(II) The Delusive Nature of the Faculties of Hearing and Sound （二）听与声二处虚妄
Writings of Master Yuanyin | 2018-06-10 | Download | AI assisted translation
| “阿难，汝更听此祗陀园中，食办击鼓，众集撞钟，钟鼓音声，前后相续。于意云何？此等为是声来耳边、耳往声处？” |
“Ānanda, listen again: in this Jeta Grove, when the meal is prepared, the drum is struck; when the assembly gathers, the bell is sounded. The sounds of bell and drum continue one after another. What do you think? Do these sounds come to the ear, or does the ear go to where the sounds are?” |
| 现在开始讲耳朵。世尊问阿难：现在你听这个祗陀园里，当饭菜烧好了，要开饭的时候，因为要聚集大众，于是先击鼓、再撞钟。这是一切丛林的规矩，现在大概是敲梆或板。我们看见丛林里挂着像鱼一样的东西就是梆。板子一敲，大家都听到这声音，就知道要吃饭了。 |
We now begin the discussion of the ear. The World-Honored One asked Ānanda: Here in the Jeta Grove, when the food has been prepared and it is time for the meal, the drum is first struck and then the bell is sounded in order to gather the assembly. This is the custom in all monastic communities. Nowadays, a wooden clapper or board is probably struck instead. The fish-shaped object that we see hanging in monasteries is a wooden clapper. When the board is struck, everyone hears the sound and knows that it is time to eat. |
| 先敲鼓、后撞钟，两个声音一前一后，前后相续，你听得很清楚。那么，究竟是声音到你的耳朵来，还是你的耳朵往声音那里去呢？我们能听到声音，大家都认为耳朵生在自己的头上，是有处所的。 |
First the drum is struck, then the bell is sounded. The two sounds occur one before the other in continuous succession, and you hear them clearly. So, do the sounds come to your ears, or do your ears go to where the sounds are? Since we can hear sounds, everyone assumes that the ears, being on one’s head, have a location. |
| 声音是从那边来，也是有处所的。耳根与声尘都有处所。这里马上要告诉我们，耳根与声尘，就同前面破掉眼根和色尘一样，既没有处，也没有不处。为什么呢？假如有处，那么是耳朵到声音那边去？还是声音到你耳朵里来呢？下面要破它了： |
The sound also comes from over there and likewise has a location. Both the ear faculty and sound objects have locations. Here it will immediately be shown that, just as the eye faculty and visual objects were refuted earlier, the ear faculty and sound objects neither have a location nor lack one. Why? If they have a location, does the ear go to where the sound is, or does the sound come into your ear? This will now be refuted: |
| “阿难，若复此声，来于耳边，如我乞食，室罗筏城，在祗陀林，则无有我。此声必来阿难耳处，目连迦叶应不俱闻，何况其中一千二百五十沙门，一闻钟声，同来食处。” |
“Ānanda, if this sound comes to the ear, it is like my going to seek alms in Śrāvastī: when I am in the Jeta Grove, I am not in Śrāvastī. If this sound must come to Ānanda’s ear, then Maudgalyāyana and Kāśyapa should not hear it as well—much less should the twelve hundred and fifty śramaṇas, upon hearing the bell, all come to the place of the meal.” |
| 这里先破声音到耳朵里来。假如说声音到耳朵里来，比如我本来在祗陀园里，当我要出去到室罗筏城去乞食，祗陀园里就没有我。 |
Here, the notion that sound comes into the ear is first refuted. Suppose sound comes to the ear. For example, when I leave the Jeta Grove to seek alms in Śrāvastī, I am no longer in the Jeta Grove. |
| 如果这个声音一定要来到阿难的耳朵边，那么目连、迦叶，与其他一千二百五十沙门就不应该听到钟声了。 |
If this sound must come to Ānanda’s ear, then Maudgalyāyana, Kāśyapa, and the other twelve hundred and fifty śramaṇas should not be able to hear the bell. |
| 就是说你在这里，别的地方就没有你，这跟我去室罗筏城乞食，祗陀园里就没有我一样，如果钟声到了你阿难的耳朵里，其他人都不应该听到，那为什么目连、迦叶与其他一千二百五十众统统能听得到呢？这是在破声音到你的耳 |
That is, if you are here, you are not elsewhere. It is like my going to Śrāvastī to seek alms: I am then no longer in the Jeta Grove. If the sound of the bell entered your, Ānanda’s, ear, no one else should be able to hear it. Why, then, can Maudgalyāyana, Kāśyapa, and the other twelve hundred and fifty members of the assembly all hear it? This refutes the notion that sound comes into your ear. |
| 朵里来，如果声音真的来了，那就像我乞食一样，我到室罗筏城去了，祗陀园中哪还有我？下面就讲如果耳朵往声音那边去，会怎么样。 |
If sound truly came, it would be like my seeking alms: once I had gone to Śrāvastī, how could I still be in the Jeta Grove? Next, it explains what would happen if the ear went to where the sound is. |
| “若复汝耳往彼声边，如我归住祗陀林中，在室罗城则无有我。汝闻鼓声，其耳已往击鼓之处，钟声齐出，应不俱闻。何况其中象马牛羊，种种音响。若无来往，亦复无闻。” |
“If your ear goes to where that sound is, it is like my returning to dwell in the Jeta Grove: then I am not in the city of Śrāvastī. When you hear the drum, your ear has already gone to the place where the drum is struck. When the sound of the bell arises at the same time, you should not hear both. Much less could you hear the various sounds of elephants, horses, cattle, sheep, and so forth. If there is no coming and going, then there is no hearing either.” |
| 假如说你的耳朵已经到声音那边去了，就像我已经回到祗陀园中，室罗筏城就没有我了。 |
Suppose your ear has already gone to where the sound is. It would be like my having returned to the Jeta Grove: I would no longer be in the city of Śrāvastī. |
| 你先听到鼓声，你的耳朵已经到鼓那边去了，等一会儿撞钟的时候，你就不应该再听到钟的声音，你为什么听完鼓声又能听到钟声呢？只能说你的耳朵没有到鼓那边去。何止能听见撞钟的声音，还有象、马、牛、羊种种声音，你为什么一时都能听到呢？所以说，耳朵到声音那边去，也讲不通。 |
When you first hear the drum, your ear has already gone to where the drum is. When the bell is sounded a little later, you should no longer be able to hear it. Yet why can you hear the bell after hearing the drum? It can only mean that your ear has not gone to where the drum is. Nor do you hear only the sound of the bell: why can you simultaneously hear all sorts of sounds—those of elephants, horses, cattle, and sheep? Thus, the claim that the ear goes to where the sound is also makes no sense. |
| “若无来往，亦复无闻”，如果声音和耳朵没有来往，就应该听不到声音。这就好比我们用火去点燃灯芯，火要到了灯芯上才能点着，如果不到它那里，怎么能点燃呢？所以说耳朵和声音互有来往，这样是讲不通的。 |
“If there is no coming and going, then there is no hearing either.” If sound and ear do not come and go to each other, one should not be able to hear sound. It is like using fire to light a lamp wick: the fire must reach the wick in order to ignite it. If it does not reach it, how could it light it? Thus, to say that the ear and sound come and go to each other is untenable. |
| “是故当知，听与音声俱无处所，即听与声二处虚妄，本非因缘、非自然性。” |
“Therefore, you should know that hearing and sound alike have no location. Thus, the two locations of hearing and sound are illusory, neither arising from causes and conditions nor possessing a self-existing nature.” |
| 前面说耳朵没有去，声音也没有来，耳朵去或声音来都不成立。既然耳朵不去，声音不来，就表明是不动。反过来说，虽然不动，鼓敲钟鸣的声音还是听到了，也就是不无往来。 |
Earlier it was said that the ear does not go and sound does not come; neither the ear’s going nor sound’s coming can be established. Since the ear does not go and sound does not come, this indicates immobility. Conversely, although there is no movement, the sounds of drum and bell are still heard; thus, it is not that there is no coming and going. |
| 我们前面说过，西方极乐世界，性体虽然是空，但相用则不无，还是有相貌的。说无是就体而言的，从我们的真如妙性来说是没有的；说有是就相用而言，既有相、也有用，所以不无来往。 |
As we said earlier, although the essential nature of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss is empty, its appearances and functioning are not absent; it still has appearances. To say that it is absent refers to its essence: from the standpoint of our wondrous true nature, it is absent. To say that it is present refers to its appearances and functioning: since it has appearances and functioning, coming and going are not absent. |
| 所谓实相就是我们的真如实性，它是无相而无不相的，本体上虽然是无相，但也无不相，可以显现一切相貌和妙用。虽然妙用不无，但是我们要透过相见到体，不能执著这幻化的形相，而要看到幻相背后的性体。 |
What is called true reality is our true suchness-nature. It is without characteristics, yet without any characteristic that it does not encompass. Although its fundamental substance is without characteristics, it is also not devoid of characteristics; it can manifest every appearance and wondrous function. Although wondrous functioning is not absent, we must see the essence through appearances. We must not cling to these illusory forms, but should see the essential nature behind them. |
| 我们做功夫就是要在这个地方用功，认识到一切声色都是虚幻之相，都是自性所起的作用，不要执著它。只见性体，不认妄相，时时刻刻在这上面用功，功夫就容易成就。如果你忘记了这个性体，只跟着相跑，分别这个声音好听，那个声音不好听，那么你就跟着声尘跑了，这样就着相了。 |
In our practice, this is precisely where we must apply effort: recognize that all sounds and forms are illusory appearances, functions arising from intrinsic nature, and do not cling to them. See only the essential nature and do not take illusory appearances as real. If we work at this constantly, practice will be readily accomplished. If you forget this essential nature and merely chase after appearances, discriminating that one sound is pleasant and another unpleasant, then you are following sound objects and clinging to appearances. |
| 既然这个东西没有实体，是虚幻之相，所以不能执著。它就体来说是没有，就相用来说是不无，因为是性体上幻现出来的。虽然假说为有，其实还是没有。所以说声与听都无处所。 |
Since these things have no substantial reality and are illusory appearances, they cannot be clung to. From the standpoint of essence, they are absent; from the standpoint of appearances and functioning, they are not absent, because they are illusorily manifested from the essential nature. Though provisionally said to exist, they do not truly exist. Therefore, sound and hearing both have no location. |
| 既然没有处所，当然也没有个不处所，也就是处所既没有生、也没有不生。刚才说过，如果有生处，就有不生处，现在说没有生处，自然也就没有不生处。那么，这耳声二处，就都是虚妄了。 |
Since there is no location, there is naturally no non-location either. That is, a location neither arises nor does not arise. It was just said that if there were a place of arising, there would be a place of non-arising. Now that there is no place of arising, there is naturally no place of non-arising either. Thus, these two locations of ear and sound are both illusory. |
| 因为虚妄之故，所以是既非因缘性、亦非自然性。假设有来有往，那就是因缘性；假如有不来往，有自体，那就是自然性。事实上并没有来往，所以是非因缘性；也没有不来往，所以是非自然性。 |
Because they are illusory, they are neither causal nor self-existing in nature. If there were coming and going, that would be causal in nature; if there were no coming and going and they possessed an independent substance, that would be self-existing in nature. In fact, there is no coming and going, so they are not causal in nature; nor is there no coming and going, so they are not self-existing in nature. |
| 非因缘、非自然，这不就是如来藏妙真如性吗？这里处处都在破妄显真。没有来处之处，就显出我们的真处，真处就是在在处处无不处，这就是妙真如性。 |
Is this neither-causal-nor-self-existing nature not the wondrous true suchness-nature of the Tathāgata-garbha? Throughout, the text refutes the illusory and reveals the true. Where there is no place of coming, our true place is revealed. The true place is that there is nowhere it is not: this is the wondrous true suchness-nature. |
| 下面讲鼻根与香尘： |
Next, we discuss the nose faculty and odor objects: |
