(８)现在，假设我们被问到佛教最殊胜的字：
“什么是‘不死之法’？”

8) Now suppose we are asked about the supreme word in Buddhism,

8) “What is the amatadhamma?”

　　“阿马答”(amata)的意思是“不死”，“阿马答达磨”(amatadhamma)则为“不死之法”。那是什么呢？有次佛陀说“贪、瞋、痴止息是不死之法、不死之境。”内心一生起贪、瞋、痴，就是“有死之境”(mortai state)就痛苦，有“自我”就会有生、老、病、死苦。

AMATA MEANS “DEATHLESS”; the amatadhamma is the dhamma (thing or state) that does not die. And what is that? The Buddha once said, “The cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion is the amata- dhamma. “The amatadhamma is the immortal state, or the immortalizing state. Wherever there is greed, hatred, and delusion, that is called the mortal state.One experiences suffering. One has the self-idea, which causes one to be subject to birth, aging, disease, and death.

　　当贪、瞋、痴止息，不再因感觉有“我”而起惑，就不会死亡，因为没有了“我”，那有什么将会死亡呢？所以人如果要追求不死之境——不死之法，就必须寻求贪、瞋、痴止息的境界。这是佛陀所教导的“不死之法”，是我们经常听到的佛陀最究竟、无上的教诫。

When greed, hatred, and delusion cease (the ceasing of delusion being the ceasing of ignorance and misunderstanding), then there no longer arises the false concept of selfhood, then there is no more self to die. So if one is searching for the deathless state, the amatadhamma, one must search for the state or condition that is free of greed, hatred, and delusion. This is what the Buddha taught. The amatadhamma, as we have so frequently heard, is the ultimate, the highest teaching of Buddhism.

　　其他的“不死”(undying)与这“不死”(amata)是不同的，如前所说，无上的“不死之法”是贪、瞋、痴的止息。

The “undying” taught by other teachers is a different amata. But in Buddhism it is, as I have just explained, the cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion.

　　最高、最深奥的“法”，有各种名称，假使有人提出这个问题：“至高至深，能超越世间与死亡的法称为什么？”佛陀称它为“空相应法”(sunnatappatisamyutta)或“空”(sunnata)，“空相应法”至高至深，它能超越世间和死亡，也就是“不死之法”。

THE BUDDHA CALLED it su..atāppa.isa.yuttā which means “Dhamma that treats of su..atā”, or even “su..atā” itself. Dhamma that treats of su..atā is Dhamma at its highest and most profound. It transcends the world, transcends death, and is none other than the amatadhamma (the immortal dhamma).