意解脫、身作證 Liberation of mind and verification by the body

 

南禪朋友早安！

意解脫、身作證

Liberation of mind and verification by the body

昨天在台南讀書會用一個半小時的時間講解阿含經第1091經文

的「意解脫、身作證」。

華人在《阿含經》傳入以後一直以拋棄式束諸高閣的態度來面對祂，

然而《阿含經》是佛陀當時的教學及佛陀對生活態度的最忠實記載！

當禪宗的教學與思想在各地傳開以後，多少修行者為了「開

悟」窮一生之力而焦頭爛額，

而開悟的內容到底是什麼？開悟的人既便說了，沒有經過開悟

境界的修行者一樣是一頭霧水！

「開悟」的內容被弄成玄學式的講解比比皆是。

這個困住廣大修行者的開悟內容，就是《阿含經》的「意解

脫、身作證」。

我在上課中提到「意解脫」已經牽涉到大腦的意識型態束縛整個得到超越，

Liberation of mind and verification by the body

Yesterday at the book club in Tainan I spent an hour and a half

 explaining the meaning of the terms “liberation of mind” and

 “verification by the body” in Sūtra 1091 of the Saṃyuktāgama.

When Chinese Buddhists take the trouble to read the āgama section

 of the scriptures, they tend to 

do so with a dismissive attitude, not realizing that this is where we

 find the most faithful records of how and what the Buddha actually

 taught!

Once the Chan school had become popular in China, not many

 Buddhists were willing to spend a lifetime struggling to attain

 enlightenment.

Then there is the question of what enlightenment actually is. Now,

 there might be an enlightened master who explains it, but if it’s quite

 beyond your range of experience, how could you possibly

 understand it?

Enlightenment became widely discussed as a metaphysical doctrine.

This greatly limited our understanding of enlightenment, hence the

 need to understand what is meant by “liberation of mind” and

 “verification by the body” in the āgama section of the scriptures.

During the book club I explained that “liberation of mind” means

 completely transcending all obstructions of the mind.

 

再加上身體進入大腦可以感知的世界，「意解脫、身作證」六

個字清楚明白寫出有關開悟的境界內容。

修行的路走越遠，越清楚佛法的殊勝，那麼久遠的年代，佛陀

運用現代人才能理解的身、心字眼去描述修行成功的世界，這

對於我是歎為觀止！

半寄

Next comes experiencing the world through the body, so that

 “liberation of mind” and “verification by the body” give a clear

description of the state of enlightenment.

The further you go along the path of spiritual practice, the more you

 come to appreciate the excellence of the Buddhadharma. Although

 the Buddha taught all this in ancient times, it’s amazing that his

 diction and manner of describing the state to be attained through

 spiritual practice is perfectly intelligible to us today!

  Master Ban Ji

  Translated by Ken Kraynak