尊者阿迦曼回答什么是戒德的本质

谷成

摘自：阿迦摩诃布瓦撰，《尊者阿迦曼传》

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Question: “I understand that you maintain only one rule instead of the full 227 monastic rules that all other monks keep. Is that true?”

问：据说你只遵守一戒，而不像其他比丘是二二七戒。（寺院的律仪条目，叫做 Patimokkha 波提木叉）

Ãcariya Mun: “Yes, I maintain only the one rule.”
　　
尊者阿迦曼：是的，是如此。

Question: “Which one do you maintain?”

问：那麽它是什麽？

Ãcariya Mun: “My mind.”

尊者阿迦曼：它是心意。

Question: “So, you don’t maintain all 227 rules?”

问：那麽二二七戒做什麽，你不遵守它们吗？

Ãcariya Mun: “I maintain my mind by not allowing any wrong thoughts, speech, or actions that would violate the prohibitions laid down by the Buddha, be they 227 in number or even more than that. Those who doubt whether or not I maintain the 227 monastic rules can think and say what they please. As for me, from the day of my ordination I have always maintained strict control over my mind, as it is the master of body and speech.”
　　
尊者阿迦曼：我永远控制着我的心意，以免违反了佛陀的禁令，不论是二二七或任何其它的。因此，我能够确信我从未违反佛陀的禁令，不论是否包括了二二七，都可以由任何人或每一个人来评断。从出家那天起，我从未忽略了控制我的心意，那是所有言语和行为的根源。

Question: “You mean we have to maintain our minds in order to maintain the moral precepts?”

问：但是为什麽要守戒？它跟心意有任何关系吗？

Ãcariya Mun: “What else would you maintain to develop good moral virtue, if not your mind? Only the dead have no need to look after their minds, much less their actions and speech. The wise have never claimed that dead people have a moral bias, it being impossible for corpses to show willful intent. If corpses did have morality, then it would be a dead and useless one. But I am not a corpse, so I cannot maintain a dead man’s morality. I must do what befits one fully endowed with both good and evil tendencies – I must maintain my mind in moral virtue.”

尊者阿迦曼：为什麽不？不守护心意的话，戒德将会成为什麽结果呢？只有尸体才不必守护它的心意、语言或行为。但是在没有任何作意下去遵守任何一种戒德的话，那就应该称之为「尸体的戒德」，它产生不了什麽实际的结果。我不是一具尸体，也不能遵守尸体的戒德。这就是为什麽，在我的情况下，戒德必须永远与心意有关连，它是善恶的产生者。

Question: “I’ve heard it said that keeping our actions and speech in good order is called morality, which lead me to understand that it’s not really necessary to look after the mind. That’s why I asked.”
　　
问：但是根据经典，戒德包括了言语和行为的控制，这似乎暗示着戒德与心意无关。

Ãcariya Mun: “It is quite true that morality entails keeping our actions and speech in good order. But before we can put our actions and speech in good moral order, we must consider the source of moral virtue. It originates with the master of body and speech – the mind – which makes them behave properly. Once we have established that the mind is the determining factor, we must ascertain how it relates to action and speech so that they stay in good moral order that is a source of comfort to us and others alike. It’s not only moral virtue that the mind must deal with. The mind supervises the performance of every activity we engage in, making sure that it’s done in a proper, orderly fashion to produce excellent results each time.

尊者阿迦曼：那从某方面来讲或许是对的，但是在一个人注意到他的言语之前，必然包含了他的心意。换句话说，心意控制先於言语控制和行为控制。心意是所有控制的开始或根源，即使在世俗的事务上也是如此。

“Treating an illness requires diagnosing its cause, then devising an effective cure before it develops into a chronic condition. Taking care of morality requires the mind to be in effective control. Otherwise, the result will be a tarnished morality that’s patchy, and full of holes. Such splintered, inconsistent virtue is truly pitiful. It moves people to live an aimless existence and inevitably causes an adverse effect on the entire religion. Besides that, it’s not a source of comfort to the person practicing it, nor is it admired by his peers.

“I have never done much studying. After I ordained, my teacher took me as a wandering monk into the mountains and forests. I learned Dhamma from the trees and grasses, the rivers and the streams, the cliffs and the caves. I learned it from the sounds of birds and wild animals， from the natural environment around me. I didn’t study the scriptures long enough to become well-versed in the teaching on moral virtue; and my answers to your questions tend to reflect that primitive education. I feel rather inadequate for my inability to provide answers that would be suitably eloquent for your edification.”

例如，在治疗疾病时，必须找出病因再予以处方。如果在遵守戒德之中不包含心意控制的话，结果将使那个戒德成为有瑕疵的、有缺陷的、玷污的等，都会导致律仪相应地败坏。这种离开了心意的戒德，对於遵守它的人不能有任何利益，对整个佛教也是一样。然而，这并非学者的观点，而是一个旷野比丘的看法，他从森林的一切，也许是树叶、山溪、悬崖、山洞或是动物和鸟儿的声音，那些周围所能看到和听到的，去学习法义。这里找不到学术的基础，这只是做为一个住在旷野中的比丘，对戒德所作的一个解释而已。

Question: “What is the nature of morality and what constitutes genuine moral virtue?”

问：那麽，戒德的本质是什麽？戒德这个名词的真正意义是什麽？

Ãcariya Mun: “Being mindfully aware of our thoughts; knowing which things are appropriate to think about and which are not; taking care how we express ourselves by way of body, speech, and mind; controlling these three factors so that they remain within the confines of what is morally acceptable. By properly adhering to these conditions we can be confident that the moral nature of our behavior is exemplary and we are never unruly or offensive. Apart from such exemplary conduct in body, speech, and mind, it’s difficult to say what genuine moral virtue is, since it’s impossible to separate its practice from the person who maintains it. They are not distinct entities, like a house and its owner – the house on one hand, the owner on another. Trying to distinguish between moral virtue and the person who maintains it is very problematic, so I wouldn’t want to do it. Even the peace of mind resulting from the practice of moral virtue cannot actually be separated from that moral virtue. If morality could be isolated in this manner, it would probably have been on sale in the stores long ago. In such a case, people’s moral virtue would probably become a lucrative target for thieves to steal and sell off to the highest bidder, leaving many people totally deprived. Like all other possessions, moral virtue would then become a source of anxiety. It would cause Buddhists to become weary of striving for it, and insecure about holding onto their acquisition. Consequently, the inability to know what precisely constitutes genuine moral virtue is a way to avoid the dangers arising from moral issues, thus allowing virtuous individuals a clever way to gain peace of mind. Being very wary of the inherent dangers, I have never thought of separating myself from the moral virtue that I practice. Those unwilling to make this separation remain content wherever they go, whatever they do, for they never have to worry about losing their moral virtue. Those who see it as something separate from themselves might worry so much that they end up coming back as ghosts after death to anxiously watch over their store of accumulated virtue. It would be like dying people who fret about their wealth, and therefore, get stuck in a frame of mind where they return as ghosts to keep anxious watch over their accumulated riches.”　　

尊者阿迦曼：不容许思想的奔驰，才能够适当地衡量任何相关事务的轻重缓急，透过叁个管道（思想、言语、行为）的表现，就不会脱离适当的控制—这些就是一个遵守戒德的人一般的情况。然而，那是不可能把戒德的特性从持守者的身上分离出来的，即使从持守所获得的快乐果报中也不能分离出来的。这不像一个屋子和它的主人，各自明显的是个分开的个体，一个不能融入另一个之中。但是戒德的情况就不是这样，否则，戒德或它的果报就已经成了商品而遗失或被偷了，因此带给持守者不幸和危险。正因为戒德的果报不能从持守人的身上分离出来，所有戒德才能产生真正的快乐和安稳。持戒的人不执着於他所得的果报，不像一个人即使就要寿终正寝仍然执着他的财产。如果这样的话，这个人将会成为一个地上的精灵，感受他自己执着的苦报，而不能转生於另一个识界，如果他不那麽强烈地执着於他的财产的话，他原可享有那个识界的。

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礼敬阿罗汉。愿以分享此文功德，回向一切众生，回向无上菩提，回向四众和合，回向正法久住。合十。