受伤以后，当务之急是拔出箭

The reason for pointing out only four characteristics

2、只讲苦谛四种行相的原因

The Noble Truth of Suffering encompasses all sentient and non-sentient phenomena in samsara. There must be innumerable characteristics related to this world of myriad phenomena. Why then did the Buddha only point out four? It is because all the other characteristics are not so relevant to our practice. The Buddha gave an analogy of this in a sutra. A man was wounded by a poisonous arrow. If he did not receive treatment immediately, he would die. If, at this time, people around him just wondered where the arrow came from, what material it was made of and who made it, instead of pulling the arrow out, could he still be saved in time? No way. At that moment, the first thing to do should be to pull the arrow out to save his life，not to find out how and from where the arrow came.

苦谛本身包含了轮回所有的有情和无情。森罗万象的器情世间，其行相何止千万种，但为什么佛只讲四种呢？这是因为其他行相与我们的修行关系不大。佛在《妙法之王大乘经》中讲过一个比喻：一人被毒箭射中，如果不及时处理，毒素就会蔓延全身而致命。如果此时旁边的人却只管研究这支箭是从哪个方向射来的、是什么材料做的、由谁做的，而没有想到将毒箭拔出，那么这人还来得及救吗？答案可想而知。所以，当务之急是要拔箭救人，而不是研究箭的来龙去脉。

The thrust of the story is that the few minutes it takes from being wounded to death are comparable to the few decades of our lives. What should we count as the most important in this rather short period? Is it to study the trajectories of the planets or the physics of the space? Many people have spent their whole life doing these researches and died before reaching any definitive conclusions. To the deceased, whether there is life or water on other planets is no longer relevant. Therefore, our time should be spent on something most important in life, i.e., to free ourselves from the repeated cycles of birth, aging, sickness and death. To use our relatively short lifetime on any other analysis is really not worthwhile. If there were a bystander in the afore-mentioned story, that person would consider it absurd that instead of saving the wounded, the crowd was busy studying the arrow. It would be equally unwise to expend energy on something transitory and insignificant rather than on spiritual practice.

这个故事所要表达的意思就是，从中箭到死亡这短短的几分钟，就好比我们生命的几十年，在这短暂的生命中，什么是最重要的？是去研究日月的运行？还是外层空间的星球？很多人都曾做过这些研究，但他们都在研究尚未完成前就死去了，其他星球上有无生命或水对死去的人已无关紧要。所以，我们在这一生当中，最重要的就是解决生老病死的问题，将短暂的生命用在其他的研究上是不值得的！在上面的比喻中如果有一个旁观者，一定会觉得这些人不救人反去研究箭，是极为愚蠢、荒唐之至的；同样，如果只是将精力用在无关紧要的事情上面，而不致力于修行，也一样是不智之举。

The phenomena of both the micro-universe and the outer space are part of all the characteristics of the Noble Truth of Suffering. So are chemistry, physics and philosophy. However, they have very little to do with liberation from samsara. Hence it is only reasonable to prioritize our focus in life，as some are more important than others. Most of the things that laypeople have to do to survive do not address freedom from samsara. Only four among all are concerned with liberation. The rest we can put aside. Once enlightenment is attained, all the questions, no matter how complex they are, will be easily understood without having to conduct any research and experiment. Even if a research is called for, it should take place after we have resolved the questions of cyclic existence. So, at the moment, just focus on the four characteristics.

无论是太空或微观世界中的现象，都是苦谛行相的一部份，化学、物理、哲学也都是苦谛的行相，但这些对于我们的解脱并没有太大关系。凡事都应分个先后顺序、轻重缓急。首要的先做，其他的等以后再谈也不迟。在家人为了生存而必须做的事，并不能解决生老病死的问题，而与解脱有关系的就只有四种，所以，其他的就不在我们的考虑范围之内。一旦证果之后，无需做任何实验，轻轻松松地就能了悟其他种种纷繁复杂的问题。即使要做研究，也要等解决了生老病死的问题以后再说，目前就只谈这四种行相。

Frankly, all the disciplines in the world are only concerned with our living, not how to resolve the fundamental question of existence. Once our lives are in danger, no amount of studies can help. Just look at people’s attitude and their behavior during the time of SARS. What more needs to be said? This is why the Buddha only pointed out the four characteristics.

世间的所有学科，都只是为了生存而已，对彻底解决生老病死的问题没有任何帮助，一旦生命受到威胁，都只有无奈以对。大家只需回顾一下非典流行时期世人的种种心态和行为，就可以心照不宣了。这就是为什么佛只讲无常、痛苦、无我、空性这四种行相的原因。