Understanding the Buddha's Teachings 

第一章 明了佛陀的教导

Achaan Chah asks us to begin our practice simply and directly with the understanding that the Buddha's truths of suffering and liberation can be seen and experienced right here, within' our own bodies, hearts, and minds. The eightfold path, * he tells us, is not to be found in books or scriptures but can be discovered in the workings of our own sense perceptions, our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. To study these in an immediate and wakeful way and cultivate mindfulness is the path of insight prescribed by the Buddha. It has been kept alive and followed by those monks, nuns, and laypeople inspired to devote themselves to practice in the centuries since.

　　阿姜 查要求我们从佛陀所教导的痛苦和解脱真理的领悟中──可以在我们的身、心当下彻见和经验的，开始我们简单而直接的修行。阿姜 查告诉我们，“八正道”是无法在书籍、经典中找到的，相反地，却可以在我们的根识，我们的眼、耳、鼻、舌、身和意中发现。在这种即时、觉醒、长养正念的方法下学习，是佛陀所觉悟的内观之道。若干世纪以来，这种方法被受到启发并献身於修行中的僧、尼与在家众所保留和遵循。

Achaan Chah speaks as a contemporary living representative of this ancient teaching. His wisdom and mastery have not come through study or tradition but are born of his years of practice, his diligent effort to employ meditation to calm the heart and awaken the mind. His own practice was inspired and guided by the wisdom of several great forest masters a generation before him. And he invites us to follow their example and his.

　　阿姜 查以一个古老教育的代表现身说法。他的智慧和善巧都不是从读书及传统而来，而是从他多年修行、精进以禅坐来平静心及唤醒心得来的。他个人的修行是受到上一代数位森林禅师所启发和指导的。他邀请我们追随他们和他的典范。

Look at what makes up your world-the six senses, the processes of body and mind. These processes will become clear through examination and an ongoing training of attention. As you observe note how fleeting and impermanent are each of the sense objects which appear. You will see the conditioned tendency to grasp or to resist these changing objects. Here, teaches Achaan Chah, is the place to learn a new way, the path of balance, the Middle Path.

　　看看你的世界是什么所形成的──它是六根，身与心的过程。这些过程可经由审视与不断地训练专注力而变得愈来愈清楚。就如你所觉察到的，每一个外尘的生起是如何地迅速和无常。你会看到我们执取及抗拒这些迁变的对象之惯性倾向。阿姜 查教导我们，这里便是学习新方法的地方──平衡之道、中道。

Achaan Chah urges us to work with our practice, not as an ideal, but in our everyday life situations. It is here that we develop strength to overcome our difficulties and a constancy and greatness of heart. It is here, he says, in each moment that we can step out of our struggle with life and find the inner meaning of right understanding and with it the peace of the Buddha.

　　阿姜 查劝诫我们要以修行来解决问题──并非以观念，而是要运用在我们日常生活中的情况。就因为如此，我们增长了对治障碍的力量及一颗相续、善良的心。因为如此，他说，我们方能够跨出生命的挣扎，找到正见的意义：有了正见，便能找到佛陀的平静。