0:00

In the previous lecture we talked about the first two noble truths, the Buddha's diagnosis of the human predicament. Now we're going to talk about the third and fourth noble truths which contain the Buddhist prescription, the cure for what ails us and also they point to meditation which we'll then talk about in some depth. Now I guess you could call the first two noble truths the bad news and good news, respectively. The bad news is that human life is full of [FOREIGN] of

在前一讲中我们谈论了前面两个真谛，佛陀对人类困境的诊断。现在我们将要谈论第三和第四真谛，它们包含了佛教的药方，治疗困扰我们的方法，它们也指向了冥想，也就是接下来我们将深入谈论的东西。现在我才你可以相应的把前面的两个真谛称为坏消息和好消息，坏消息是人类生活充满了不满足的痛苦。

suffering, of unsatisfactoriness. And the good news in the second noble truth is that we have at least isolated the cause. The cause is craving. Clinging to things that are not going to last forever. Well in that sense I guess you could say that they third and fourth noble truths are respectively, more good news and then some bad news. The third noble truth tells us what the cure is. It is the

好消息是，在第二真谛中，我们至少把原因找出来了。原因就是渴望，是一直去抓住那些不会持久的事情。在那个意义上，我猜你将说，他们第三和第四真谛也相应的是更好的消息，和一些坏消息吗？第三个真谛告诉我们，什么是治疗方法，它是放弃渴望和依附。

abandonment of craving and of clinging. The fourth noble truth spells out the path you have to follow if you're going to attain full liberation. And it turns out that it is an Eightfold Path. There are eight things that you have to master if you want to be liberated. So it starts with right view, which is to say getting a proper understanding of the Buddhist's teaching. And there there are a lot of other right things I'm not going to get into all of them. But at the end we didn't right mindfulness and right concentration; which point us to meditation.

第四真谛讲出了你必须追随的道路，如果你想要获得完全的解放。结果是，它是八正道。有8件事情你必须掌握，如果你想得到解放。所以，这从“正见”开始，它是说，对佛教教义获得一个合适的理解。这里有很多其他“正确的事情”，我不会全部都讲。但是最终，我们会讲“正定”，这把我们导向了冥想。

1:26

Now some people might be surprised that there's so much stuff on the path, that isn't about meditation. I think there's an idea in the West, that what Buddhist mainly do is sit around and meditate. Well actually, in Asia, most Buddhists don't meditate at all. Most lay Buddhists do not meditate. A lot of Buddhist monks meditate. But if they're meditating really seriously and certainly if they're meditating with a hope of reaching nirvana, you can bet that they're going to be paying attention to all eight parts of the path.

现在有些人可能奇怪，八正道上，有这么多东西并不是关于冥想的。我想在西方，有一个观念认为，佛陀主要就是静坐着冥想。实际上，在亚洲，大多数佛教徒完全不做冥想。大多数佛教居士不冥想。许多佛教和尚冥想。但是如果他们认真地冥想，必然他们是希望通过冥想达到涅槃。你可以打赌说，他们将非常专注于正道的八个部分。 1:54

Another thing that may surprise people about the Eightfold Path is these three parts of the path here. These three factors which are about ethical behavior and cultivating virtue. I think there's an idea in the West that Buddhism doesn't have this kind of hangup about moral conduct that the Abrahamic religions have you know, there's not all these oppressive lists of do's and dont's, no Ten Commandments. Well actually these three parts of the path have quite a bit of overlap with the Ten Commandments and in some ways they're more demanding.

关于八正道的另一件事也许会令人感到惊奇的是这三个部分。这三个因素是关于道德行为和培养美德。我想在西方有个观点是，佛教没有亚伯拉罕宗教所有的道德行为的限制，没有这些压迫性的应该做和不应该做的清单，没有十诫。实际上，八正道的三个部分，很有点像十诫，而且要求更严格。

2:29

This factor right here, right speech. Says that you not only have to avoid saying things that are not true, you actually have to avoid saying mean things about people. Avoid ideal gossip. And I don't know about you, but if I were to try to completely eliminate gossip from my life, that would take some pretty serious reform. Maybe if you offered me nirvana in exchange for it, I could do it, but I'm not honestly sure. Then when we get to the meditative part of the path, there's more heavy lifting to be done, more hard work. And one reason the work is hard is because, remember, to get to liberation, we're supposed to abandon craving, abandon clinging, we're supposed to lose our

这里的这个因素：正语，说你不仅要避免说不真实的东西，你还必须避免对人们说刻薄的话。避免典型的八卦。我不知道你怎么样，但是如果我要试图完全从生活中消除八卦，那将是一个相当重大的改革。也许你拿涅槃来和我交换，我可能会做到。但是我真的不太确定。当我们说到道路的冥想部分，这里有很多困难的事情要做。困难的一个原因是，因为，记住，要得到解放，我们本该遗弃渴望、放弃依附、我们本该失去我们对不开心事物的憎恨。

aversion to unpleasant things. And that's obviously not going to be easy. Meditation isn't the only thing that goes into cultivating that kind of discipline, but it's a big part of it and it's going to take a lot of work. There's another reason that meditation is going to involve work if you want to get all the way to Nirvana. And that is that remember, this isn't just liberation, it's enlightenment. It's seeing the essence of reality clearly as the Buddha taught it. And part of doing that is back up here in the first factor of the path, right view. That's when you try to gain an intellectual understanding of Buddhist doctrine. But it's in the meditative part of the path where you try to gain an

这些都不容易。冥想并不是培养那种自律的唯一方法，但是它是其中重要的部分，也要付出很多努力。另一个原因是，冥想将包括工作，如果你想要完全涅槃。记住，这不仅仅是解放，这是开悟。这是看到现实的本质，就像佛陀教导的那样。这这样做的部分可以在八正道的第一个因素：正念里找到。就是当你试图获得对佛教教义的一个知识性的理解时。但是在八正道的冥想部分，在这里你试图对佛教教义获得一个体验性的理解。

experiential understanding of Buddhist doctrine. So, for example, with the idea of impermanence you would meditate and, and thereby gain just an intuitive apprehension of the impermanence of things. The impermanence of your feelings, of your thoughts, and of everything that comes into your mind and this apprehension would in turn reinforce the intellectual understanding of Buddhist doctrine and strengthen your commitment to it. Now you might ask, if it takes so much work. To attain liberation, how many people have actually done it? Well, this question came up in a conversation I recently had on a website I run called bloggingheads.tv, where we have video

举个例子，关于无常的观点，你将冥想，因此获得对无常事物的一个直觉的理解。你感觉的无常，你思想的无常，你大脑里任何东西的无常。这个理解将回过来加强佛教教义的知识理解，加强你的忠诚。现在你可能会问，如果这个需要这么多努力，去获得自由，有多少人真正的获得了呢？这个问题在我最近的一个谈话中出现过。最近我有了一个网站，叫boggingheads.tv，这里我们有视频对话。

dialogues. I was talking to a very highly esteemed Buddhist scholar and monk named Biku Bodi just to give you some idea of what a serious scholar he is. This is a sizable chunk of the Buddhist Canon. And the connected discourses of the Budha. It's more than 2000 pages of translation and commentary. And this is the achievement of Biku Bodi the person I was talking to. And so I was talking to him, and I thought, well he's obviously a serious Buddhist. He says he meditates a lot. He's sitting there in a monastery. Maybe he's attained enlightenment. Maybe I'll ask him. Maybe this is kind of a personal question, but have you attained liberation? >> [LAUGH] No, not by a long shot. >> Not by a long shot. >> Yeah. [LAUGH] So are there people alive today that you think have attained liberation?

我在跟一个非常非常受人尊敬的佛教学者谈话，他叫做Biku Bodi，现在我想告诉你他是一个多么严肃的学者。这是相当大的一本佛教著述。关于佛陀的相关论述。有超过2000页的翻译和注释。这是Biku Bodi的成就，就是我谈过话的那个人。所以我找他谈话了，因为我想显然他是一个严肃的佛教徒。他说了他经常冥想。他就坐在那里，在一个寺院里。也许他获得了自由，也许我会问他。>>也许这是一个个人问题，但是，你获得自由了吗？>>[大笑]没有，没有很长时间。>>没有很长时间。>>是的。[大笑]>>那么你认为今天有活着的人已经获得了自由吗？

5:32

I would say there is quite possible maybe some monks in maybe Thailand. [LAUGH] Maybe Burma. Maybe a few in the forest or Sri Lanka. >> Well he may not have attained Nirvana but he does seem happy. And for that matter I've seen a lot of happy buddhists. Now you may wonder, you know, what is the deal here? I mean we've got a whole religion that is supposedly devoted to helping people reach nirvana and virtually nobody ever reaches it? What kind of religion is that? You know, with Christianity it seems a lot more straightforward. The idea is to get to heaven and all you have to do is accept Jesus as your savior. Well actually, for lay Buddhists in Asia, the kind of incentive structure if you will, is a lot more like that in Christianity than you might imagine.

我想说这是非常有可能的，也许有些泰国，[大笑]也许是缅甸，也许是一些在森林里，或者斯里兰卡的和尚获得了。[大笑] >> 好吧，他可能并没有涅槃，但是他确实看起来很开心。我看过很多快乐的佛教徒。现在你可能想知道，这里的交易是什么？我的意思是，我们有了一整个宗教，本意是全心帮助人们达到涅槃，而事实上没有人达到过？这是个什么宗教啊？基督教义看起来更直接一些。它的观点就是要去往天堂，你该做的就是接受基督作为你的救世主。实际上，对于亚洲的佛教居士，这个类型的激励结构，如果你愿意想象的话，比你想象的更像基督教。

6:19

They may not aspire to escape the cycle of rebirth in this life, which is what nirvana would accomplish. They can hope to get a more favorable rebirth in the next round. And that can include going to a kind of heaven where they will not stay forever. But stay for a very long time before another rebirth. And the way they do this is to pursue virtuous behavior. And that increases their chances of a favorable rebirth. So the religion does make sense on its own terms. I want to emphasize that there are people that would disagree with Biku Bodi about this liberation thing. There are people who will tell you that they are enlightened, and who am I to judge. And there are meditation teachers who will insist that yes, liberation is within reach.

他们也许不追求从轮回的这次人生中解脱出来，那是涅槃将获得的。他们能希望在下一个轮回里得到一个更好的重生。那将包括去天堂，那个他们不会永远呆在那里的地方，但是可以在下一次重生之前呆很长时间。他们这样做的方法是，追求道德行为。这将提高他们投胎投得更好的几率。所以宗教是可以自圆其说的。我想强调，关于这些解放之类的东西，有人可能不赞成Biku Bodi。有人会告诉你他们开悟了，你是谁你有什么资格来判断。这里也有一些冥想的老师坚持说是的，自由触手可及。

7:06

Still, I think it's safe to say that for most of us, nirvana is not going to happen today, next week, next month, next year, next decade.

所以，我想这样说比较安全：对于我们大多数人，涅槃不会在今天发生，也不会下周、下个月、下一年、下个十年发生。

7:16

Still there is some good news. You know, if you can't attain full liberation, there is such thing as partial liberation. If you can't eliminate all your suffering, you can eliminate some of it. If you can't reach complete equanimity you can get more tranquility and balance than you have now. And your life, according to reports from people who have done this, your life can change considerably and even be transformed.

这里也有一些好消息。如果你不能获得全部的自由，这里有部分的自由。如果你不能消除你全部的痛苦，你可以消除部分。如果你不能达到完全的平静，你能比你现在得到更多的宁静和平衡。你的生活，根据一些这样做了的人的报告，你的生活能相应的改变，甚至彻底改观。

equanimity： 平静

7:42

So, I guess the way I think of meditative practice is, is being on a kind of spectrum. So, one end you have strictly therapeutic practice. Maybe you, you come home from work stressed out and you do ten minutes of meditation and you feel better and, and that's it. You don't think of any Buddhist doctrines that may be associated with meditation. And then at the other end of the spectrum, there's Nirvana. Way, way down there.

所以，我猜，我认为的冥想实践是，有点儿像一种光谱。光谱的一端，你有严格地有益健康的实践，也许你从压力山大的工作中回到家里，你做了十分钟的冥想，你感到好一点儿了，这就是全部了。你不会想任何跟冥想相关的佛教教义。在光谱的另一端，就是涅槃，在很远很远的另一端。

8:07

But then I would say that at some point as you move toward the Nirvana end of the spectrum, you enter a zone that we could call spiritual practice. Not just therapeutic but spiritual practice. Now, what does that mean? Well, first of all, this is just my definition. You know, there's no official definition of spiritual. But what I would say is that if practice qualifies for the term spiritual, then the motivation is not just about self-help. There is a desire to, to become a better person, to help others, and to see the world more clearly. And there's the beginning of an understanding that

但是我想说，在某个意义上，当你朝涅槃那一端的光谱靠近时，你进入了我们称为灵修的区域。不仅是治疗性的还是灵修。现在，这是什么意思。首先，这只是我自己的定义。这里没有对灵修的官方定义。但是我要说的是，如果修行对于精神这个术语也适用，那么动机不仅是关于自助，这里也有一个渴望，渴望变成一个更好的人，去帮助别人，去把世界看得更清楚。这就是理解的开始，理解这里有两个目标：变得更好，看世界更清楚，而且这两个目标之间是有联系的。

there's a connection between these two goals of becoming a better person, seeing the world more clearly. So, there's a desire to kind of strip yourself of some of the delusions and misperceptions that seem to be natural for human beings. And in the process become a better person. So you're trying to align yourself with the truth about the world, the truth about other people, about yourself and with moral truth. Of course, it's good news that you reduce your suffering in the process. And it's fine that this is one thing that sustains the practice, but that's. Just not all that it's about.

所以这里有一个渴望，渴望剥离你自己的一些对人类来说很自然的幻觉和错觉。在变得更好的过程中。所以你试图把自己往真谛上靠近，关于世界的真谛，关于其他人的真谛，关于你自己和道德的真谛。当然，好消息是，在这个过程中你减少了你的痛苦。维持修行，这是唯一的事情，这没关系，但这不是全部。

9:26

Now, I don't want to over emphasize this distinction between the therapeutic and the spiritual. Because for one thing, even if you just reduce your stress, then you're probably going to see the world a little more clearly, and you're probably going to become a better person. If only in the sense of making the people around you less unhappy than you might make them when you're stressed out.

现在，我不想过度强调身体修行和精神修行的区别。因为一点，即使你只是减轻你的压力，然后你很可能看这个世界更清楚一点，你很可能会变成一个更好的人。这样当你累坏了的时候，你让身边的人不愉快的程度会更轻一点。

9:50

And also, if you're doing this kind of therapeutic practice, it may happen that you start expanding the practice. You, you don't want to just get a, get rid of your stress. You realize that, that this can help with anxiety. With sorrow and so on, you may start meditating more. And I think it tends to happen when people do that. That they do become better people and more considerate of others. In fact, one interesting thing about Buddhism is this kind of organic connection between self-help

同样，如果你在做这样的身体修行，你可能会扩展这种修行。你不会想要只是减轻压力。你意识到，这对焦虑有帮助，对悲伤也有帮助。你可能会做越来越多的冥想。我想当人们开始冥想时，人们很可能会这样发展。然后他们真的变成了更好的人，对他人也更体贴。实际上，关于佛教。一个有意思的事是，这种在自助和助他之间的有机联系。

and helping others. It's not automatic. And maybe that's why the Buddha included explicit ethical strictures. But there is something natural about the progression from helping yourself to becoming a more considerate person. Still, when I think about practice, it qualifies for the term spiritual, I do think about the aspiration being about more than self help. So kind of the driving dissatisfaction isn't just about the fact that we're born into these machines that sometimes make us suffer. It's that we're born into these machines that make it hard to see things clearly, that fill us with misperceptions that lead us to make other people suffer.

这不是自动发生的。也许这就是为什么佛陀把详尽的道德准则包括进去。但是从自助到更体贴的过程有些自然。当我思考修行，它同样适用于精神。我确实考虑开悟比自助更多。不满足的驱动，不仅是关于我们生来就是会受苦的这个事实，它也是我们生来就难以看清这个世界的事实，这让我们充满错觉，以至于让他人受苦。

11:05

Now a lot of you have probably seen the movie The Matrix.

你们很多人很可能都看过电影《黑客帝国》。

11:09

And in that movie the character played by Keanu Reeves realizes that he and everyone else on the planet is actually living in a dream world. They, they've actually, what they thought was reality is really just an hu, an hallucination And it's been inflicted on them by their robot overlords.

在那部电影里，Keanu Reeves扮演的角色意识到，他和这个星球上其他每个人，实际生活在梦境中。他们，实际上，他们认为的现实，实际上是幻觉，这是他们的机器人统治者施加的。

hallucination： 幻觉

11:29

And Keanu Reeves then joins a rebellion that aims to attain complete liberation. Now I don't think either modern psychology or mainstream Buddhism tells us that we're quite that deluded about reality. But it is interesting that a lot of western Buddhists identify with that movie. They call it a dharma movie. They, they saw in, in it a kind of allegory.

Keanu Reeves接着加入了一个反叛组织，志在获得完全的自由。我不认为现代心理学或者主流佛教教义告诉我们，我们对于现实的看法完全是错觉。但是有意思的是，许多西方佛教徒指出了这部电影，他们称这部电影是佛教电影，他们从中看到了寓言。

allegory： 寓言

11:55

And they and they see themselves as being in the process of overcoming delusion in a very significant sense and, and, and kind of fighting for liberation. And, and I do think that, Buddhist practice in the spiritual sense, involves having a little Keanu Reeves, in you know? Just, just saying you know, I just want to see the truth or at least come as close to that, as possible. I want to see things more clearly.

他们，他们看待自己，在很大程度上，是处在一个过度幻觉的过程中。这有点儿像为自由而战。我也确实认为，佛教修行在精神意义上，包括了一些Keanu Reeves的东西：我想看到真相，至少更可能地接近真相，我想把事物看得更清楚。

12:27

Now, I hope I haven't sounded too dismissive in the course of this segment about full fledged enlightenment. I mean, I think it's, it's a very interesting question what enlightenment in a Buddhist sense would feel like.

现在，我希望这一讲的这一节关于彻底的开悟，我没有听起来太傲慢。我的意思是，我想在佛教徒的层面看，开悟是一种怎样的体验，这是个很有意思的问题。

full fledged： 经过充分训练的 dismissive： 傲慢的，轻蔑的

12:41

And in fact, later in the course, we're going to be talking to some people who if not enlightened are a lot closer to that than I am and, and we're going to hear what they have to say about this. And I'm interested in particular in the question of, Is enlightenment as described by Buddhists, is that something like what a psychologist might say your consciousness would be like if we stripped it of all the mispreceptions and delusions that seem to be kind of built into us by natural selection. So that's going to come later in the course, but right now in the next segment of this lecture, we're going to turn to the subject of meditation. We're going to talk about different kinds of meditation, and about what they have to offer. [BLANK_AUDIO]

事实上，在后面的课程里，我们将要跟一些人谈话，这些人即使没有开悟，也比我更接近开悟。我们将听他们对这些说的东西。我对这个问题特别感兴趣：开悟真的像佛教上讲的那样，是那种心理学家会说，你的意识能够避开所有错觉和幻觉，这些被自然选择内置的东西。这些在本课程的后面会谈到。但是现在，在这个演讲的下一节，我们将要转向冥想的主题。我们将要谈论不同种类的冥想，谈论冥想能够带来的东西。

原始视频地址：

https://www.coursera.org/learn/science-of-meditation/lecture/pl5G7/the-eightfold-path