All Human Defilements Are from Discrimination and Attachment.

 

All Human Defilements Are from Discrimination and Attachment.

 

Always bear this in mind: all human defilements come from discrimination and attachment. When you are rich and I am poor, I am embittered; when you are pretty and I am ugly, I am upset; when you like him more than me, I feel unhappy, etc., etc. The origin of defilement is the discriminating mind, from which attachment, ignorance, craving, ill-will, pride, jealousy arise. The endless defilements lead to deluded thoughts, which, in turn, give rise to the transmigration through the six kinds of rebirth.

 

In 2008, I went to Shanghai and took part in an activity at Fudan University as one of the “eight most outstanding novelists of Gansu.” A PhD named Jin Li told us a story about himself. One day, he lost his wallet, which contained all his ID, a lot of bills and cash. He felt terrible. Out of sheer boredom, he opened the magazine, Shanghai Literature, and his eyes happened to lay on my story, “Beauty.” After he had read it through, all his unhappiness was gone and he felt cool and clear-minded. He thus said, “Homage to Xue Mo! Homage to ‘Beauty’ !”

How come he felt that way? Because that story conveys a Buddhist value, which brings people coolness and clear-mindedness, but it avoids Buddhist terminology. That is a way of distributing Buddhist culture and Buddhist thought. I think it may give people some inspiration.

 

For, whether literature or motion picture, they not merely tell stories but are a medium. When you shatter all regulations and restrictions, get rid of all names and notions, and nourish your soul and literary creation with the running water of wisdom, your happiness and enlightenment will be conveyed to your reader and audience via fiction and motion picture. When people learn from these literary works and films that things exterior to one’s mind can’t change the essence and that only when the essence changes as one’s mind changes, will one stop one’s attachment to many things. At that time, your spirit and wisdom are passed down in a natural way; it is an spiritual inheritance. Take the altruistic spirit for example. Sakyamuni Buddha has been dead for thousands of years; however, his spirit of benefiting all sentient beings has been passed down to us, and it will be passed down to future generations. When our generation is gone, it will be inherited by the next generation. It is a relative eternity, a relative immortality. The real purpose of Buddhist practice is to attain such immortality. Only when you own it can it be said that you belong to yourself. Without such a spirit, your mind changes as the external world changes; it, like a thermometer of the world, can never remain stable.

 

My novels are one of the media for that spirit, which can take many other forms; for instance, cartoon, video clips, TV lectures, and dialogues – forms that are favored by people today. However, all media are means; the essence is that spirit, which nourishes the human soul. That spirit may be a gentle breeze, blowing off the sweat on a farmer’s forehead. It may be a bird’s song, which fills the one who has heard it with pure coolness and joy. It may be a piece of music, bringing peace and calmness to restless souls. It may also be a good book, which will dispel the fog in your mind after you have read it.

 

Let me give you another example. A friend of mine, when we met for the first time, was upset by her working conditions and many other things. She found that the inherent kindness inside her invariably brought her derision. When sometimes she resorted to tricks that she used to look down upon, however, they brought her a lot of benefits. Then, she thought of giving up the kindness, peace, self-contentment, and poetry in her and pursuing worldly gains. It was at that time that she met me. She read A Cult of Vast Desert, and then we had several talks. Then, she suddenly realized that what she planned to give up were really the most beautiful things in this world and that she could succeed nevertheless if she retained those things. Then she realized how narrow-minded she had been. She said to me, “Mr. Xue Mo, if that PhD student of Fudan University who killed herself by jumping off a building had heard these words, she wouldn’t have committed suicide. She has had a hard time getting into Fudan, but she killed herself when she had become a PhD student. Why aren’t your thoughts known to more people? If that Fudan PhD had read your book before she committed suicide, she wouldn’t have done so.” She told me that so many people who are in pain and anxiety will get coolness and get rid of anxiety after they read these things. Later, she arranged a dialogue and had it published. I participated in that dialogue mainly because I wanted to help those who are tortured by suffering to find happiness by means of something that is directed at the human soul. The content of the dialogue is void of Buddhist terminology, but it carries the spirit of Buddhism.

 

Therefore, Buddhism in the future may take two forms: one is the original form, which suits those who need Buddhist names and forms; the other is in the form of culture, which caters to those who don’t bother about names and forms, conceptions and dogmas. While the two forms have their own advantages, the latter will perhaps have a larger stage and a brighter future, and those who carry the spirit with culture may become culture masters, who will pass down that which is directed at the human soul by means of culture from generation to generation.

 

Are there any other forms? The wisdom may be conveyed in a gentle and elegant way favored by white-collars, or in the form of dance, etc. Anyway, forms are various. As long as they are forms required by mankind, each one can convey spiritual values – provided that your wisdom must be turned into running water so that it can be filled into different vessels and quench the thirst of people with different likes and dislikes.

 

If wisdom can’t be transformed into running water, what then? If not, it is not wisdom, but a kind of parroting. Although such pure formal imitation and repetition is not totally meaningless, it can’t pass the test of time because it lacks something spiritual. Those who retain the mere names and forms of Buddhism but who lack the spirit of Buddhism are bound to be swept away by the tide of history. It is an issue we have to face.

 

The rise and fall of something is not merely caused by external conditions, but by itself. The development of Buddhist culture is like this, so is the fate of an individual person, and so is everything in the world. If we cling to the past and refuse to advance with the times, if we set up many so-called rules and confine a would-be giant in a cage, he is bound to become a dwarf and in the end die young. This is elimination. When you have saved this dwarf who should have grown into a giant and want it to grow into a giant again, you have to provide him with new nutrition. As we can’t make a dead dwarf live again, we have to deliver a new baby who carries the gene and soul of its former life but who is an entirely new life. This life must suit the new forms, philosophies and rites of this age, even new experiences. In this age, many things of the past need to be changed or re-interpreted so as to suit the capacity of contemporary people.

 

We must be clear that what we really need is not a certain form, but something directed at the human soul that the form carries. We pass it on in the hope that it continues to nourish the human mind, that more people get rid of affliction and attain happiness, and that the discriminating mind is eliminated. Always bear this in mind: all human defilements come from discrimination and attachment. When you are rich and I am poor, I am embittered; when you are pretty and I am ugly, I am upset; when you like him more than me, I feel unhappy, etc., etc. The origin of defilement is the discriminating mind, from which attachment, ignorance, craving, ill-will, pride, jealousy arise. The endless defilements lead to deluded thoughts, which, in turn, give rise to the transmigration through the six kinds of rebirth.

 

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附录：聆听智慧的声音

 

人类所有烦恼都源于分别心和执著

 

要永远记住，人类的所有烦恼都源于分别心和执著。你富有，我贫穷，我就痛苦；你美丽，我丑陋，我就烦恼；你对他好，对我不好，我就失落……烦恼的起源，就是分别心。有了分别心，才有执著，才有愚昧，才有贪嗔痴慢妒；烦恼不尽，才会产生妄想，六道轮回由此而生。

 

2008年的时候，我作为“甘肃小说八骏”的一员到上海，参加过复旦大学的一次活动。在这次活动里，有一位叫金理的博士说，他不小心把皮包丢了，皮包里有他所有的证件，还有许多票据，还有很多钱。他心情坏透了，在百无聊赖之中，他翻开了《上海文学》，看到了我的小说《美丽》。读完之后，他所有的烦恼都消失了，感到非常清凉。他说：“我向雪漠致敬！向《美丽》致敬！”

 

为什么他会有这样的感觉？因为那小说，正是承载了佛家的某一种精神，它能给人们带来清凉。而且它又没有佛家的名相。这就是一种佛家文化、佛家思想的传播形式。我想，这是可以给人们带来一种启示的。

 

因为，文学也罢，电影也罢，都是载体，它们不仅仅是在表达故事。当你打碎那些条条框框，抛弃许多的名相，将智慧化为活水，用它来滋养你的心灵与创作的时候，你的快乐与明白，就会通过小说、电影等媒介，传递给读者、观众。当人们读过这些文学作品，看过这些电影，开始知道那些心外的东西改变不了本质，只有心改变了，本质才会改变的时候，就不会去执著好多东西。这个时候，你的精神、智慧自然就得到了传承，这是一种精神的传承。比如利众精神。释迦牟尼佛圆寂了千年，但他的利众精神还是传递到了我们这儿，而且会一直传下去。这群人死了之后，还会传给下一代人，这就是一种相对的永恒，相对的不朽。修行真正的目的，就是达到这种不朽。当你拥有这种不朽时，你才算真正属于你自己。没有这种精神时，你的心永远会随着外界变化，像是世界的温度计，永远不会安稳。

 

我的小说就是这种精神的载体之一，但它还可能有许多种不同的载体。比如动漫、视频、讲坛、对话等等当代人喜闻乐见、愿意接受的诸多形式。当然，什么样的载体都好，都只是用，核心、本体还是这精神，滋养人类灵魂的，还是这种精神。这种精神可能是一缕清风，吹去农夫头上的汗水；它可能是一声鸟鸣，让听到这声鸟鸣的人感到无上的清凉和喜悦；它也可能是一首乐曲，能够给烦躁不安的人带来宁静与悠闲；它还可能是一本好书，你读完之后，就能拨开心头的迷雾。

 

我再举个例子，我有个朋友，她刚遇见我时，正被自己的工作环境困扰着，被许多烦恼困扰着。她发现，自己与生俱来那种善的东西，总是被一些人嘲笑。有时候，当她利用一些自己看不起的小心机时，反倒可以带来许多利益。这时候，她总想放弃自己以前的那种善良、宁静、恬淡、诗意，去追逐世俗、功利、实用的东西。正是在这时候，她碰到了我。看完我的《大漠祭》之后，我们交谈了几次，她突然觉得自己想放弃的东西，其实是世界上最美的东西。而守住那最美的东西，照样可以取得成功。于是，她顿时发现了自己以前的想法是多么的狭隘。她还说：“雪漠老师，如果你的这些话能让复旦大学跳楼的那位女博士听到，她就不会自杀了。她好不容易上了复旦大学，考上了博士，却跳楼自杀了。你的这些思想为什么不让更多的人知道？那个复旦大学的女博士如果能在自杀前读到你的书，那么她肯定是不会自杀的。”她说，那么多处于痛苦与焦虑中的人们，读到这些东西之后，就会得到清凉，不再焦虑。后来，她为我设计了一次对话，并出了书。我参与那次对话的主要原因就是，我要用一种直指人心的东西，让一些被痛苦困扰着的人们离苦得乐。那些对话的内容，没有佛家的名相，但承载着佛的精神。

 

所以说，未来的佛家，也许会以两种形式存在：一种是以原有的形式存在，帮助那些需要名相的人们；一种是以文化的形式存在，熏染那些不屑于名相、排斥概念与教条的人们。这两种形式各有所长。后者，也许会赢得更大的舞台，更大的世界，以文化承载精神的人，也可能会成为文化大师，并将那种直指人心的东西依托文化传承下去，传承得非常非常久远。

 

还可以有什么样的形式呢？以温文尔雅的白领喜欢的形式，和风细雨地把那种智慧传承给许多人，或是以一种舞蹈的形式……总之，形式可以有很多，只要是人类需要的形式，都可以承载精神。前提是，让你的智慧变成活水，它才能灵活地装入不同的杯子当中，为不同喜好的人解渴。

 

假如不能将智慧变成活水，又会如何呢？不能变成活水的，不是智慧，而是一种鹦鹉学舌。虽然这种单纯形式上的模仿和重复，也有它的意义，但是它往往经不起岁月的洗礼。因为它缺乏一种精神的东西。只有佛家名相而缺乏佛家精神的那部分人，定然会被历史所淘汰。这是必须面对的问题。

 

所以，一个东西的消亡和兴盛，不仅仅是外界的问题，它更是自己本身的问题。佛家文化的发展如是，个人命运也如是，世界上所有的东西都如是。要是我们抱残守缺，不能与时俱进，反倒人为地建立许多所谓的规矩，把未来的巨人囚禁在笼子里，硬生生地让他变成侏儒，最后他定然会夭折的。这就叫淘汰。当你救出这个本该长成巨人却成了侏儒的孩子，并且想让它再成长为巨人的时候，就必须注入一种新的营养。我们不能在死去的侏儒身上借尸还魂，我们必须催生一个新的婴儿。这个婴儿有上一代的基因，有上一代的灵魂，但是它有了一个新的生命体，这个生命体必须有一种适合这个时代的新的形式、哲学、礼仪，甚至是新的体验。这时候，好多过去的东西都要变革，都要经过重新的诠释，使它更适合当代人的根器。

 

一定要明白，我们真正需要的不是某种形式，而是这种形式所承载的一种直指人心的东西，我们对它的传承，是为了让它能够继续滋养人类的心灵，让更多的人能够离苦得乐，消除分别心。要永远记住，人类的所有烦恼都源于分别心和执著。你富有，我贫穷，我就痛苦；你美丽，我丑陋，我就烦恼；你对他好，对我不好，我就失落……烦恼的起源，就是分别心。有了分别心，才有执著，才有愚昧，才有贪嗔痴慢妒；烦恼不尽，才会产生妄想，六道轮回由此而生。

 

声明：本文系文化志愿者试译，非专业人才翻译，错误定然不少，如出现疏漏及错误，敬请读者见谅。如有任何翻译上的建议及修正意见，欢迎及时与我们取得联系，我们会加以校对、修改，并希望有专业才能的朋友也能加入我们志愿者群体中来。

 

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