The Buddha taught that birth, aging, illness, and death are a natural part of life from which no one can escape. When faced with this suffering, attachment is the biggest problem. Attachment clearly leads to suffering; how to face suffering is life’s most important task. To better handle this task, the Buddha said we must learn to let go.

释迦牟尼佛告诉我们：生老病死是自然规律，谁都没有办法逃避。在面临这些痛苦的时候，执著是最大的问题。如果有了执著，一定会有痛苦。如何去面对它，就成为人生最重要的课题。佛教告诉我们，想要更妥善地去面对生老病死这些痛苦，就必须学会放下。

Ch’an Buddhism advocates letting go. Some people think this view is passive, pessimistic, and evasive. If we choose to enter monastic life because we can no longer make it in the real world, we are not letting go; we are just running away or giving up.

禅宗主张放下。有些人认为：放下就是消极、悲观、逃避。自己在社会上实在混不下去了，不得已就选择出家的路。这不叫放下而叫放弃。

If we are successful in life and can let go at the same time, it is truly letting go. We can take responsibility for managing and developing a business so that hundreds or thousands of people, even ten thousand employees can make a living; concurrently, to attain personal liberation, we can also let go — let go of our anger, resentment, excessive desire, etc. In so doing, we can be even more effective at work because there is no contradiction between taking responsibility and letting go of attachment.

真正的放下，是既能在世间非常成功，甚至跻身世界五百强企业总裁的地步，同时又可以放下。我们可以为了几百、几千个，甚至是上万个员工的生存，我们可以担负起经营、开发的责任；同时，为了解脱，我们又要能够放下，放下内心的嗔恨、抱怨、过多的欲望等等。如此一来，就能更圆满地处理工作，因为担当责任与放下执著是不矛盾、不冲突的。