Practice for the Householder

　　在家的修行

You have often asked about the path of the householder. Household life is both hard and easy hard to do, easy to understand. It is as if you were to come complaining to me with a red-hot coal in your hand, and I were to tell you to simply drop it. "No, I won't," you say. "I want it to be cold." Either you must drop it, or you must learn to be very patient.

　　大家经常问到关於在家的修行方法。在家的生活可以说是既困难又容易──易懂难行。就好像你手里握著一块炽红的煤炭，然後跑来跟我抱怨一样，我会告诉你丢掉就好了，但你却拒绝说:“不，我不要!我要它冷却下来。”既然你不丢掉它，你就必须学习非常非常地有耐心。

"How can I drop it?" you ask. Can you just drop your family? Drop it in your heart. Let go of your inner attachment. You are like a bird that has laid eggs; you have a responsibility to sit with and hatch them. Otherwise, they will become rotten.

　　“我怎能就这么丢下它呢?”你问，你可以丢下你的家庭吗?就在心里放下它，放下你内心的执著。你就像一只下了蛋的鸟，有孵它们的责任，否则，它们会腐坏。也许你希望你的家人能珍惜你，能体会你在某方面为何有如此的行为，然而，他们却没有。他们的态度也许是封闭的、心胸狭窄的。如果父亲是个小偷，而孩子不认同，他算是坏小孩吗?尽力去把事情说清楚，诚心地做，然後放下。如果你有病痛去看医生，但他和他的药都无法治疗的话，除了放下之外，你还能做什么呢?

You may want the members of your family to appreciate you, to understand why you act in certain ways, yet they may not. Their attitude may be intolerant, closed-minded. If the father is a thief and the son disapproves, is he a bad child? Explain things as well as you can, make an honest effort, then let go. If you have a pain and go to the doctor, but he and all his medicines cannot cure it, what can you do but let it go?

　　如果你认为是“我的”家庭、“我的”修行的话，这种以自我为中心的观点，只是另一个苦的起因罢了。无论是与他人共住或独处，都不要想要寻找快乐──只要与法同住就好了。佛教能协助我们解决问题，但是，我们必须先修行和增长智慧才行。你不能把米丢进一锅水中，然後就有煮熟的饭。你必须生火，让水煮开，然後让米煮上一段够长的时间。有了智慧，问题终就可以经由对有情业力的思虑得以解决。了解了家庭的生活之後，你便能够真正地学习到业、因果，并且能够开始对你日後的行为谨慎小心。

If you think in terms of my family, my practice, this kind of self-centered view is just another cause of suffering. Do not think of finding happiness, either living with others or living alone-just live with the Dharma. Buddhism helps to work out problems, but we must practice and develop wisdom first. You do not just throw rice into a potful of water and immediately have boiled rice. You have to build the fire, bring the water to a boil, and let the rice cook long enough. With wisdom, problems can eventually be solved by taking into account the karma of beings. Understanding family life, you can really learn about karma, about cause and effect, and can begin to take care of your action in the future.

　　在团体、寺院或静修院中修行并不困难，因为你会不好意思不去和大众一起坐禅。可是，当你回家时，就会发现其困难之处──你会说你懒得坐或找不出时间来。你放弃你个人的力量，而把你个人的力量投射到你以外的人身上──或环境或老师。清醒吧!你是在制造自己的世界。你到底要不要修行?

Practicing in a group, in a monastery, or at a retreat is not so hard; you are too embarrassed to miss sittings with others. But when you go home, you find it difficult; you say that you are lazy or unable to find time. You give away your personal power, projecting it onto others, onto situations or teachers outside yourself. Just wake up! You create your own world. Do you want to practice or not?

　　就好像我们出家人必须在戒律、苦行上加紧努力，和增长可以导向解脱的训练一样，因此，你们在家众也必须这样做。你在家里修行时，应该试著去更加注意基本的戒律，努力去更正你的身行及言语。实际地精进努力，持续不断地修行。对於专注心的修行，千万不能因为你试了两、三次，心无法平静就放弃。为何修行必须一蹴即成呢?你已经让你的心毫无控制、随其所愿地到处乱跑多久了呢?你已经让它牵著你的鼻子到处跑了多久呢?对於一、两个月仍不足以将心平静下来，还有什么好怀疑的?

Just as we monks must strive with our precepts and ascetic practices, developing the discipline that leads to freedom, so you lay people must do likewise. As you practice in your homes, you should endeavour to refine the basic precepts. Strive to put body and speech in order. Make real effort, practice continuously. As for concentrating the mind, do not give up because you have tried it once or twice and are not at peace. Why should it not take a long time? How long have you let your mind wander as it wished without doing anything to control it? How long have you allowed it to lead you around by the nose? Is it any. wonder that a month or two is not enough to still it?

Of course, the mind is hard to train. When a horse is really stubborn, do not feed it for a while-it will come around. When it starts to follow the right.
course, feed it a little. The beauty of our way of life is that the mind can be trained. With our own right effort, we can come to wisdom.

　　没错，心是很难训练。当一匹马真的很顽固时，一段时间不要喂它，它就会乖乖地服从。当它开始照著规矩来时，就喂它一点。我们的生活方式的庄严之处，在於我们的心可加以训练。有了正精进，我们便会得到智慧。

To live the lay life and practice Dharma, one must be in the world but remain above it. Virtue, beginning with the five basic precepts, is all important, parent to all good things. It is the basis for removing wrong from the mind, removing the cause of distress and agitation. Make virtue really firm. Then practice your formal meditation when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes the meditation will be good, sometimes not. Do not worry about it, just continue. If doubts arise, just realize that they, like everything else in the mind, are impermanent.

　　过在家生活并修习佛法，必须在世间，但却又必须保持在它之上。戒行，始於五条基本戒律，每一条都很重要，它们是一切善行的父母。戒行也是拔除心中之恶的根本──拔除苦恼、烦扰之因。因此，把戒行稳固地建立起来，然後，当机缘现前时，就修行外相的禅坐。有时候，禅坐的状况会恨好，有时则否。但不必去担心，只要继续就好。如果疑惑生起，只要明白，它就像心中的其他现象一样，都是无常的。

As you continue, concentration will arise. Use it to develop wisdom. See like and dislike arising from sense contact and do not attach to them. Do not be anxious for results or quick progress. An infant first crawls, then learns to walk, then to run. Just be firm in your virtue and keep practicing.

　　就在你继续修行之际，“定”会现起，然後就利用它来增长智慧。彻见喜与恶都是从感官的接触中生起的，而不要去执著它们。不要渴望成果或迅速的进展，婴儿们都是先爬，然後学走路，接下来才跑。只要坚固你的戒行，继续不断地修行就对了。