The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters - 18 佛說四十二章經 第18章後漢 西域沙門迦攝摩騰 竺法蘭 同譯
Translated jointly by Indian Sramana Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaraksa in the Later Han Dynasty
△ 中文 | 德焱英文 | 弘惠 00 : 20 开始
第18章 念等本空
Thoughts et al are Unreal in Nature
佛言。吾法念無念念。行無行行。言無言言。修無修修。The Buddha said: "My doctrine is to think the thought that is unthinkable, to practise the deed that is not-doing, to speak the speech that is inexpressible, and to be trained in the discipline that is beyond discipline.
會者近爾。迷者遠乎。
Those who understand this are near, those who are confused are far.
English version sourced from Bodhi Fansubs, translated by D.T. Suzuki △ 英文 | 释宏添 中文 | 德焱 02 : 56开始
法师讲解：念等本空
Commentary: Thoughts et al are unreal in nature
This chapter teaches us how to cultivate through our body, speech, and mind with the ultimate truth. In the past the Buddha would teach differently under different circumstances. For example, the Buddha would tell the ultimate truth to people of high potentials, but he would teach people of lower potentials with expedient means only. This is just like a doctor who will tell an adult patient the expected efficacy of a certain medication, but he will only tell a child patient that you will get well very soon after taking the medicine.
Let’s first of all analyze the structure of the first sentence in the scripture. The first “mind” is a verb which means think or contemplate. The second “mind” is an adjective, and the term without mind means without attachment. The third “mind” is a noun to mean thought. Altogether the essence of the whole sentence is forgoing attachments in our mind. In the Diamond Sutra, there is a story about Buddha Dipamkara and Buddha Sakyamuni’s previous existence, who was a teenager with very good endowments. Once Buddha Dipamkara had to walk barefooted across a pool of slops, but the teenager did not want to see that the Buddha’s feet become dirty. Therefore the teenager lay prone in the slops to let the Buddha step on him. As a result, Buddha Dipamkara prophesied to the teenager that he would become a Buddha after ninety one kalpas. Buddha Dipamkara made that prophecy because the teenager had provided the offering with a very pure mind. Had the teenager contemplated that the offering could make him a Buddha someday, perhaps Buddha Dipamkara would not have made the prophecy to him.
In the scripture, the three statements that follow share the same logic too. As another illustrative example, the Diamond Sutra says: “if a Bodhisattva's mind does not abide in forms when practicing alms giving, his merit will be inconceivable and immeasurable.” It follows that when we make donations, we should contemplate the unreality of the three wheels; that is to say, there is no such thing as “I” who can offer, no such thing as “you” who can accept, and no such thing as “gift” which can be given away. By doing so the merit earned can be immeasurably huge. On the contrary, if one talks about his alms giving all the time, his merit earned will be very limited.
9. kalpa ['kɑ:lp?] n. （梵语）劫 10. make the prophecy [?pr?f?si] 做授记；做出预言 11. abide in form 住相；住于外表 12. make donation [do?'ne??n] 布施 13. contemplate the unreality of the three wheels （[?k?nt?mple?t]）观三轮体空 14. inconceivable [??nk?n?si?v?bl] adj. 不可思议的；难以想象的 15. immeasurable [??me??r?bl] adj. 不可估量的
