Learning to Tech
学习教导
Makkha Puja is an important Buddhist holiday celebrating the coming together of 1,250 enlightened disciples in the Buddha's presence. At this meeting, he told them to "wander forth" spreading the Dharma "for the good, the benefit, and the awakening" of beings everywhere.
Makkha Puja是个重要的佛教节日，庆祝一千两百五十位悟道的弟子在佛陀前的聚会。集会中，佛陀告诉他们去“四处云游”以弘扬佛法──为了一切众生的“好处、利益和觉悟”。
To celebrate this holiday, Achaan Chah and his many hundred monks sit up all night in meditation with the village lay supporters. In a typical year the great hall is filled with perhaps a thousand villagers. They sit for an hour, then Achaan Chah or one of his chief disciples, who are all abbots of their own monasteries, gives an inspiring Dharma talk. Again they sit for an hour, alternating sitting and talks all night long.
为了庆祝这个节日，阿姜 查与他数百位弟子和村中的在家护法居士一同静坐一整个晚上。在一个代表性的年度中，大殿坐满了大约一千位村民。他们静坐一小时，然後由阿姜 查或他的首座弟子中的一位──他们都已是僧院的住持，来给一场生动的开示。接下来，他们再静坐一小时，整个晚上静坐、开示轮流交替。
One of the earliest Western students of Achaan Chah was seated among the group of new monks feeling the inspiration and joy and difficulty of this night long celebration and practice. At the completion of one hour of sitting in the middle of the night, Achaan
Chah announced to the villagers that they would now hear a talk in their native Lao language by the Western monk. The monk was as surprised as the viJ1agers, but having no chance to prepare or to get nervous, he sat in front of the assembly and spoke of
the inspiration that had brought him to ordain and of the new understandings of the Dharma he had gleaned from practice. After this experience, he was rarely ever nervous about speaking before a group.
一位阿姜 查的西方弟子中最早期的弟子，坐於新进比丘之中，感受著这漫长的庆典及修行的启示、喜悦及艰辛。半夜里，一小时的静坐结束後，阿姜 查对村民们宣布，现在他们将会听到一位西方僧侣以他们当地的语言──寮语，来给大家开示。那位僧侣跟村民们一样惊讶，但，他连准备和紧张的机会都没有，就坐於大众前，将促使他出家的启示和他从修行中得到的对“法”的新领悟说给大家听。这次的经验过後，他在群众前说法就很少紧张了。
Achaan Chah later explained that Dharma teaching must flow unprepared from the heart and from inner experience. "Sit, close the eyes, and step out of the way," he said. "Let the Dharma speak itself."
事後，阿姜 查解释说，法的教示，必须不经准备地从心和内在的经验中流露出来。“坐下来，将双眼阖上，走出障碍，”他说：“让法自然流露。”
On another occasion, Achaan Chah asked Achaan Sumedho, his senior Western monk, to speak. Sumedho talked for a half hour. "Speak a half hour more," said Achaan Chah. A half hour later, Achaan Chah said "Speak more still:' Sumedho continued, becoming increasingly boring. Many of the listeners started to doze. "Surrender to speaking," Achaan Chah cajoled. "Just do it." After struggling on for several hours, SUI11edho had learned to bore his listeners thoroughly and was never again afraid of their judgments when he talked.
在另一次的机会中，阿姜 查叫他资深的弟子阿姜 苏美多上去开示。苏美多开示了半个小时，阿姜 查对他说：“再说半小时。”半个小时後，阿姜 查又说：“再继续说下去。”於是苏美多继续地说下去，但他逐渐地变得乏味无趣，许多听众也开始打盹了。“尽管说，”阿姜 查鼓励道：“继续说就对了。”经过几小时的挣扎过後，他的听众已十分厌倦，可是，他学会了在开示时不再对他们的评语感到惊恐。
Achaan Chah asked a monk who was leaving if he was planning to teach when he got back to the West. No, he had no particular plans to teach Dharma, he replied, although if someone asked, he would do his best to explain how to practice.
阿姜 查问一位即将离开的僧侣，他回到西方时，是否有计划要弘法。他回答，没有，他没有特别的计划要弘法，虽然如此，如果有人问，他还是会尽力说明修行的方法。
"Very good," Achaan Chah said, "it is beneficial to speak about the Dharma to those who inquire. And when you explain it," he went on, "why not call it Christianity. They won't understand in the West if you say anything about Buddha.
阿姜 查说：“很好，对那些询问者说法，对他们有很大的益处，而当你在解释佛法时，”他继续说道：“何不称它作基督教?在西方，如果你谈到佛陀，他们是不曾了解的。”
"I speak of God to Christians, yet I have not read their books. I find God in the heart. Do you think God is Santa Claus, who comes once a year with gifts for children? God is Dharma, the truth; the one who sees this sees all things. And yet God is nothing special-just this.
“我对基督徒谈上帝，然而，我不曾读过他们的圣经。我在心中找到上帝。你认为上帝就是一年一次带礼物来送给小朋友的圣诞老人吗？上帝就是“法”——真理，一位彻见这点的人，即彻见了一切。然而，上帝并没有特殊之处──如此而已。”
"What we are really teaching is how to be free from suffering, how to be loving and wise and filled with compassion. This teaching is the Dharma, anywhere in any language. So call it Christianity. Then it will be easier for some of them to understand."
“我们实际上在教导的是，如何解脱痛苦、如何去爱、如何有智慧和如何充满慈悲。不论任何地方或任何语言，这种教导就是“法”。因此，称它作基督教，如此一来，便能够让他们更容易明了。”
Achaan Chah had this advice for an aspiring Dharma teacher:
"Don't let them scare you. Be firm and direct. Be clear about your own shortcomings, and acknowledge your limits. Work with love and compassion, and when people are beyond your ability to help, develop equanimity. Sometimes teaching is hard work. Teachers become garbage cans for people's frustrations and problems. The more people you teach, the bigger the garbage disposal problem. Don't worry. Teaching is a wonderful way to practice Dharma. The Dharma can help all those who genuinely apply it in their lives. Those who teach grow in patience and understanding."
阿姜 查对一位有志说法的法师有以下的建议：“别受他们的惊吓，保持坚定、直接。了解自己的短处，对於自己的极限要有自知之明。从爱与慈悲著手，当你的能力无法帮助他们时，增长平等心。有时，教育是件很辛苦的工作。老师就好像人们丢弃他们的挫折和问题的垃圾桶。你救的人愈多，垃圾的处理问题就愈大。别担心，教育他人是个修习佛法的最佳法门。佛法会帮助这些将它真正实践在生活里的人。这些教育他人的人，增长了耐心和领悟。”
Achaan Chah encourages his students to share what they learn. "When you have learned the truth, you will be able to help others, sometimes with words but mostly through your being. As for conversing about Dharma, I am not so adept at it. Whoever wants to know me should live with me. If you stay for a long time, you will see. I myself wandered as a forest monk for many years. I did not teach-I practiced and listened to what the masters said. This is important advice: when you listen, really listen. I do not know what else 'to say."
阿姜 查鼓励他的弟子们把他们所学的跟他人分享。“当你体会到真理时，便能够去帮助他人，有时候是用语言，可是，大部份都是透过你的身行。对於佛法的讨论方面，我并不精通。想要认识我的人，就应该来和我相处。如果你住很长一段时间，你自会明白。身为一位森林僧的我，也云游了许多年，并没有去弘法──只做修行和聆听禅师们所说的。‘当你在闻法的时候，确实地聆听’这是个很重要的建议。除此之外，我不知道该说些什么了。”
He had said enough to last us a long time.
他所说的，足以让我们去反省一段时间了。
