〖手〗
那些研究理论的人和禅修的人,彼此误解。强调研究的人,通常会这样说:“修禅定的僧人只凭靠自己的看法,他们的教导是没有依据的。”
事实上,从某方面来说,学习与修行这两种方式,其实是同一件事。我们把它想作是手心和手背,可能会比较容易了解。如果我们把手伸出来,手背好像不见了,其实它并没有消失,只是藏在下面而已。当我们再把手翻过来时,会有相同的情形发生,手心哪里都没去,只是藏在下而罢了。
谈到修行时,这点我们必须牢牢记住,假使我们认为它“消失”,就会改变心意而去做研究,希望能在研究中得到结果。不过,无论你下多少功夫研究佛法,你将永远无法了解佛法,因为依据真理,你并不真的了解它。假若我们懂得佛法的如实本性,就会开始放下。放下就是——除去执著,不再有执著,就算仍有,也会逐渐减少。研究与修行之间,就有这种差异。
Hand
Those who study theory and those who practice meditation misunderstand each other. Usually those who emphasize study say things like, "Monks who only practice meditation just follow their own opinions, they have no basis in their teaching." Actually, in one sense, these two ways of study and practice are exactly the same thing. We can understand this better if we consider the front and back of our hand. If we hold our hand out, it seems like the back of our hand has disappeared. Actually the back of our hand hasn't gone anywhere. It's merely hidden underneath. We should keep this in mind when we consider practice. If we think that it has "disappeared," we'll go off to study, hoping to get results. But it doesn't matter how much we study the Dhamma, we'll never understand it if we don't know it in accordance with Truth. If we do understand the real nature of Dhamma, then we begin to let go. This is surrendering, removing attachment, not clinging anymore, or if there is still clinging, it diminishes as time goes by. So study and practice are really just two sides of the same hand.