Eternalism and Nihilism

常见与断见

The Buddha rejected both extremes of eternalism and nihilism.

佛陀反对常见与断见这两个极端。

To develop Right View or Perfect View, we must first be aware of two views which are considered imperfect or wrong.

要了解什么是见？首先必须先认识到「常见」和「断见」，这两个极端都是不完整和不正确的。

The first view is eternalism. This doctrine or belief is concerned with eternal life or with eternal things. Before the Buddha's time, it was taught that there is an abiding entity which could exist forever, and that man can live the eternal life by preserving the eternal soul in order to be in union with Supreme Being. In Buddhism, this teaching is called sassata ditthi ----the view of eternalists. Such views still exist even in the modern world owing to man's craving for eternity.

「常见」，是一种认为生命或万物可以永恒存在的信仰。在佛陀降世之前，这是一种主流思想，认为宇宙有一种持久存在的本质，能导致万物永久的存在。因此，人类称这种思想为「常见」(Sassata diññhi)。「常见」，源于人类「永恒」的期望，即使在今天还是一样存在。

Why did the Buddha deny the teaching of eternalism? Because when we understand the things of this world as they truly are, we cannot find anything which is permanent or which exists forever. Things change and continue to do so according to the changing conditions on which they depend. When we analyse things into their elements or into reality, we cannot find any abiding entity, any everlasting thing. This is why the eternalist view is considered wrong or false.

为何佛陀要否定「常见」？当我们观察一般人认为真实的世间一切事物时，我们无法发现有任何事物是永恒的，一切事物都是「无常」的。导致事物不停的变化就是因缘条件。当我们分析事物到最后的单元或最后的真实性时，我们不难发现，根本无法找到任何持续性的本质或永恒的事物。因此，「常见」被认为是不完整和错误的。

The second false view is nihilism or the view held by the nihilists who claim that there is no life after death. This view belongs to a materialistic philosophy which refuses to accept knowledge of mental conditionality. To subscribe to a philosophy of materialism is to understand life only partially. Nihilism ignores the side of life which is concerned with mental conditionality. If one claims that after the passing away or ceasing of a life, it does not come to be again, the continuity of mental conditions is denied. To understand life, we must consider all conditions, both mental and material. When we understand mental and material conditions, we cannot say that there is no life after death and that there is no further becoming after passing away. This nihilist view of existence is considered false because it is based on incomplete understanding of reality. That is why nihilism was also rejected by the Buddha. The teaching of kamma is enough to prove that the Buddha did not teach annihilation after death; Buddhism accepts 'survival' not in the sense of an eternal soul, but in the sense of a renewed becoming.

「断见」，就是指断灭论。有些人认为人死后就一了百了，这些是属于唯物哲学的错误观点。唯物哲学家们拒绝接受心智缘起的知识，以唯物观点来了解生命，因此，它们只说对了部分而不是全部。佛教重视心智缘起的部分，如果有人主张任何事物在停止或消失后，就不复存在，那么他等于在否定心智缘起。我们必须了解所有的缘起包括心识和物质两方面。当我们了解了心识与物质的缘起条件后，我们就不可能再说「死后就一了百了」了，或东西消失后就不复存在了。「断见」是错误的观点，因为它不全面。因此，佛陀否定「断见」。佛陀对业力的阐述，充分的证明了 「死」并非灭绝。佛教认为死后还存在，但不是永恒的灵魂，而是「识」的重新开始。

Throughout the Buddha's long period of teaching the Dhamma to His followers, He actively discouraged speculative arguments. During the 5th century B. C. India was a veritable hive of intellectual activity where scholars, yogis, philosophers, kings and even ordinary householders were constantly engaged in the philosophical arguments pertaining to human existence. Some of these were either ridiculously trivial or totally irrelevant. Some people wasted valuable time arguing at great length about all manner of subjects. They were far more concerned about proving their powers in mental gymnastics than seeking genuine solutions to the problems that beset humanity.

佛陀在四十五年的弘法生涯里，遇到不少人提出有关生命的真相或缘起等问题，他都一一的把问题给解答了。在公元前五世纪，印度的文化空前的发达。出现了很多的学者、瑜伽行者、哲学家、国王，甚至一些普通的在家人，他们提出了有关人类存在的哲学问题，有些人甚至还带着嘲弄或刁难的心理。有些人花了很多时间在研究这些课题，可是它们的研究却远离了修行体证的范围。

(In the 18th century Jonathan Swift satirized a similar pastime in England when he showed the Lilliputians in 'Gulliver's Travels' waging a war to decide whether an egg should be broken on its sharp end or its broad end).

The Buddha also refused to get involved in speculations regarding the universe. He stated very clearly that the problem facing mankind is not in his past or his future but in the immediate present. Knowledge about Eternalism or Nihilism can in no way help man to break the present fetters which bind him to existence and which are the source of all his feelings of discontent which arise from his inability to completely satisfy his cravings. The Buddha stated that before one can begin to tread the path which leads to Nibbana one must have Right View. Only when one knows clearly what one is seeking will one be able to attain it.

佛陀不愿回答宇宙缘起的问题。佛陀认为人类所面对的问题，不是过去，也不是未来，而是现在的问题。明了「常见」和「断见」，将能引导他破除各种烦恼与障碍，了解存在的真相，和各种因欲望得不到满足，而生起不满情绪的原因。佛陀声明要证悟涅槃，必需先要拥有「正见」。唯有拥有确知正见的人，才能证悟涅槃。