空性即“无缘”

There are also those who ignore these basics but tirelessly run back and forth between China and Tibet to receive empowerments without knowing their respective meanings, conditions and requirements beforehand, which in the end have very little effect on their quest for liberation. So, I hope you will all make generation of renunciation and bodhicitta your aim and strictly refrain yourselves from undertaking any Vajrayana practice until your aim has been achieved. Only then can you consider the advanced, more profound practices like the Great Madhyamaka, Kalachakra, Mahamudra, the Great Perfection and so forth. The Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism offers rich pickings of sublime practices, described by some as being plentiful as the yak’s hair. But no one would be qualified to practice any without first developing renunciation and bodhicitta as the base, which ought to be the single most important practice for us now.

有些人将这些基础修法弃置不顾，在不知道何为灌顶，不知道灌顶后该做什么、不该做什么的情况下，不辞辛劳地奔波于藏汉两地，到处去接受灌顶。但这样的结果，却与解脱道没有多少关系，所以，希望每个修行人都能以出离心、菩提心为目标，严格地要求自己。在出离心和菩提心没有修出来之前，不要修任何密法，只需坚持不懈地在这两个修法上下功夫。只有过了这两关以后，才能考虑大中观、时轮金刚、大手印、大圆满等高深妙法。在藏密里，殊胜的法多如牛毛，应有尽有，但如果没有出离心和菩提心的基础，是没有资格修这些法的。总之，目前对我们而言，唯一最关键的、最重要的就是出离心和菩提心。

2.Actual practice with mind free of clinging and concepts

2、无缘殊胜

Mind “free of clinging and concepts” means emptiness, the void nature of all phenomena. Most of you may not have realized emptiness, but there is no need to be anxious. Once you have generated renunciation and bodhicitta, realization of emptiness can be rather easy to accomplish after all. Conversely, trying to realize emptiness without cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta first will be like making rice out of sand. To use another analogy, it will be easier to harvest when seeds are sown in springtime. Whereas in wintertime, due to a lack of the requisite conditions, seeds sown in this season may not yield any crop no matter how much effort has been made. That is to say, when all the necessary conditions are in place and ripe for happening, things will naturally take their courses as wished.

所谓无缘，就是空性之义。我知道，绝大多数人还没有证悟空性，即便如此，也不用着急，只要能修起出离心和菩提心，证悟空性也是轻而易举的事情。但是，如果没有出离心和菩提心，妄想证悟有如蒸沙成饭。就像在春天播种，就很容易长出庄稼；而在冬天撒种，则因为机缘不成熟，再努力也是徒劳无功一样。在所有的条件成熟以后，一切愿望都会瓜熟蒂落的。

The standard set in the texts regarding actual practice, say, the practice of the six paramitas, is to do it while realizing at all times the empty nature of all phenomena. For example, when releasing life of other beings, one should realize that the person who releases (oneself), the beings released and the act of releasing are all without self-nature and hence illusory like dreams. That is, the action performed is free of the concept of a doer, an object and an action. This constitutes the second of the Three Supreme Methods.

佛经对无缘殊胜的要求是，在不离空性境界的同时，去行持布施、持戒等六度。例如，放生的时候，应了知放生者（自己）、所放生命和放生行为都是无有自性、如梦如幻的，亦即做到三轮清净（或称三轮体空），这就是无缘殊胜。

Before having realized emptiness, it is not possible to truly free mind of concepts. Then, we can just adopt an approximate approach to all actions, which is relatively close to but not quite the real thing. For example, after we have learned the analytical techniques of Madhyamaka, we can fully appreciate the idea that phenomena manifest and, at the same time, are devoid of intrinsic reality, like dreams. However, this is just theoretical understanding, not true realization of emptiness. Let us still use the example of liberating animals. At the time of liberating animals, or at least at the time of dedicating merit after completion of the activity, we can employ the Madhyamaka theory to discern the illusory nature of the doer, the object and the action, thereby approximate the real freedom of concepts for the mind. Though this is not true realization, it is already quite close to it and can be used to train the mindset at the initial stage.

在没有证悟空性时，真正的“无缘”是无法达到的。这时，我们可以按“相似的无缘”来行持，它比较接近无缘，却不是真实的无缘。比如：我们将中观的思维方法学好后，就能深刻体会到，一切法都是显而无自性，是如梦如幻的。但这只是字面上的了解，而并非真实的证悟。仍以放生为例，最好在放生的同时，至少也应在放生完毕回向的时候，能以中观理论来抉择三轮的无实空性，这样的抉择就叫“相似的三轮体空”。这虽然不是真实的三轮体空，但已经比较接近于真实，可以作为初期的三轮体空来行持。