佛与魔 (Mara and the Buddha)[心行法师]

他用色、声、香、味、触以及其它心所作为诱饵来诱惑佛陀，以及佛弟子。

He uses forms, sounds, tastes, odors, tactile objects, and all kinds of mental objects as his bait to lure the Buddha and the Buddha’s disciples.

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今天大多数人不会碰到人格化的恶魔，但是，我们确实会在心理上与他相遇，我们如何察觉魔在心中出现呢？我们又如何驱魔呢？

Today, most of us do not encounter the personified Mara. However, we do experience encounters with Mara psychologically. How do we discern that Mara is showing up in our minds? How do we drive him away?

　　有一次，佛陀看见人们为恶王之刑罚所苦恼，出自于悲心，佛陀心想：‘是否可以正法统治，无杀害亦不教唆他人杀害；不横征暴敛，亦不教他人横征暴敛；无忧苦，亦不使人忧苦？’

Once, the Buddha saw people afflicted with punishments in the realms ruled by unrighteous kings. Out of compassion, the Buddha reflected thus: “Is it possible to exercise rulership righteously: without killing and without instigating others to kill, without confiscating and without instigating others to confiscate, without having sorrow and without causing sorrow?”

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然后，恶魔以其心而知道佛陀的想法，向佛陀怂恿以正法统治。

Then, Mara knowing what the Buddha thought by use of his own mind, approached the Buddha and urged him to exercise rulership righteously.

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佛陀问恶魔什么原因使他如此说呢？恶魔答道，因为佛的神通力是如此的强大，如果佛决心使山中之王的雪山变为黄金，雪山就会成为黄金。

The Buddha asked Mara what made him say such to him. Mara answered that it was because the Buddha’s spiritual power was so great, that if he should resolve his mind to turn the Himalayas, the king of mountains, to gold, the Himalayas would turn to gold.

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佛陀回答说：‘即使有一倍的黄金，也难以满足一个人的欲望，了解了这个道理，不取不舍地以平等的智慧游化吧！见到了苦之生起的根源的人，怎么会倾向于爱欲呢？了解执取是世间的结缚，人应该要学习解脱。’

The Buddha answered:
“If there were a mountain made of gold,
made entirely of solid gold,
not double this would suffice for one:
having known this, fare evenly.

“How could a person who has seen the source
from which suffering springs incline to sensual pleasures?
Having known acquisition as a tie in the world,
a person should train for its removal.”
(SN 4:20)

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佛陀了解恶魔并非尊敬他的领袖才能，反而是很狡猾地利用这个机会，以权力欲来诱惑佛陀，以便将佛陀玩弄于股掌之中。

The Buddha saw, though, that Mara did not respect his ability in leadership. Instead, Mara was cunning enough to use this opportunity to tempt the Buddha with the lust for power and thereby keep the Buddha under his control.

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辨识欲望的能力得以打败恶魔。我们的原始动机往往是好的，但是潜在的权力欲、物欲会改变我们的初衷。

It is one’s skill in recognizing one’s sensual desires that defeats Mara. Often, our original intention is good. But our underlying tendency to lust for power, for material objects, can alter our original intention.

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我们的道德良心告诉自己不要倾心于权力、虚荣，因此，潜在的欲望深深地蛰伏于内心深处。

Our conscience tells us to incline or lean neither to power nor to vanity. Therefore, our underlying tendency of leaning to desire hides deep inside our mind.

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然而，它以明显的道德借口为自己合理化：‘是否可能以正法统治呢？让我有点钱才可以帮助穷苦的人！让我在股票市场赚点钱，然后我就可以安心禅修了！’

Yet, it rationalizes itself with an obvious moral excuse: “Is it possible to rule with righteousness? Let me have some money so that I can help the poor. Let me make some profit in the stock market, so that I can meditate without worrying later on.”

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无穷无尽地合理化，这些都是恶魔的说词。我们得增长自己的能力以识破诡诈的诱饵。

These are the expressions of Mara. One has to develop one’s power in order to see through the tricky bait.

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在经典里，欲望以人格化的恶魔而呈现，然而，在现实生活里，恶魔是潜在的欲望。

In this sutta, sensual desire is personified as Mara. Yet, in real life, Mara is the defilement underlying the tendency to sensual desire.

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它以各种方式表现出来，有各种各样的伪装，以道德的原因为自己掩饰。

It can manifest itself in many ways, having many types of camouflage, as in the guise of moral cause.

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它教唆我们倾向于各种欲望。
It instigates one to all sorts of sensual desires.

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这就是为什么佛未成正觉以前说：‘我何不将我的思想分为两种呢？一是欲念、嗔念、害念，二是离欲之念、离嗔之念、离害之念。’而这也是为什么佛陀将‘正见’称为‘前导者’的原因。正见就好比黑夜的黎明旭日。如果你强化它，它就会越来越光明，终会驱走如暗夜般的欲望习性。

This is the reason why the Bodhisatta, before his enlightenment, decided to separate his thoughts into two classes: one comprised sensual desire, ill will and cruelty; the other comprised renunciation, non-ill will and non-cruelty. This too is the reason that the Buddha calls “right view” the forerunner. It is as the dawn after the dark night. If you strengthen it, it will become brighter and brighter, and finally, it will drive away the dark night of the habitual inclination to seek sensual pleasure.

三、如何打败恶魔？

III. How does one defeat Mara?

　　打败恶魔的秘诀就是知道欲望，以及欲望生起的条件。

The secret of defeating Mara is to understand sensual desires, the conditioned origin of sensual desires, their outcome, their cessation and the way leading to their cessation.

四、什么是欲望？

IV. What is sensual desire?

　　什么是欲望呢？有五种牵动欲望的绳索，那五种呢？

What is sensual desire? There are five cords of sensual pleasure. What five?

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它们是眼根所见的色境，可欲、可爱、与欲相应，以及耳根所闻的声境，鼻根所嗅的香境，舌根所尝的味境，身根所触的触境。这些就是引发欲望的绳索。

They are "forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust; sound cognizable by the ear … odors cognizable by the nose … flavors cognizable by the tongue … tangibles cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust."

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然而，它们并非欲望本身，它们只是欲望生起的外在条件。

These are the five cords of sensual desire. However, they are not sensual desires. They are merely the external condition for the arising of sensual desires. The Buddhist texts say:

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欲望并不在于世上可爱的事物。人的欲望在于欲念，世上的可爱事物仍然可爱，但是智者遣除了对它们的贪爱。

Sensuality does not lie in the world’s pretty things;
A man’s sensuality lies in thought of passion.
While the world’s pretty things remain as they are,
The wise remove the desire for them.
(AN. VI,63)

五、什么是欲望生起的条件？

V. What is the conditioned origin of sensual desires?

　　让我说一个恶魔如何诳惑佛陀的故事吧！听完之后，请想一想什么是欲望生起的条件吧！

　　Let me tell a story of how Mara tried to confound the Buddha. After you hear the story, please figure out what the conditioned origin of sensual desires might be.

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　　农夫与他的牛

　　在《相应部·农夫经》中，恶魔伪装成农夫。他肩扛大犁，拿着赶牛棒，披头散发，穿着大粗麻布衣，脚涂着泥浆。他走向佛陀说：‘沙门，也许你已经看到我的牛了吧！’

Once, Mara manifested himself in the guise of a ploughman, carrying a large plough on his shoulder, holding a long goad stick, his hair disheveled, wearing hempen garments, his feet smeared with mud. He approached the Buddha and said to him: “May be you’ve seen my oxen, ascetic?”

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‘恶魔，牛对你而言，是什么呢？’佛反问道。

“What are oxen to you, Evil One?” the Buddha said.

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‘眼是我的，沙门，色是我的，眼触以及眼识是我的。沙门，你能从我这儿逃到那里去呢？’

“The eye is mine, ascetic, forms are mine, eye-contact and its base of consciousness are mine. Where can you go, ascetic, to escape from me?”

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‘眼是你的，恶魔，色是你的，眼触以及眼识是你的。但是恶魔，无眼之处，无色、无眼触、无眼识之处──这就不是你的境界了，恶魔。’

(The Buddha replied:) “The eye is yours, Evil One, forms are yours, eye-contact and its base of consciousness are yours, but Evil One, where there is no eye, no forms, no eye-contact and its base of consciousness--there is no place for you there, Evil One.” (SN 4:19)

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为什么恶魔伪装成农夫，问佛陀是否看到了他的牛是很有意思的。

Why did Mara disguise himself as a ploughman and ask the Buddha if he had seen his oxen?

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在巴利文里，牛（复数）是balivadde，它也有根和境的意思。

The word "oxen" is balivadda in Pali. Oxen are used to symbolize the sense organs and sense objects.

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在《相应部·六根相应·拘絺罗经》当中，我们可以找到这个用法。

We find this usage in the Kotthita Sutta of the Book of the Six Sense Bases.

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大拘絺罗问舍利弗说：‘是眼系缚了色，或者是色系缚了眼呢？’

Ven. Mahakotthita asks Ven. Sariputta thus: “Is the eye the fetter of forms or are the forms the fetter of the eye?”

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舍利弗回答说：‘并不是眼系缚了色，也不是色系缚了眼，而是于其中间的欲贪将此二者系缚。’

Ven. Sariputta answers: “Friend, Kotthita, the eye is not the fetter of forms nor are forms the fetter of the eye, but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both: that is the fetter there.”

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‘譬如一头黑牛与一头白牛，以一个轭连起来，这样说是否合理：黑牛系住白牛，或者白牛系住黑牛呢？’

Then he gave a simile: “Suppose a black ox and a white ox were yoked together by a single harness or yoke. Would one be speaking rightly if one were to say: 'The black ox is the fetter of the white ox; the white ox is the fetter of the black ox?'"

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拘絺罗说：‘不，并不是黑牛系住白牛，也不是白牛系住黑牛，而是于其中间的轭将它们系在一起，那支轭就是系缚。’

“No, friend. The black ox is not the fetter of the white ox nor is the white ox the fetter of the black ox, but rather the single harness or yoke by which the two are yoked together: that is the fetter there. So too, friend, the eye is not the fetter of forms … nor are mental phenomena the fetter of the mind, but rather the desire and lust that arises there in dependence on both: that is the fetter there.” [MSOffice1](SN 35:232)

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在上述经文里，舍利弗以牛来譬喻根与境。因此，是一个双关语。

In the above-mentioned sutta, the Ven Sariputta uses the ox metaphorically to mean sense faculty and sense object. So, the Kassaka Sutta uses this same wordplay.

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恶魔巧装成农夫，问佛是否曾经看到他的‘balivadde’，如果佛陀无法视破恶魔的伪装，佛陀会将‘balivadde’了解成为‘牛’，心想这是农夫在找他所遗失的牛，这样佛陀就会以一种平常的了解来回答恶魔的问题。

When Mara guised himself as a ploughman to confound the Buddha by asking the Buddha if he had seen his oxen, if the Buddha wasn't able to see through Mara, the Buddha would take balivadda as oxen, thinking that the ploughman was only looking for his lost oxen, and then the Buddha would answer Mara with an ordinary understanding.

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然而，佛陀知道农夫不过是恶魔的伪装罢了。

However, the Buddha knew that the ploughman was only a manifestation of Mara.

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因此佛陀反问农夫，‘牛（balivadde）对你而言是什么意思呢？’

Therefore, the Buddha countered the ploughman with, “What are oxen to you?”

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接着，恶魔因其诡计被识破，而将‘balivadde’作根、境的意义的方式来回答佛陀：

Then, Mara answered by taking balivadda as sense organs, sense objects, etc., and said,

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‘眼是我的，沙门，色是我的，眼触以及眼识是我的，你能从我这儿逃到那里去呢？’

“The eye is mine, ascetic, forms are mine, eye-contact and its base of consciousness are mine. Where can you go, ascetic, to escape from me?”

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而佛陀回答说：‘无眼之处，无色、无眼触、无眼识之处──这就不是你的境界了，恶魔！’

The Buddha answered that where there are no sense faculties, no sense objects, no contact and its base of consciousness--there would be no place for Mara to find the Buddha.

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总而言之，在‘触’的时候，如果以‘我的’来看，我们就在恶魔的境界；反之，如果不以‘我的’来看，我们就解脱于魔的境界。

The message of the story is expressed in the following verse:

Mara:

“That of which they say "It’s mine."
And those who speak in terms of "It's mine."
You should know thus, O Evil One:
Even my path you will not see.”

The Buddha:

“That which they speak of is not mine,
I'm not one of those who speak of mine.
You should know thus, O Evil One:
Even my path you will not see.”

In a word, when consciousness meets the sense object via sense door, if one thinks in terms of “mine,” one dwells in the domain of Mara. On the contrary, if one does not think in terms of “mine,” one is free from the domain of Mara.