白骨觀

 

大家好！

白骨觀的修法到底是要走向唯物還是唯心？

在修行的法門裡面，後來的人根據佛陀教授的「不淨觀」發展出了「白骨觀」。

以前看沒有什麼想法，因這也不是我想修的佛法，

現在看就覺得佛陀也不容易，從早期第一批弟子們有足夠的聰慧聽聞祂教授的佛法即可證悟，

到後期弟子人數大增到連不淨觀都要教了！

從佛法思惟到面對腐屍，其中幅度轉變不可謂不大。

 

下面截取一段白骨觀的修法，前面我提出，這樣的修法到底是唯物論還是唯心論？

因為修成白骨觀的修行者，看待對方都是白骨，骨頭到底是物質的唯物，還是都只是自認為的唯心論？

這裡的唯心與唯物不涉及現有的佛法解釋，是我個人針對白骨觀內容想問的唯物與唯心。

按照經文佛陀對不淨觀的教授，只是暫時性的教學，一種因應學生資質而提供的教學，卻由短暫性變成永久性。

 

導致，後代的佛法教學都喜歡把別人當自己，

我的眼睛看到的是白骨，當然你的眼睛看到的也是白骨。

 

半寄

 

Contemplation of Bones (Asubha Bhāvana)

 

Greetings, friends of NanZen!

 

The practice of Contemplation of Bones (Asubha Bhāvana) raises an interesting question: is it rooted in materialism or idealism?

Originally, this method evolved from the Buddha’s teaching on impurity contemplation, tailored for students who needed more support in their practice.

I used to overlook this method, as it wasn’t part of the practices I personally sought.

 

However, with time, I began to appreciate the Buddha’s challenges—how he moved from teaching profound Dharma to a small, enlightened group, to adapting his approach as more followers joined, some requiring more tangible methods like visualizing decaying corpses.

 

This shows a big shift—from contemplating Dharma to meditating on decaying corpses.

 

Here’s a part of the Contemplation of Bones practice.

I’m wondering: is this method materialist or idealist?

If a practitioner sees others as bones, then are the bones physical objects (material), or is it just something imagined in the mind (idealism)?

I’m not referring to Buddhist definitions of these terms, but just using them to ask: is this practice about things that are real and material, or just how the mind sees them?

 

The Buddha offered impurity contemplation as a temporary method suited to certain practitioners. But later on, it seems like this temporary method became a long-term one.

 

This has led to a tendency where the practitioners assume that their perspective is shared by others—What I see (e.g. bones), I assume you must also see.

 

Master Banji