The Elder Potthila

Potthila长老

At the time of the Buddha there was an elder named Potthila who was learned in the Tipitaka, but he neglected the practice of meditation. The Buddha chided him as Tuccha Potthila - vain and useless Potthila. Realising his shortcomings in the field of meditation, the elder visited a monastery where thirty Arahants lived in a forest and requested them to prescribe a meditation exercise for him. The senior Arahant knew about his pride of learning and refused to advise him, directing him to approach another monk. The other monks all did the same, until at last only a seven-year old novice, who was also an Arahant, remained. The novice said that he was inexperienced, but Potthila insisted so the novice gave him this instruction:

佛陀时代有位精通三藏的长老叫Potthila，但他忽视了禅修的实践。佛陀斥责他为 Tuccha Potthila - 空虚和无益的Potthila。认识到在禅修方面的不足后，这位长老去拜访森林中一座居住有三十位阿罗汉的寺院，请求他们给他指导禅修练习。年老的阿罗汉知道他自负于学识，拒绝给他建议，指示他去接近另一位比库。其他比库全部都是这样做，一直到最后一位只有七岁大的沙马内拉(sāmaṇera)。这位沙马内拉同样是位阿罗汉，留下了他。沙马内拉说他没有(禅修的)经验，但是Potthila再三坚持请求。所以，沙马内拉给了他下面的指导：

 “Venerable sir. There are six openings in a mound, which an iguana makes his home. If you want to catch the iguana, close up the five exits from the mound, and wait for it to come out from the last exit. There are six doors through which sense-objects can enter. If you close five of them, and keep watch at the mind-door, your task will be accomplished.

“尊者，有一座住着蜥蜴的土堆，它有六个出口。如果你想捉住这只蜥蜴，你要堵上土堆的五个出口，然后等待它从最后一个出口爬出。有六个感官对象得以进入的门。如果你关闭掉它们中的五个，然后持续观照意门，你的任务就能完成。”

What the young Arahant advised was for Potthila not to allow impulsion to hang on to any of the five sense-doors, but to shut them all, and note only the mind-door so that impulsion could lead him on to insight. This gave the learned monk a clue to the method of insight practice. When one sees, one must stop at the thought moment of determining and note all phenomena with mindfulness. It is the same as saying, “When you see, you just see it.” Having practised meditation as suggested, Potthila attained Arahantship.

这位年少的阿罗汉给Potthila的建议是，不允许速行纠缠在眼耳鼻舌身五门中的任何一门上面，把它们全都关闭掉，然后只注意意门，这样速行就能带领他通往内观。这段话给这位博学的修行人提供了内观实践方法的线索。在看时，他必须在确定心的心识刹那停下来，带有正念地注意所有的现象。这和经句“看，只是看”是一致的。依照建议的方法练习禅修后，Potthila证得了阿罗汉。