〖蛇〗

人们厌恶痛苦而希求快乐，但事实上快乐正是痛苦的微细形态，而痛苦本身是一种较粗糙的形态。我们可以将他们比喻为一条蛇，蛇的头部表示「苦」，蛇的尾部表示「乐」。蛇的头部是很危险的，因为牠有毒牙，如果你触碰牠，牠会立刻咬你一口，但是不消说，即使你去抓蛇尾，同样地，牠会立刻转身咬你，因为蛇头和蛇尾同在一条蛇身上。

同样的道理，快乐和不快乐，或愉快和悲伤，是从同一条“蛇”——欲望，所生起的。所以当你快乐时，心并不是平静的。

例如当我们得到我们所喜欢的，像财富、威望、赞美或幸福时，所得的结果便是快乐的。但是心中却仍旧隐藏著不安，因为我们害怕会失去它。极为忧虑并非平静，往后我们可能真的失去这些，紧接而来的便是痛苦。因此，如果我们不清醒的话，即使是快乐，继之而来的便是痛苦。正如同抓住蛇尾一样——如果你不放手，牠就会转身咬你。所以，无论是蛇头或蛇尾，也就是说，健全或不健全的状况，他们都是轮回的特征，与无限的变迁。

Snake

People want happiness, not suffering. But in fact happiness is just a refined form of suffering. Suffering itself is the coarse form. We can compare them to a snake. The snake's head is unhappiness. The snake's tail is happiness. The snake's head is really dangerous. It has the poisonous fangs. If we touch it, it'll bite right away. But never mind the head? Even if we go and hold onto the tail, it will turn around and bite us just the same, because both the head and tail belong to the one snake. Likewise happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and sadness, arise from the same snake: wanting. So when we're happy, the mind isn't really peaceful. For example, when we get the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we become pleased, but the mind remains uneasy for fear of losing them. That very fear isn't a peaceful state. Later we may really lose those things, then we truly suffer. So if we're not aware, even when happy, suffering is imminent. It's just like grabbing the snake's tail - if we don't let go, it'll bit. So be it the snake's conditions they're all just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.