在家修行者的轻重缓急

As laypersons, you all have varied duties and at times tedious things to deal with everyday. But there are twenty four hours in a day. To spend one hour each morning and evening to contemplate the questions about samsara and leave the remaining twenty two hours for other activities should be a feasible arrangement, I would think. Even more importantly, besides having the right view, practitioners need to be able to practice. Already one needs extremely good fortune to hear the Dharma and develop faith in the Buddha, particularly so in this modern age. But absent the actual practice, no amount of Buddhist knowledge can help solve any problem of life. And even if it does help finally, it will be after a long, long time. Therefore, either for others’ or our own sake, we should start our practice sooner rather than some time later.

尽管在家人平时要处理很多繁琐的家务事，但每天能从二十四小时中，早晚各抽出一小时思维这些问题，其余二十二小时都花在世俗杂务上应该是能够做到吧！修行人需要有正知正见，但更需要修法。能信佛固然是千载难逢的机缘，在现在这种时代就更难得，可是没有具体修法还是不能解决问题，就算有朝一日能解决，也要经过极漫长的时间，所以不管是为己为人，都要早点开始修行。

Although it is understandable for laypersons to acquire a skill or two in order to make a living, it has nothing to do with liberation and is not the purpose of life, only something we do temporarily. Nonetheless，it does not mean that we ought to drop everything we do once we start Buddhist practice. If that were the case, Buddhism would not stay viable for long either. In Buddhist tradition, there have always been two distinct groups of lay and monastic practitioners. The monastics dedicate themselves solely to Buddhist practice whereas lay practitioners practice the Dharma while leading a secular life. Yet lay practitioners are not supposed to concern themselves fully with worldly matters, like those who do not practice at all. Appropriately measured participation in the mundane activities is already quite sufficient.

如果为了要有生活能力而去学一技之长，是有其必要的，但这不是为了解脱，不是我们生存的目的，只是暂时如此罢了。也不是说一旦学佛，就什么都不学不做了，要是这样，佛教也无法长远流传下去。佛教一向就有出家与在家两种传统，出家人是专门修行的，在家人则既要修行也要做一些世间事务，但对世俗的事不能像一般人那样投入，只需适当地参与就可以了。

Other than the four characteristics, scientific discussions, philosophical viewpoints, traditions, cultures, etc. are also considered the characteristics of the Noble Truth of Suffering. In fact, these characteristics number in the tens of thousands. Since we cannot study them all in our limited lifetime, only these four are chosen to help us realize the true nature of cyclic existence.

除了这四种行相以外，其他科学的课题，哲学的观点，以及传统的文化等都属于苦谛的行相，如此来说，苦谛的行相有成千上万种。但有限的人生不允许我们对所有的行相都进行研究，因而仅选这四种来帮助我们解决生老病死的问题。