冲破世间的重围

We have all learned many teachings and understood the diverse aspects of the doctrine. If you were asked to give a teaching today, you probably could do a decent job as well. But very few practitioners today, either monks or laypeople, practice the teachings they received faithfully.

我相信，这些道理很多人也明白，今天如果让你讲你也能讲得头头是道，但无论是出家人还是在家人，真正能做到的却寥若晨星。

In theory, monastics should far exceed laypeople in their spiritual progress and attainments because they are supposed to have relatively (not absolutely) fewer defilements. This is due to the fact that they have abandoned most of the material and emotional attachments which often give rise to negative thoughts or induce troubling behavior, and thus are not easily bound and affected by various worldly matters. Even so, the spiritual practice of many monastics is still less than satisfactory.

本来出家人修行的进步、收获应当远远超过在家人，因为相对来说（不是绝对的），出家人的烦恼要少一些，他们舍弃了很多容易生起烦恼的对境，不会被很多世间的事情所缠绕与侵扰，但出家人里面修行不尽人意的也不乏其数。

People generally think that it is very difficult for laypeople to drop all worldly concerns in order to focus fully on spiritual practice. Consequently, for them to attain liberation is equally difficult. Yet，even in today’s world，there are still possibilities for people to succeed in their practice, to gain the ultimate wisdom and to be free from all suffering. The key lies in being able to cultivate a truly altruistic motivation and hold to the right view.

很多人都认为，作为在家人，是很难突破世间重围而专心致志修行的，所以也很难获得解脱。但在如今这个社会里，我们是有办法修行、有办法成就、也有办法解脱的，关键就要看你发心是否真切、正见是否具足。

It is stated in The Words of My Perfect Teacher that mundane and supramundane practices are essentially contradictory to each other. For this reason, laypeople very rarely have the means or the will to drop all their worldly attachment to pursue a contemplative life. Nevertheless, if one could incorporate bodhicitta into one’s everyday activities，Mahayana practice would not seem so incompatible with the trivial and sometimes inconsequential affairs one has to deal with on a daily basis. Naturally, it would be great not to have to get oneself involved in these affairs, but unfortunately for most laypeople, it tends to be unavoidable. The good news is that although Shakyamuni Buddha did not set too stringent a rule for laypeople, it has not prevented more than a few lay practitioners from becoming accomplished masters in the past as well as in the present age.

虽然《普贤上师言教》里讲，世间法和出世间法本来就是相违，本来就是矛盾的，因为在家人想完全放下世间的事情去修行，这种机会是很不容易得到的。但是如果能将菩提心融入日常生活的点点滴滴，修大乘的佛法跟处理一些家务事或其他世间的事也不是水火不容的。如果不用处理这些事，当然是很好，但往往在家居士难以做到。释迦牟尼佛对在家人的要求也不是很高，可是，在家人里面同样也有很多成就者。不仅以前有，现在也有。