Starving Defilements

　　饥饿的烦恼

Those just beginning often wonder what practice is. Practice occurs when you try opposing the defilements, not feeding old habits. Where friction and difficulty arise, that's the place to work.

　　那些初学者，常常会想知道什么是修行?修行是在你尝试去对治烦恼(杂染)，不去长养旧有的习气时产生的；冲突和困难生起的地方，就是要下功夫的地方。

When you pick mushrooms to eat, you do not do so blindly; you have to know which kind is which. So too with our practice-we must know the dangers, the snake's bite of defilements, in order to free ourselves from them.

　　当你采磨菇吃时，你不会盲目的去探，你必须去认识它的种类。所以，对我们的修行也是一样的──我们一定要知道危险的地方，以便能从它们中解脱出来。

The defilements-greed, hatred and delusion-are at the root of our suffering and our selfishness. We must learn to overcome them, to conquer and go beyond their control, to become masters of our minds. Of course it seems hard. It is like having the Buddha tell you to split up with a friend you have known since childhood.

　　烦恼(杂染)──贪、嗔、痴，既存在我们的苦和自私的根部，我们必须学者去克服、战胜它们，并超越它们的控制，而成为自己心灵的主宰。这看起来当然很困难，就像佛陀告诉你必须和一个童年的挚友分开一样。

The defilements are like a tiger. We should imprison the tiger in a good strong cage made of mindfulness, energy, patience, and endurance. Then we can let it starve to death by not feeding its habitual desires. We do not have to take a knife and butcher it.

　　我们在刚开始修行时将不可避免地会感到热恼与痛苦。但是切记，只是烦恼(杂染)在热恼。人们想：“我从来没有这样的问题，是哪里出了问题?”以前，当我们去长养欲望时，我们总和它们和平共处。

Or defilements are like a cat. If you feed it, it will keep coming around. Stop feeding it, and eventually it will not bother to come around any more.

We will unavoidably be hot and distressed in our practice at first. But remember, only the defilements are hot. People think, '1 never had problems like this before. What's wrong?" Before, when we fed our desires, we were at peace with them, like a man who takes care of an internal infection by dressing only the external sores.

Resist defilements. Do not give them all the food or sleep they want. Many people consider this the extreme of self-torture, but it is necessary to become inwardly strong. See for yourself. Constantly watching the mind, you may think you are seeing only effects and wonder about the causes. Suppose parents have a child who grows up to be disrespectful. Distressed by his behaviour, they may ask, 'Where has this child come from?" Actually, our suffering comes from our own wrong understanding, our attachment to various mental activities. We must train our mind like a buffalo: the buffalo is our thinking, the owner is the meditator, raising and training the buffalo is the practice. With a trained mind, we can see the truth, we can know the cause of our self and its end, the end of all sorrow. It is not complicated, you know.

　　抗拒烦恼(杂染)吧!不要给它们所需求的一切──食物或睡眠。很多人会认为这是极端的自我折磨，但使内心变得坚强却是必要的。自己去体会，持续的看顾你的心，你也许会认为你看到的都只是结果，而想知道其因由。假设父母有一个小孩，长大後变得粗暴无礼，他们被他的行为所烦扰，他们也许会问：“这个孩子是从那儿来的?”事实上，我们的痛苦是来自错误的知见，及对种种内心活动的执著。我们必须像训练水牛般地训练我们的心：水牛就是我们的想(念头)，而主人是禅修者，饲养和训练水牛则是修行。有一颗经过训练的心，我们就可以看到真理，可以知道造成我们自己烦恼的起因和它的尽头──所有悲苦的尽头。这并不复杂，知道吗？！

Everyone has defilements in his practice. We must work with them, struggling when they arise. This is not something to think about but to do. Much patience is necessary. Gradually we have to change our habitual ways of thinking and feeling. We must see how we suffer when we think in terms of me and mine. Then we can let go.

　　每一个人在他的修行中都会有烦恼(杂染)。我们必须对治它们，在它们生起时努力挣扎。这不是光空想，而是要实践，这是需要相当的耐力的。逐渐地，我们必须改变我们潜惯性的思惟和感觉模式。我们必须看清楚，当我们以“我”和“我的”观点去思考时，我们是如何的痛苦，之後，我们方能放下。