Understanding the nature of life

了解生命真正的目的：

大多数人无法面对生命的真相，他们宁可沉迷于美梦或幻想，把虚幻当作事实。他们不愿去了解生命的无常，而死却是必然的事实。了解生命的无常，就能轻易的面对死亡。一般人对死亡有恐惧感，但是，无论你喜欢或不喜欢，都无法阻止死亡的到来。以正确的心态来面对死亡，可以给人勇气、安宁和了解生命的本质。

Most people dislike facing the true facts of life and prefer to lull themselves into a false sense of security by sweet dreaming and imagining. They mistake the shadow for the substance. They fail to realize that life is uncertain, but that death is certain. One way of understanding life is to face and understand death which is nothing more than a temporary end to a temporary existence. But many people do not like even to hear of the word 'death'. They forget that death will come, whether they like it or not. Recollections on death with the right mental attitude can give a person courage and calmness as well as an insight into the nature of existence.

在了解死亡的同时，我们也必须了解我们的生命。我们的生命并非按照我们的意愿一帆风顺的。我们经常受到很多问题的困扰。我们不需要害怕或逃避种种的问题和困扰，这一切同时为我们带来对生命的洞察力。大多数人在财富、权势、地位中寻找幸福、这种物质文明的发展造成人类追求虚幻的幸福，同时也造成了安眠药的销量直线上升，精神病院病人的增加和自杀率不断的上升。

Besides understanding death, we need a better understanding of our life. We are living a life that does not always proceed as smoothly as we would like it to. Very often, we face problems and difficulties. We should not be afraid of them because the penetration into the very nature of these problems and difficulties can provide us with a deeper insight into life. The worldly happiness in wealth, luxury, respectable positions in life which most people seek is an illusion. The fact that the sale of sleeping pills and tranquilizers, admissions to mental hospital and suicide rates have increased in relation to modern material progress is enough testimony that we have to go beyond worldly, material pleasure to seek for real happiness.