【中英文连载】《Are You Ready for Happiness?》(67) 是痛苦亦是幸福的世俗谛

When we come upon suffering — for instance, when we have committed wrongdoing or have lost an object we are attached to — we should consider it from two aspects: first, through practice, we can relieve suffering; second, more importantly, we can transform suffering into the path.

当遇到痛苦、自己做错事或失去执著之物等等的时候，应该从两个角度去考虑：第一、通过修行，减轻痛苦；第二、也是更重要的，是将痛苦转为道用。

First: Eradicate or Moderate Aversion to Accepting Suffering

第一、 制止、消除或减轻不愿意接受痛苦的心态。

We should contemplate: this suffering does not help my situation; it also brings harm to my body and mind.

应当思维：我这样痛苦不但于事无补，而且伤心痛苦也是有害身心的。

In samsara, a lot of suffering awaits us. As ordinary people, our lives are not all that different — we all experience birth, aging, illness, and death; we all die in the end. No one can tell us exactly how we are going to die. Our parents may leave us; there will also be problems in our marriage, family, relationships, financial status, and work. If we always reject, resist, ignore, or dare not confront and accept suffering, our ability to withstand pressure is evidently very poor. If due to our weakness, we cannot face and accept suffering, and instinctively make it a habit of running away from it, in time we become even weaker mentally. We dispute and fuss over everything. However perfect the environment is, everything is less than satisfactory.

轮回当中肯定会有很多痛苦等待着我们，每个凡夫的命运都大同小异——都有生老病死，所有人终究都会死掉。怎么样死去，谁都说不清楚。父母可能会离开我们，婚姻、家庭、感情、金钱、工作上也会出现一系列的问题。遇到痛苦的时候，如果始终都是拒绝、抵抗、逃避，不敢面对、不敢承受，只能说明我们的抗压能力很差，内心不堪一击。因为内心非常脆弱，无法面对和接受痛苦，出于本能而习惯性地逃避痛苦，久而久之，我们的内心越来越脆弱。任何问题都斤斤计较、挑三拣四。外在环境再好也没有用，看什么都不顺眼。

If things go on like this, the mind will become increasingly vulnerable to pain; nothing can make us happy. This brings us even greater harm; in the end we surrender to suffering and become its biggest victim. Thus, we should be fully prepared now 一we must train our mind before problems arise. Otherwise, even if conceptually we understand suffering and happiness come from the mind, this knowledge alone cannot make a difference for us when we really need help.

长此以往，只会导致内心越来越容易受到伤害，没有任何东西让自己感到幸福。这样给我们带来的创伤更大，最终一定会在痛苦面前倒下，使自己成为最大的受害者，而没有任何益处。所以我们现在就要做好充分的准备，在没有遇到问题之前，一定要锻炼自己的心智，否则即使理论上知道痛苦和幸福来自内心，但关键时候却用不上。

People look at the same problem differently largely because of the state of their mind. Generally speaking, the mind of ordinary people is more fragile while that of the sages is strong. For instance, when the Buddha was about to enter parinirvana, he was surrounded by many arhats and practitioners. Although everyone knew the Buddha was dying and that they would lose not just a great but extraordinary teacher, all the arhats there were very calm. The exception was Ananda, who, having not yet attained realization, was still an ordinary person. He stood crying by the side of the Buddha’s bed and could not contain his sorrow. The arhats were not disrespectful. Because they had already realized emptiness, they could pass beyond suffering.

不同的人看相同的问题，结果也不一样，这也与当事人的内心有着很大关联。一般来说，凡夫的内心脆弱易感，而圣者的内心却非常坚强。譬如说，在佛陀即将圆寂时候，周围有很多阿罗汉和修行人围绕着。虽然大家都知道释迦牟尼佛要圆寂了，自己将失去一位伟大且不可多得的导师，但所有在场的阿罗汉都很平静，唯有阿难因为没有证悟，仍是凡夫，所以在释迦牟尼佛床角哭哭啼啼、悲痛异常。阿罗汉们并不是不恭敬佛，但因为他们已经证悟空性，所以超越了痛苦。

To sum up, suffering may not be suffering; happiness may not be happiness either. It’s all about how you look at it.

综上所述，痛苦不一定是痛苦，幸福也并不一定是幸福，关键在于怎么去看待。