我们的六根从未接近过胜义谛
中英文连载
《The Right View》(120)
《THE TWO TRUTHS — THE KEY TO UNLOCKING MADHYAMAKA》
《二谛——开启中观门扉之钥匙》
The meaning of the ultimate truth and the relative truth
(二)胜义谛和世俗谛的含义
To ordinary people, the ultimate truth represents an invisible, untouchable state. In other words, it is a condition that our six consciousnesses have never been exposed to. The fact is that other than the physical and the mental world that can be reached via the six consciousnesses, there is another state which by no means parallels Plato’s world of Forms. Rather, it can be compared to the reappearance of a blue sky after dark clouds have been blown away. Our senses and perceptions are like dark clouds that block the truth of everything, including the self. All we need is to find a powerful force like the wind that can blow the clouds away. Once the clouds are cleared, we will discover this other state where there are no illusory manifestations of matter, mind, or movement, just a spatial, luminous and peaceful world like the clear blue sky of late autumn. Although this state does not exist as in the normal sense of a world, it can be addressed，albeit spuriously, as a “world.” Such is the state of the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality of all phenomena.
1、胜义谛对凡夫人而言是看不见、摸不着的境界。也就是说，我们的眼耳鼻舌身意从未接近过的境界叫作胜义谛。现在，在我们六识所能触及的物质世界和精神世界背后，还有另外一个境界，这当然不是柏拉图所讲的理念世界。这如同当空中乌云密布时，一阵风将乌云吹散，就露出了乌云背后的蓝天。同样的，我们现在的所触、所及就象乌云一样，它遮蔽了一切真相，使人无法见到自己的本来面目。现在我们就要寻找一种能够象风一样吹散这些“乌云”的有力手段。当这些“乌云”消失以后，我们就会发现另外一个境界。在这个境界里没有任何物质、精神、运动等世间一切虚幻的风风雨雨、是是非非，而是一个空性、光明、和平的世界，就像一片深秋的蓝天，万里无云万里晴。虽然它并不存在世界、非世界的概念，但是，可以假名为世界，这种境界叫作胜义谛，也就是万物最究竟的本来面目。
Incidentally, it was from the viewpoint of the ultimate truth that the Venerable Huineng composed his well-known stanza on the nature of mind:
There is no Bodhi tree，
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
As nothing is ever there,
Where can the dust alight?
慧能大师曾说过：“菩提本无树，明镜亦非台。佛性常清净(或“本来无一物”)，何处惹尘埃！”就是从这个角度说的。
Who then is privy to this indescribable state? The Buddhas, bodhisattvas and realized beings know and can enter this state at will. Ordinary people are unable to directly experience it, but they can verify its existence by employing the logic of Madhyamaka.
谁能知道这种境界的存在呢？佛、菩萨和一些证悟了的凡夫随时可以进入这种境界，他们知道。而普通的凡夫虽然不能直接感受和体会此境界，却可以通过理论来证实这个世界的存在，所谓的理论即指中观的逻辑。
未完待续