No Ajahn Chah

何来阿姜 查

Reflections

Compiled & Edited by

Dhamma Garden Transcribed to the Internet by

Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery

阿姜 查著、法园编译群编译、王明光校对

Once there was a layman who came to Ajahn Chah and asked him who Ajahn Chah was. Ajahn Chah, seeing that the spiritual development of the individual was not very advanced, pointed to himself and said, "This, this is Ajahn Chah."

有一次，一位居士来拜访阿姜 查，并问他，谁是阿姜查。阿姜查看这个人在性灵上的开拓还不是很高，于是便指着自己说：「这个，这个就是阿姜 查。」

On another occasion, someone else asked Ajahn Chah the same question. This time, however, seeing that the questioner’s capacity to understand the Dhamma was higher, Ajahn Chah answered by saying "Ajahn Chah? There is NO Ajahn Chah."

又有一次，另一个人问阿姜 查同样的问题，但是，这次阿姜查看问问题的人对法的理解能力较高，所以阿姜 查便回答他说：「阿姜查？没有阿姜 查！」

The quotations in this collection have been taken from Bodhinayana, A Taste of Freedom, A Still Forest Pool, Samadhi Bhavana, Seeing the Way, Living Dhamma, Food for the Heart, and Venerable Father, A Life with Ajahn Chah. Some quotations come from a personal collection hitherto unpublished.

Introduction

《序言》

When people would say to Ajahn Chah that they found it impossible to practice in society, he would ask them, "If I poked you in the chest with a burning stick, would you say that indeed you were suffering, but since you live in society you can’t get away from it?" Ajahn Chah’s response makes a point not unlike the Buddha’s parable of the poisoned arrow. The Buddha tells of a man who had been shot by an arrow and would not let anyone pull it out until his questions about the arrow, the bow and the archer were all answered. The only problem was that the wounded man would probably die before he could get the replies to all his questions. What the wounded man had to realize was that he was in pain and dying, and he should do something about that right away.

当有人跟阿姜　查说，他们发现要在社会中修行是件不可能的事时，阿姜　查会告诉他们说：「如果我同一枝烧热的棍子刺在你的胸口上，你会说虽然你很痛苦，但是，因为你身在社会中，所以无法逃脱吗？」阿姜　查回答所提出的与佛陀的毒箭之喻并无两样。佛陀说，曾有一人被一枝箭射伤，他非得等到他对箭、弓和射手的问题都得到回答，否则絶不让任何人将箭拔出。问题是，在他的问题仍未被完全解答前，他大概已经死了。这位受伤的人应明白，他身受重伤，而且濒临死亡，应该马上做处理才是。

Ajahn Chah emphasized this point over and over again in his teachings: you’re suffering; do something about it now! He wouldn’t spend much time talking about peace, wisdom, or Nibbanic states but rather the practice of constantly being aware of what was happening within the body and mind within the present moment, learning how to simply watch and let go. Meditation, he’d say, was not getting things, but getting rid of things. Even when asked about the peace one could attain through practice, he would instead rather speak of the confusion that one should first get rid of, for, as he put it, peace is the end of confusion.

阿姜　查在他的教导中一再地强调这点：痛苦，就要马上解决！他不会花太多时间谈论平静、智慧或涅槃的境界，相反地，他强调持续不断地修行，觉知身心当下的状况，学习如何单纯地观照和放下。他说，禅坐，并不是 要得，而是要舍。即使问他透过修行便可达到的平静，他会反倒回答我们应先除去烦恼，因为，就如他所言，平静便是烦恼的止熄。

This collection reflects not only on suffering and meditation practice but also gives us some insight into impermanence, virtue, non-self and so on.

这本语录不仅对苦和禅修做了省思，同时也带给我们一些深入无常、戒德和无我等等的内观。

We hope that the reader with take this little book as a companion and "good friend" for moments of quiet reflection, and perhaps get a glimpse of the "no-Ajahn Chah" who used to say, "I’m always talking about things to develop and things to give up, but, really there’s ‘nothing’ to develop and ‘nothing’ to give up.

我们希望读者能将这本小册子当做静思时的伙伴和「善知识」，并且对时常说：「我总是说要增长、要舍弃，但是，实际上，根本『没有东西』可以增长，『没有东西』可以舍弃啊！」的「何来阿姜　查」得以一瞥。