how to view reality. According to these four norms: reality is impermanence; reality is suffering; reality is egolessness; and reality is peace. This kind of reality is very basic reality. When you pick up your spoon before you eat food, the meeting together of the spoon, your food, and your hand speaks of that very truth of impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and peace, all happening at the same time. When you are sitting on your toilet seat, that process contains impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and peace. Very ordinary, simple things like opening a door—touching the door handle, turning it, pulling the door open, opening it wider, and walking through—contain impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and peace. Everything we do in our everyday life—snap our fingers(弹手指), hiccup(打嗝), sneeze(打喷嚏), fart(放屁), or burp(饱嗝))—contains these four norms of dharma.  

In working with the four norms, we are not looking at them only from the point of view of following what we have been taught. We have been given the suggestion to think twice. At first, the whole idea of egolessness and peace may be absurd(absurd), but if you think twice, it becomes a reality. That is called renunciation(放弃拒绝一种思想,). The idea is not to manipulate(控制,操作) you into seeing things in this way, and seeing in this way is not based on the confirmation of traditional theistic scriptures(圣经,圣典) or teachers. Instead, strangely enough, these suggestions are designed to keep you away from such teachers or from any kind of authority. Although the first and the second norms could be taught by a theistic teacher, the third and fourth norms could not, because if you want to achieve egolessness and peace, you have to think for yourself, without any help. That’s where the double twist(双扭曲) comes in.  

To review, at the level of higher prajna, dharmas are seen in four ways: as impermanence, suffering, egolessness, and peace. They are seen as both possibilities and problems. Looking at the first two, impermanence and suffering, you begin to realize that everything altogether is marked by overwhelming suffering. With the third, you realize that there is no one to suffer, because of egolessness. That takes care of(处理,对付) having a grudge(宿怨,怨恨) or being angry at anybody. And in the end, with the fourth norm, you realize that nothing exists but peace, which is vacant(空着的,空缺的). You see that peace does not simply mean having a peaceful state of mind—it means that everything is wiped out altogether. It is quite a clever thought. Those are the four norms in a nutshell(果壳,简言之).  
      
Practice: Meditation Transcending Spirituality  
The second aspect of nontheistic dharma is gompa(禅修), which means “meditation practice.” Any meditation practice we might be doing, such as shamatha-vipashyana practice, should transcend even the highest concept of spirituality. Both the ordinary lower-level world and the so-called “spiritual,” or higher-level, world, are very materialistic(物质主义的,物质至上的)—and meditation practice should be able to go beyond that. In meditation we are not trying to overcome or to defeat anything, and we are not trying to gain any level of high spiritual achievement for the sake of pleasure. Since the practice of meditation is not at all geared(档位,挂档) to pleasure, its achievement should also be beyond pleasure—and since it transcends pleasure, it also transcends pain. But transcending pain and developing peace are by-products(副产品,附带产生的效果) of meditation practice rather than an immediate aim.  
      
The spiritual goal of theism is to reach the highest possibility of the world’s best idea. It is based on ideals such as becoming godly or reuniting(重聚,再结合) with Brahma. The problem with such ideals is that there is no surrendering(投降,放弃) involved. You simply think that God is going to tuck(为安全舒适而把...塞入) you under his arm, saying, “My children, come along and join us at the top of the mountain. The kingdom of God is all around you. Let me present it to you. Take it, please.” Actually, nontheists would like that as well. We all wish to be taken care of. We wish we could have practices, prayers, mantras(咒语), and chants that simply say, “Please accept me. Take me under your wing.” But somehow that seems to go against the grain(格格不入). There is no personal sacrifice in that kind of practice.  
      
In the nontheistic tradition, the fundamental sacrifice is that your particular desires, your particular style, and your particular wishes are not being bought(相信) or accepted. However, at the same time, beyond that there is something that can be accommodated(容纳,适应). You begin to discover your hollowness, your nonexistence, which could be the key. That discovery is free from ignorance. It is genuine and worthwhile. With that key, you are able to avoid the absorption of the realm of the gods. The practices of the Buddhist nontheistic tradition, such as shamatha-vipashyana, are deliberately designed to continually boycott(联合抵制) any such conspiracy(阴谋).  
      
Theistic traditions also encourage you to go against your worldly desires, and the means to that end can be very orthodox(正统的,东正教的) and harsh(严酷). But that approach—and even the alternative, the yearning(渴望) for the ultimate possibility of opening up—is still samsaric. It is the best and highest of the samsaric approaches, the most mannerly(彬彬有礼的), the most refined(精炼的,精华), even kingly(高贵的). The problem with that approach is that it has been corrupted(腐化) by the good news that you can hold and cherish your particular ego, that you can possess your worldly and spiritual desires. So although becoming part of such a kingdom seems to require a lot of sacrifice, you inevitably find yourself agreeing with the corruption.  
      
Action: Beyond the Extremes of Austerity(紧缩,苦行) or Indulgence  
The third aspect of nontheistic dharma is action. Jamgön Kongtrül, the great master of the Ri-me(利美运动), or nonsectarian tradition(不分教派运动), said that your actions should transcend the extremes of austerity and indulgence. Examples of extreme austerity practices include eating no food, traditional Indian practices such as scorching(烧焦) yourself by surrounding yourself with bonfires(篝火), or simply giving yourself pain. The other extreme, that of extreme indulgence, involves completely immersing(沉浸,陷入) yourself in the highest levels of pleasure and euphoria spiritually, physically, or otherwise. The Buddhist path transcends those two extremes. There is a quality of(一定量的) moderation(适度,温和) and celebration.  
      
The nontheistic approach to action is based on Buddha’s words to his close disciple and personal attendant Ananda(阿难): “If there is no food, there is no body. If there is no body, there is no livelihood(生活). If there is no livelihood, there is no dharma. If there is no dharma, there is no enlightenment.” We take care of our whole being. We are not trying to punish ourselves or indulge ourselves. We keep our discipline quite tight, but at the same time we eat good food, we wear good clothes, we sleep well, we breathe well, and we act decently. We are encouraged to be sane.  
      
Result: Having Nothing to Give Up  
The fourth aspect of nontheistic dharma is the result—having nothing to give up. Actually, everything just goes away rather than having to be given up, so the idea of giving up does not really apply. You begin to realize that the neurosis you are still trying to ward off is not happening anymore; it has just gone away. This happens naturally because of the very fact that you have practiced beyond any theistic or spiritually materialistic fashion. Therefore, you have found the best of the best of spiritual disciplines. Because of that, you find that all the so-called nuisances(麻烦事) you used to have, have just gone away, rather than being given up.  
      
Giving up things can become simply another way of feeding the ego. People survive on that all the time, by warding off some things and latching(上门栓,占有) onto others. You might latch onto God to help you give up your problems, and when you give up alcoholism, smoking cigarettes, nymphomania(慕男症), or whatever, you feel purified. It feels great! But you gave them up; they didn’t just go. Because of that, they are going to come back. According to theism, you are threatened by the “forces of evil,” by temptations of all kinds. But according to nontheism, evil does not exist and temptation does not exist. According to Buddhism, you yourself are the tempter(诱惑者). The situation does nothing but lift you up. So you don’t particularly have to engage in warfare within a divine hierarchy(等级制度,统治集团). Things go up and things come down, but basically things lift themselves up. It’s like the end of the rainy season: you still see dark clouds, but there’s a little brightness in the sky. The clouds begin to lift, rather than you pushing them up.  
      
The result of nontheism is liberation. But that liberation is not based on trying to race to heaven after your death—it is based on achieving fundamental sanity(心智健全) here on earth. Some traditions talk about the reward that comes when you get to know him or her. When you have been saved, it is said that you are given red-carpet(红地毯,贵宾服务) service and invited to hang out in heaven eternally, which could be extremely boring. However, because you do not understand or believe in egolessness, this kind of earthly or heavenly VIP treatment eventually breaks down and bounces back(弹回) on you.  
      
There are two ways of relating to the notion of attainment(获得,达到): we could enter into reality, or we could enter into a dream world. If we think that the dharma comes from outside, from God or Brahma, we cannot let our whole being enter into the dharma. We can’t get thoroughly soaked in it, because it feels like we are trying to relate with foreigners. But in the case of nontheism, we are simply trying to relate with ourselves, so there is very little distance. Nontheism is based on personal experience. We feel that we have actually experienced reality, that we have experienced the truth. We have learned how to go about opening ourselves fully and completely. That makes the whole thing very real and full.  
      
To review, having developed the nontheistic view, you develop a meditation practice that transcends the highest euphoria of spirituality as well as ordinary worldly materialism. Then you develop action that transcends the extremes of asceticism(禁欲主义) and indulgence. You practice the middle way(中庸之道). Having done all that, the result is that you have nothing to give up—everything just goes. Without your having to give them up or push them out, obstacles begin to lift. We could repeat again and again—at the hinayana level, the mahayana level, and the vajrayana level—the view of the four norms of dharma, the practice that transcends worldly concepts, the action that is beyond extremes, and the result that the obstacles remove themselves.  
      
1. A. A. Milne, Now We Are Six (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1961).  
      2. “The one who makes the heavens shine.” The Shinto goddess of the sun.  
      3. This list of four was discussed in chapter 3 as well, in the context of the general hinayana view of the world, referred to as the four marks of view.  
      4. The realm of the gods is said to be the highest of the six samsaric realms: the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, jealous gods, and gods. For more on the realms, see chapter 9.