(１)假如有人问你：

“佛陀教导什么？”

1) Suppose we are asked,

1) “What subject did the Buddha teach?"

　　这个问题最好引用佛陀所说的话回答：“比丘们！现在和从前一样，我只有教导苦(dukkha)和苦的止息。”(泰本巴利藏第１２册，２７８页)。

THE BEST WAY of answering this is to quote the Buddha himself, “Know this, O Monks: Now, as formerly, I teach of only dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness) and the elimination of dukkha.”

　　不管这回答是否符合你原来的想法，请好好思惟它。我们当然也可用其他方式回答，但是在这段话中，佛陀确实已将自己的教导归纳得相当简洁了。

Whether or not this answer agrees with what you had thought, please take good note of it. There are many other ways we may answer, but this one saying of the Buddha sums up his teaching very succinctly.

　　佛陀只教导“苦”和“苦的止息”，所有和止息苦没有直接相关的问题就不回答，例如“死后会再投生吗？”、“是什么去投生呢？”这些问题可以日后再思考。

The Buddha taught only dukkha and the quenching of it. This renders irrelevant any questions without a direct bearing on the elimination of dukkha. Don’t consider such questions as “Is there rebirth after death?” or “How does rebirth take place?” These can be considered later.

　　所以，若有西方人问起这个问题，我们应依照这个准则回答：佛陀除了教导“苦”和“苦的止息”之外，再也没有其他的了。

So, if a Westerner asks us this question, we shall answer it by saying, “The Buddha taught nothing other than dukkha and the elimination of it.”