The Ultimate Truth

究竟的真理

The Ultimate Truth can be found in the Teaching of the Buddhism.

究竟的真理，可以在佛陀的教义中发现。

Buddhism recognizes two kinds of Truth. The apparent conventional truth and the real or ultimate Truth. The ultimate Truth can be realized only through meditation, and not theorizing or speculating.

佛教承认两种真理的存在──普遍性的真理和究竟的真理。究竟的真理不是理论性或推测性的，唯有透过观禅的训练才能获得。

The Buddha's Teaching is the Ultimate Truth of the world. Buddhism, however, is not a revealed or an organized religion. It is the first example of the purely scientific approach applied to questions concerning the ultimate nature of existence. This timeless Teaching was discovered by the Buddha Himself without the help of any divine agency. This same teaching is strong enough to face any challenge without changing the basic principles of the doctrine. Any religion that is forced to change or adjust its original Teachings to suit the modern world, is a religion that has no firm foundation and no ultimate truth in it. Buddhism can maintain the Truth of the original Teaching of the Master even under the difficult conditions prevailing in the modern world. The Buddha did not introduce certain personal or worldly practices which have no connection with morality or religious observances. To the Buddha, such practices have no religious value. We must make the distinction between what the Buddha taught and what people preach and practise in the name of Buddhism.

佛陀的教义是这世间最究竟的真理。佛教不是一种天启或有组织的宗教。他是人类首创以纯粹科学探究终极存在的本质的例子。这种超时空的教义，是佛陀不经任何外在因素所发现的。这教义强而有力，足以面对任何挑战，而不需要改变其基本原则来适应种种的变迁。许多宗教为了适应现代社会，而被迫更改或放弃原有的教义，这是因为他们的宗教缺乏固定的基础和究竟的真理。在目前世界困难普遍存在 的情况下，佛教还是能够照样的保存佛陀原始的教义。

Every religion consists of not only the teachings of the founder of that religion but also the rites and ceremonies which have grown up around the basic core of the teachings. These rituals and ceremonies have their origins in the cultural practices of the people who accepted the religion. Usually the founders of the great religions do not lay down precise rules about the rituals to be observed. But religious leaders who come after them formalize the religion and set up exacting codes of behavior which the followers are not allowed to deviated from.

Even the religion which we call 'Buddhism' is very different in its external practices from what the Buddha and His early followers carried out. Centuries of cultural and environmental influence have made Burmese, Thai, Chinese, Tibetan, Sri Lankan and Japanese Buddhism different. But these practices are not in conflict, because the Buddha taught that while the Truth remains absolute, the physical manifestation of this truth can differ according to the way of life of those who profess it.

佛陀不曾介绍过与道德或宗教无关的个人或世间修持。对佛陀来说，这些修持都是没有价值的。有些时候，我们必须区别佛陀所说的佛法和一般人所说的佛法，以及利用佛陀名义的修持方法是些什么？

所有宗教的弘法，并非由创始人独立完成的。有时候，弘法的任务也交由素质较高的弟子来执行。而宗教的创始人，也未曾制订弘法章程或教育方案。但是后来的宗教领袖却制定了种种方案来防止信徒的叛离。就算在今天，佛教在形式上也已经和早期不同了。经过了数世纪的传播，缅甸、泰国、中国、西藏、斯里兰卡和日本的佛教，就已呈现不同。但是，这并没有引起混乱，因为佛陀所教诲的究竟是真理。这究竟的真理体现，可以根据不同的生活方式显示出来。

A few hundred years after His passing away, the disciples of the Buddha organized a religion around the Teachings of the Master. While organizing the religion, they incorporated, among other concepts and beliefs, various types of miracles, mysticism, fortune-telling, charms, talismans, mantras, prayers and many rites and rituals that were not found in the original Teaching. When these extraneous religious beliefs and practices were introduced, many people neglected to develop the most important practices found in the original Teaching; self-discipline, self-restraint, cultivation of morality and spiritual development. Instead of practicing the original Teaching, they gave more of their attention and effort to self-protection from evil spirits and sought after prosperity or good luck.

佛陀入灭后数百年，他的信徒们开始将他的教义组织起来，形成了宗教。他们掺杂了其它信仰，各种奇迹、神秘、占卜、符咒、灵符、坛场、祷告和各种仪轨。这些未曾出现在原始佛陀的教义里。当这些外来的宗教信仰被纳入佛教体系中，很多人忽略了原始佛教中最重要的修持：自律、自制、道德的陶冶和心灵的发展。人们不再修持佛陀原来的教义，反而花费大部分的精力去向邪恶的神灵寻求庇护和追寻财富及运气。

Gradually, people began to lose interest in the original Teachings and became more interested in discovering ways and means of getting rid of the so-called misfortunes or bad influences of stars, black magic, and sickness. In this manner, through time the religious practices and beliefs degenerated, being confined to worldly pursuits. Even today, many people believe that they can get rid of their difficulties through the influence of external powers. People still cling to this belief: hence they neglect to cultivate the strength of their will-power, intelligence, understanding and other related human qualities. In other words, people started to abuse their human intelligence by following those beliefs and practices in the name of Buddhism. They also polluted the purity of the Buddha's message.

渐渐的，他们对佛教失去了兴趣，变成只是一昧追寻占卜、魔法，或摆脱恶运、晦气或病魔的方法。在这种情况下，宗教的修行与信仰，就局限于一般的、世俗的追求了。即使是现在，还是有很多人相信他们能够通过外来的力量而摆脱他们种种的困扰。只要人们继续追求这种信仰，他们就无法培养坚韧不拔的意志、智慧与学识，以及其它有关人类的优良本质。换句话说，人们开始利用佛教的名义， 滥用人类的智慧与学识去追求仰仗外力的信仰。他们也因此污染了原本纯净的佛陀教义。

Thus the modern religion we see in many countries is the product of normal human beings living in a country and adjusting to various social and cultural environments. However, Buddhism as a religion did not begin as a superworldly system that came down from heaven. Rather it was born and evolved through a long historical process. In its process of evolution, many people slowly moved away from the original Teachings of the founder and started different new schools or sects. All the other existing religions also face the same situation.

One should not come to a hasty conclusion either by judging the validity of a religion or by condemning the religion simply by observing what people perform through their blind faith in the name of that religion. To understand the real nature of a religion one must study and investigate the original Teachings of the founder of that religion.

In the face of the profusion of ideas and practices which were later developments, it is useful for us to return to the positive and timeless Dhamma taught by the Buddha. Whatever people believe and practise in the name of Buddhism the basic Teachings of the Buddha still exist in the original Buddhist texts. 究

我们可以在许多国家里找到这些现代的宗教，这是因为人类所居住的社会背景和文化环境不同的关系。即使把佛教当作宗教，它也不是一开始就从天掉下来的，而是经过很长的历史，和在诞生的过程中加以发展的。在它演化的过程中，人们开始抛开佛陀原始的教义，而创立了许多不同于佛陀教义的新宗派。其它的宗教也面对同样的问题。

我们不应该只观察到那些挂着佛教名义的盲目信仰，就骤然给宗教下了一个不好的结论。要了解一个宗教的本质，必须研究和考据这个宗教创始者的原始教义。

现在我们面对后期佛教所发展的各种不同的宗派和思想。我们有必要回到正确和究竟的佛法。不管人们信仰和实践的是什么样的佛教，佛陀原始的教义完完整整的保存在经典里。