道

The Tao

想要返本还原，就要由「一」回到「○」；若恢复○字，

即回到本来的面目，就能转妙*轮。

If we want to return to the origin, we must go from the One back to the Zero. Returning to the Zero,

we return to our original countenance; then we will be able to turn the wonderful Dharma wheel.

鱼在水中，不知在水中；人生存在空气里，但看不见空气。空气虽然没有形象，看不见，但不能说空气不存在。鱼生存在水里，看不见水，但它一离开水，就不能生存。人要依赖空气而生存，虽说空气吃不饱，但需要空气来生存，否则所有物质都会死掉。

Fish live in the water, but don't know that they are in water. People live surrounded by air, but cannot see the air. Although the air is invisible, we cannot say it doesn't exist. Fish cannot see the water, but they cannot survive outside of it. People depend on air for their survival. Although we can't live on air, we need it to live. Without air, all forms of life would die.

人间有空气，在天上就有一股神气、神性，在佛就有佛性。佛性和神性虽然都看不见，但在圣人的境界而言，也是不能没有的。若无神气，神也会堕落；若无佛性，佛也就没有了，这都是妙不可言的境界。我们人修行，就是要修无形的大道、无情的大道、无名的大道。所以太上老君在《清静经》上说：

In the human realm, there is air. In the heavens, there is a spiritual energy, a spiritual nature. And in the state of the Buddhas, there is the Buddha-nature. Although the Buddha-nature and spiritual nature cannot be seen, sages cannot be without them. Without that spiritual energy, the gods would fall into the lower realms. Without the Buddha-nature, there would be no Buddhas. These are all ineffably wonderful states. When we cultivate, we want to cultivate the great Tao which has no form or sentiment, the great Tao which is nameless. Lao Zi said in the Classic of Purity and Stillness,

大道无形，生育天地；

大道无情，运行日月；

大道无名，长养万物；

吾不知其名，强名曰道。

The great Tao is formless;

 it nurtures heaven and earth.

The great Tao is emotionless; it moves

 the sun and moon in their orbits.

The great Tao is nameless;

 it causes the myriad things to grow.

I do not know its name,

 so I merely call it the Tao.

「道」字一开始就有两点，即阴点、阳点，这也就是「人」字的变化，人字分开就是一阴一阳，这两点是人字倒过来的写法。修道就是要倒过来，要逆流、非顺流；顺流就是生死流，逆流则是涅槃。「逆」字也是上面有两点，所以这都是因人为之，要顺就顺，愿逆就逆。

The Chinese character Tao(道) has two short strokes on top representing yin and yang. If the character for “person”(人) is taken apart, it becomes one yin and one yang. These two strokes are the character ren(人)“person” inverted. Cultivating the Tao means turning around and going against the current. Going along the current is birth and death; going against it is Nirvana. The character ni(逆), “going against,” also has the two strokes on top representing “person, ” because it is a person who decides whether to go along or to oppose the current.

两点之下，又加上一横，这是个「一」字。人道从何处得？在「一」字找，要从「一」字开始，「一」字为数目的本体。「一」字又是从何处变来的？它从「○」字而来。○是无内无外，无始无终，扫一切法，离一切相，放之则弥六合，卷之则退藏于密。一切万物的开始，都从○字开始；一切山河大地，房廊屋舍，森罗万象，都从○字开始。再往清楚了说，○字就是本有的佛性，它是大光明藏，圆陀陀、光灼灼。它小，比微尘还小；它大，大过法界，所以无限大、无限小都是它，没有限量。

In the character for Tao, beneath the two strokes is a horizontal line─ the character yi, which means “one.” Where do we find the Tao of being a person? We start with One, the basic substance of all numbers. Where did the One come from? Zero. Zero has no inside or outside, no beginning or end; it sweeps away all dharmas and is apart from all appearances. “Expand it, and it fills the universe; roll it up, and it hides away secretly. ” The Zero is the beginning of all things. To put it more plainly, the Zero is our inherent Buddha-nature. It is the great, bright, perfect treasury of light. It can be tinier than a speck of dust, or greater than the Dharma Realm. It can be limitlessly great and limitlessly small; it has no bounds.

可是人不守规矩，将「○」字弄破了，就变成「一」字。所以单是「○」字，没有「一」字，就没有数目；必须要有「一」，才有数目。本来是圆陀陀、光灼灼，然后变成「一」，一方面成阴，一方面成阳，所以「一阴一阳之谓道，偏阴偏阳之谓疾」。

When people do not follow the rules, the Zero breaks up and turns into One. When there is only Zero, there are no numbers. The numbers start with One. In the beginning, there is only the round, bright circle, and then it turns into the One, which is both yin and yang. “One yin and one yang make the Tao. Excessive yin or excessive yang causes sickness.”

人修道要从「一」字开始，要从自己找「自」，就是眼目的「目」上面加一撇，这也就是教你回光返照，教你眼睛向里看，不要往外看。合起来就是「自」，再加上「这」的偏旁，就成一个「道」字。

Cultivation of the Tao must begin with One, and with searching for one's own self. The word zi (自)“self” is the character mu(目)“eye” with a stroke added on top. This tells us to look within, to turn our eyes inwards, not to look outwards. When you add the radical for “walking ”(这), it becomes the character Tao(道)“path.”

「道」必须要修它，才是道，所以韩愈在〈原道〉一文中说到：「由是而至焉之谓道。」意思是从这个地方，走到那个地方，就是道。道是走出来的，所以修道要躬行实践，努力认真。想要返本还原，就要由「一」回到「○」，也就是「得一万事毕」。若恢复○字，即回到本来的面目，就能转妙*轮。

It becomes the Tao, or Path, only when it is walked. Thus when Han Yu says in the essay “Yuan Tao”(“Path to the Origin”), "A path goes from one place to another." People form a path by walking it; to walk the spiritual path, we must practice with serious effort. If we want to return to the origin, we must go from One back to Zero.

When the One is attained,

All things are settled.

When we return to the Zero, we return to our original countenance; then we will be able to turn the wonderful Dharma wheel.

一九八二年十月十日开示

A talk given on October 10, 1982