前期提示：業與因果
前因、依源與自由意志
世間種種現象，從何而來？如何而成？佛法中，沒有什麼造物主，也沒有什麼第一因。佛法亦否認無因自發自論，及隨機論？佛法是講因緣的。前因在梵文是pratityasamu-pada，可有多種翻譯。有「依」、「緣起」、「緣生」等等。欲真明白了解佛之所教，有一個不可缺少的前題，即存在於所有物質世界與精神世界的因緣性這一理論。有一放之四海而皆準的道理，解釋生命的緣起，那就是十二因緣論：
（一）無明緣行；
（二）行緣識；
（三）識緣名色；
（四）名色緣六入(五根加意根)；
（五）六入緣六觸；
（六）觸緣受；
（七）受緣愛；
（八）愛緣取；
（九）取緣有；
（十）有緣生；
（十一）生緣；
（十二）老死。
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若以形象圖示，佛教以一生死輪來表示這十二因緣。生死輪迴，環環相扣；各類眾生，升沉流轉。
artistic representations of the Buddhist Wheel of Life these twelve links are often pictorially portrayed as a connected chain at the rim of the wheel, demonstrating how they keep the wheel rolling. |
這一過程一般由三生相續而成。眾生死後，他們的根本無明驅使他們於生死中輪轉不休。這樣呢，生命個體生生死死，輪迴不斷。若以形象圖示，佛教以一生死輪來表示這十二因緣。生死輪迴，環環相扣；各類眾生，升沉流轉。在修佛道時，通常是很注意這十二因緣中的無明、愛、取。雖然它們與別的環是不可分個割的，但是它們是相對的，比較獨立，相互牽連的。佛逆觀此十二因緣。佛說如果無明不起，則無行，直至老死，皆無相續。因此，如果精勤修行，捨除貪愛與執取，此修行人可以斷除無明，跳出生死輪迴。
以下一頌，出現幾部佛經之中，極扼要地總結了萬事萬物相互依存的關係。
此是，則彼是，
此生，則彼生；
此非，則彼非，
此滅，則彼滅。
此偈頌同時解釋了萬物的相生與相滅。緣起論即為佛教中的相對論－－相當妙的。印度哲學中，佛教以緣起來解釋前因這還是蠻新穎的。但是這不是釋迦牟尼佛憑空臆造出來的，或獨創一家的。他的緣起說如同密林中古道，通向一王國，過去諸佛都行走。不管人信不信，也不管有沒有佛來教導，所有眾生的緣起就是這樣的。
不管人知道與否，接受與否；不管有佛宣教，無佛宣教，因緣律都是一個放之於一切眾生而皆準的事實。
如來出世，如來不出世，因緣之實，因緣之位，因緣之序，皆悉恆存。
待續 |
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From last issue:Karma and Cause and Effect
Causation, Dependent Origination, Free Will
Where do all phenomena arise from? How do they come into being? In Buddhism, there is no creator god or first cause. Buddhism also rejects the doctrine of spontaneous arisal due to an inherent nature. Nor does Buddhism believe in random chance. The Buddhist answer is in causes and conditions. This causation is also known as pratitya-samutpada, which has been variously translated as dependent origination, conditioned arisal, conditioned genesis, etc. This doctrine of the conditionality of all physical and psychical phenomena can be seen as an indispensable condition for the real understanding and realization of the teaching of the Buddha.
This principle operates universally as a twelvefold cycle of causes and conditions that explains how life arises:
1. Ignorance conditions activity;
2. Activity conditions consciousness;
3. Consciousness conditions name and form;
4. Name and form condition the six sense organs
[five senses and the mind];
5. The six sense organs condition contact;
6. Contact conditions feeling;
7. Feeling conditions craving
[Skt. trishna, literally, ‘thirst’;’ Chin. ai, ‘(emotional) love’;
8. Craving conditions grasping;
9. Grasping conditions existence;
10. Existence conditions birth;
11. Birth conditions
12. Old age and death.
This process is generally thought to comprise three subsequent lives. After death, the basic ignorance of living beings causes them to keep revolving, and thus a new psychophysical personality is born, lives, and dies, undergoing birth and death in a continuous cycle. In artistic representations of the Buddhist Wheel of Life these twelve links are often pictorially portrayed as a connected chain at the rim of the wheel, demonstrating how they keep the wheel rolling. In practicing the Buddhist path, particular attention is usually paid to the links of ignorance, craving, and grasping, even though none of these is separate from the other links; they are relative, interdependent, and interconnected. The Buddha also contemplated this cycle in reverse order and taught that if ignorance doesn’t arise, neither does activity, or any of the following stages, all the way up to death. Thus, through diligent cultivation, one can renounce craving and grasping, put an end to ignorance, and be liberated from the cycle of birth and death.
The following verse, found in several Buddhist scriptures, succinctly summarizes the interdependence of all phenomena in the simplest of terms:
When this is, that is;
This arising, that arises;
When this is not, that is not;
This ceasing, that ceases.
This verse both explains how things come to be and how they pass away in relation to each other. Dependent origination has aptly been called the Buddhist theory of relativity.
The Buddhist explanation of causality in terms of dependent origination was something radically new in Indian philosophy. Yet it is not a concept that Shakyamuni Buddha fabricated or invented by himself. His discovery of causality is compared to the discovery of an ancient path, hidden and covered by a dense forest, which leads to a bygone kingdom. In the same way Shakyamuni Buddha’s discovery is an ancient path that all the previous Buddhas have walked as well. Whether people know about it and accept it or not, whether there are Buddhas to teach it or not, causality is a fact of all existence:
Whether the Tathagatas were to arise in this world, or whether the Tathagatas were not to arise in this world, this fact or element [of causality], this causal status, this causal orderliness remains.
To be continued |
