Delight and Patience: Transcendental Wisdom

 

Delight and Patience: Transcendental Wisdom

 

Now, you not only feel happy, but have a certain power of concentration. When complimented, you are no longer pleased with yourself; when criticized, you won’t feel sad, depressed, or wronged. The eight winds of the world, such as fame, gain, and women, can hardly disturb your mind, because you don’t care about them now and because you have tasted the delight of Buddhist practice.

 

While peace of mind is unstable, it indeed boosts your confidence. As long as you continue practicing, you will enter into a very good state, which is called “joy and pleasure.”

 

In this state, you will perceive distinctly that, despite the myriad appearances of all phenomena, there is no essential difference; rain and snow are essentially the same. Only by getting rid of all calculations about gain and loss, ceasing all deluded thoughts, laughing at the burdens of the world, and having no more attachment, will the discriminating mind fade away.

 

Though you, like a hungry lion, can’t wait to achieve enlightenment and liberation, in actuality, however, don’t be rash, but fold the wings of your mind and cease all deluded thoughts; calm down and concentrate on practice; under the illumination of wisdom, try to perceive the true mind and bask in wisdom.

 

In the course of time, you feel as if you are surrounded by some unexplainable joy and pleasure. You will feel that your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind are full of joy and pleasure. You will find that everything accordingly becomes wonderful; the woods, grass, wild flowers, or even a drop of water become a charming picture, sending out beautiful rays of light. Everything delights you.

 

Now, you not only feel happy, but have a certain power of concentration. When complimented, you are no longer pleased with yourself; when criticized, you won’t feel sad, depressed, or wronged. The eight winds of the world, such as fame, gain, and women, can hardly disturb your mind, because you don’t care about them now and because you have tasted the delight of Buddhist practice. You no longer desire and are attached to anything in samsara, even including love. When you have entered into this state, you have no fear for devils, nor do you have envy for devas. Now, you have no interest in things of the external world. While I was writing A Cult of Vast Desert, I was in that state. At that time, I stayed in my retreat room all day long, I practiced happily and wrote happily, thinking of nothing.

 

You may cling to the happiness, to the illumination, peace, joy, and pleasure of your mind, to a kind of meditative bliss. If you listen very carefully, you would perhaps hear the faint drumbeats before the opening of the gate of enlightenment. Yes, you are about to enlighten your mind and see your own nature. 

 

Following joy and pleasure, gradually appears the “Dharma of warmth,” and you will get the “mark of warmth,” after which your thoughts diminish and your wholesome roots increase. You will be intent on benefiting sentient beings and helping others, for doing so will make you very happy. Now, the tree of wisdom is growing steadily.

 

The fire of the noble path has appeared; though it hasn’t come, it is not far from you. The fire is that of wisdom. You gradually feel its heat, which burns away all your doubts. Keep on practicing, and you will see the illumination of wisdom and it is easy to enlighten your mind and see your own nature.

 

After your doubts are burned away, your mind is purified and you are able to meditate – and you would love it very much. Now you can happily stay in retreat and practice all day long. You used to be baffled by all kinds of teachings. “Dependent arising, empty in nature,” “suffering, origination, cessation, path” – what do they mean? You were puzzled. Now you can understand them at least in principle. You begin to perceive the illumination of enlightenment. A man born blind doesn’t know what the sun is like, no matter how hard people try to describe it for him. The sun in his mind’s eye is that shining ball according to other peoples’ description. He can’t even imagine what green grass is like. However, once he can see, he will know immediately what they are, whether the sun or green grass.

 

In the past, you felt that man is pushed by the wheel of fate and that suffering is inevitable. But now, you find that the “I” that is suffering is the same as anything else; they are all illusionary and impermanent, a combination of causes and conditions. A house, for instance, is made of reinforced concrete. It can be decorated luxuriously, but an earthquake will destroy it, and an order from the government to pull it down will destroy it. Sooner or later, it will disappear completely, just like all the stories that have happened in it. Many years later, it will be forgotten by history. Essentially, the self and the house are the same. Everything in the world has a beginning and an end and is impermanent. Fame and wealth, good looks – things like these can never last. “When the self is empty, dharma is empty,” so to speak. Dharma refers to all things, all phenomena. When you realize this, you will perceive the selflessness of person and the selflessness of dharma, and then achieve a transcendence of wisdom. In this way, you understand that suffering and the “I” that suffer are but an illusion that arises from your mind. you will count yourself very lucky, for you have detached yourself from the suffering of the world and are no longer obsessed with and afflicted by those worthless things. But now you have just begun to shatter self in principle; in phenomena, you are still not completely selfless, and you need to go on practicing.

 

Practice at the next stage focuses on “patience,” which is not the same as repression, but accordance with conditions. That is to say, don’t be attached to all phenomena before your eyes, don’t let your mind follow things of the exterior world – this is what we call “no following it when your thought is gone.” Keep practicing like this day by day, and you will be able to go along with conditions. When someone wants to scold you or beat you, you let it happen. You just watch it come and go, patiently.

 

Perhaps some people find it a really unfavorable situation, but it is like eating the durian: some people find it a real pleasure, while others find it a torture just smelling it. In fact, humiliation is no different from the durian. As long as you don’t judge it by common sense, it will have no effect on you, not to mention creating sensations such as anger and suffering in your mind, and your mind will forever rest on a peaceful ground of concentration and calmness

 

If you are not attached to the outer appearance, the grasper, and the grasped when you are humiliated, it can be said that you are patient. In other words, you are neither attached to the act of humiliation, nor to the concept of humiliation, nor to your interpretation of humiliation. When none of this can disturb your calmness and concentration, you have completed the practice of stage of patience. Then, you enter into the next stage of practice, i.e., the highest worldly Dharma.

 

Notice

 

Translated by non-professional volunteers, there would be some inaccuracies in the translation. You are welcome to offer us some advice for emendation. Please feel free to contact us.We also look forward to you joining our voluntary translation team.

 

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第二辑：跟焦躁的心说再见

 

喜乐与安忍:智慧的超越

 

这时候，你不仅觉得快乐，而且也有了一点定力。被别人夸一句，你不再沾沾自喜；被别人骂一句，你也不会沮丧、伤心或者不甘。名、利、色等世间八风已经很难吹动你的心，因为你已经不在乎它们了，你真正尝到了修行的快乐。

 

心灵的明静虽然时有时无，但它会让你信心大增，接着往下修，你就会进入一种非常好的状态。这个状态叫做“喜乐”。

 

进入这种状态的时候，你会真实地感受到，万事万物虽示现不同，但没有什么本质上的区别，雨和雪没有本质上的不同。只有放下种种对得失的计较与盘算，止息所有妄念，笑对红尘中的负累，不再执著，分别心才会渐渐消失。

 

这时，虽然你像饥饿的狮子那样，满心盼望早日觉悟、早日解脱，但是在事上，仍然不能急躁，要收起心上的翅膀，止息所有的妄念，把心定下来，好好修行，在智慧光明的照耀下，认真地感受真心，感受智慧的熏陶。

 

渐渐的，你仿佛被一种没有来由的快乐与喜悦所包围，你会觉得自己的眼耳鼻舌身意都非常喜悦快乐。你会发现，生活中所有的事情都随之变得非常美妙，树林、小草、野花，甚至只是一滴水，都变成了迷人的画卷，散发着美丽的光芒。一切都让你觉得快乐。

 

这时候，你不仅觉得快乐，而且也有了一点定力。被别人夸一句，你不再沾沾自喜；被别人骂一句，你也不会沮丧、伤心或者不甘。名、利、色等世间八风已经很难吹动你的心，因为你已经不在乎它们了，你真正尝到了修行的快乐。你不再贪恋、执著六道轮回中的任何东西，甚至包括爱情。达到这种境界之后，天人也罢，魔鬼也罢，怕的不怕，贪的不贪。这时候，对于外部世界的种种，你都已经不感兴趣了。我当初写《大漠祭》时，正处于这个阶段。那时候，我整天待在关房里，快快乐乐的修行，快快乐乐的写作，什么都不想。

 

你也许会贪恋这种快乐，贪恋心灵的明静和喜乐，贪图一种禅乐。这个时候，如果侧耳倾听，你也许还能听见觉悟之门开启前，那若隐若现的鼓声。没错，你就快明心见性了。

 

喜乐出现后，“暖法”也会慢慢出现，你会得到一种“暖相”。得到暖相之后，你的念头就慢慢少了，善根越来越增盛了。你会一心想要利益众生，帮助别人，这样做，让你觉得非常快乐。这时，智慧的树开始茁壮成长。

 

因为这时，圣道之火出现了，虽然还没有到来，但它离你不远了。这个“火”是智慧之火，你渐渐感到它的“热力”，这“热力”把你的一切疑惑都烧掉了。紧接着修下去，你就会见到智慧光明，就很容易明心见性。

 

你的疑惑被烧掉之后，心也清净了，能够禅定了，而且非常喜欢禅定。这时你可以整天闭关修行，非常快乐。以往你觉得各种修行的教义非常深奥，“缘起性空”、“苦集灭道”等一系列说法到底是什么意思？你似懂非懂。现在差不多在理上能明白了。你开始体会到那觉悟的光明。就像一个从小双目失明的人，他一直不知道什么是太阳，无论别人费多大力气去形容，他心目中的太阳，都只是别人口中的那个会发光的球体而已，甚至连绿草的样子，他也无法想象。可是一旦他能看见东西，见到了光明，无论太阳还是绿草的含义，他都会瞬间明白。

 

以前总觉得人被命运的车轮推着走，苦是无可奈何的事情，但现在发现，这个“受苦”的“我”跟万事万物一样，都是虚幻无常的，是因缘聚合之物。就像一栋房子，由钢筋水泥筑成，可以被装修得非常豪华，非常漂亮，但一场地震就会毁了它，政府拆迁也会毁了它。它迟早会像房子里发生过的所有故事一样，消失得无影无踪。许多年后，它会被历史忘记，“我”本质上也跟这房子一样。世上万事万物都有始有终、虚幻无常，功名利禄、美丽的外表等等一切，都不能永恒。这就是“我空法亦空”，法就是指万事万物，一切现象。明白这一点的时候，你就会感受到一种人无我、法无我，进而实现了一种智慧的超越。这样一来，你也就明白了，所谓的“苦”和受苦的“我”，都不过是一种幻象，由心而生。你会觉得自己非常幸运，竟然能从红尘的苦中超脱出来，不再为那些没有用的东西而执著，而烦恼。不过，这时，你只是在“理”上渐渐破除了“我”，在“事”上还没有完全做到“无我”，还要继续往下修。

 

接下来的修行，以忍为主。不过，这个“忍”不是压抑，而是一种随缘。就是说，你不要执著眼前的一切现象，不要让心跟着外界的事物走，也就是我们所说的“念去无随”。当你一天天这样修炼下去的时候，就会变得随顺因缘：别人想骂你就让他骂，别人想打你就让他打，来者也好，去者也好，一切随缘。

 

也许有的人会觉得这样很吃亏，但这就像吃榴莲一样，有的人觉得吃榴莲是一种享受，有的人光是闻到榴莲的味道就觉得是一种折磨。实际上，“侮辱”跟榴莲没什么区别，只要你不用常识来判断它，它就不会对你产生任何影响，更不能让你心里产生愤怒或者痛苦等感觉，你的心就能始终安住于专注安详的宁静之地。当你连在受到侮辱的时候，都不执著于外相、能取、所取，你也就安忍了。换句话说，你既不执著于“侮辱”这一行为的显现，不执著于“侮辱”这个概念，也不执著于自己对“侮辱”的解读，这一切都无法动摇你的安宁与专注，忍法的修行就完成了。然后，你的修行就会进入下一个阶段，就会进入“世第一法”。

 

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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