【慧灯中英文连载】《Are You Ready for Happiness?》(79)痛苦转为利他心

7.Transform Suffering into Helping Others

7.痛苦转为利他心

The source of suffering has always been attachment to self -love since time immemorial. In any situation, we place our own needs above everything else; we only think of ourselves —for our own happiness, we destroy the happiness of others; for our own health, we ruin the health of other beings, even take their lives. There is no thought whatsoever of helping or caring for other sentient beings. Because of attachment to self-love, substantial negative karma is committed. The suffering we now feel is just a drop in the ocean of karmic retributions, yet it is already insufferable and difficult to face.

痛苦的根源，是自己从无始以来直到现在都有的爱我执。在任何问题上，首先把自己的事情作为头等大事，一切为自己考虑——为自己的幸福，去破坏他人的幸福；为自己的健康，去毁坏他人的健康乃至生命，丝毫没有利益众生和爱护众生的心。为了这个爱我执，造下罄竹难书的罪业。如今感受的痛苦，只是无数果报汪洋之一滴，但对我的打击都如此沉重，让我伤痕累累、无力面对。

We should know all suffering comes from attachment to self-love. Because of this attachment, we create negative karma for self-interest and suffer painful retributions. When we come upon suffering, we do not understand it is of our own doing; we place the blame on others and develop hatred; with hatred, more bad karma is created. The result of this perpetual cycle of enmity is that we cannot extricate ourselves from samsara. If we want to be free of suffering, we must change our ways. From now on, we should help, love, and support all sentient beings with no ego attached.

我们要知道，所有痛苦的来源，就是爱我执。因为有了爱我执，就一定会造业，会为了自己的种种利益去杀盗淫妄，之后必将面临成熟的果报。承受果报之际，又不懂得一切都是咎由自取、自作自受，而将一切都怪罪于他人，继而产生无法遏抑的仇恨，并因仇恨而继续造业，这样恶性循环的结果，就是永无休止的苦难轮回。如果不想继续感受痛苦，就不能再像以前那样有爱我执，一直都为自己算计，不替他众着想。从此以后我要无私利他，关爱、护持一切众生。

There are two bodhicitta practices in The Way of the Bodhisattva, “exchanging oneself and others” and “considering others more important than oneself,” that we must do. The underlying concept is firstly, when facing suffering, look for the source of suffering. There are objective factors but they are not the main reason, just auxiliary conditions. The fundamental reason is the negative karma we have created. All ordinary people have greed; when this converges with causes created in the past, karma comes to fruition. Greed is the attachment to self-love; like fertilizer to crops, it feeds karma and brings it to maturity. Highly- accomplished masters like the arhats also have karmic seeds which have not been completely purified, but because they have cut through greed, their karma does not bind them to samsara.

《入行论》中有自他相换和自轻他重的修法，大家一定要修。其中首先讲的道理就是：遇到痛苦时，要去寻找痛苦的根源。其中会有客观因素，但它不是制造痛苦的根本因缘，而只是一个助缘。最根本的原因，还是自己制造的罪业。凡夫都有贪心，加上过去的因，罪业就会成熟。所谓贪心，就是爱我执，它就像种庄稼的肥料，能促使罪业果报的成熟。而阿罗汉那样的成就者，虽然也有业的习气或种子没有完全清净，但因为阿罗汉断除了贪心，所以这些业不会让他流转轮回。

(78)痛苦转化为慈悲心

(77) 将痛苦转化为行善的动力

(76)痛苦可以清净罪业