靜觀的智慧
文／ 美國佛心寺護法會諮詢委員、研經班學員 Blaine Frierson
Mahayana Buddhism for the westerner is a complete reorientation of life. In the West, you are trained to take initiative, to reach out, to move forward. It is said, 'If you don't do it, who will?' Being aggressive is the way to success and accomplishment; Those who wait don't eat; Those who procrastinate don't succeed. Yet, Buddhism teaches the opposite.
In the West we are also told in our education system to define every item to its most minute degree, and to logically separate those definitions by making distinctions. The so-called critical method of study encourages students to contrast, compare, and make critical distinctions. This is the opposite of Buddhism and thus leads to a different path.
In Mahayana Buddhism, we are taught to 'just sit', to not make distinctions, to not compare and contrast. When we try to assert ourselves, shoving forward into life, we become lost.When we wait, or, just sit, the world and everything in it comes to us! The whole world manifests itself in us. We do not manifest ourselves in the world; we allow all beings, sentient and non-sentient to manifest themselves through us. This is practice. This is enlightenment.
We wait. This is the secret to the Buddhist principle of tolerance. By its definition tolerance does not force itself on other beings. It waits. It listens. It watches the breath. It counts the breath. It watches the watcher.
Tolerance may be defined as the practice of permitting a thing of which one disapproves. It may be also called patience, or long-suffering. In tolerance, we wait; we make no distinction; we do not judge; we see the others as ourselves-us.
As not good, not bad. We allow the intolerant person to manifest themselves through us. This is neither good, nor is it bad. It is not approved and it is not disapproved. It merely exists.
As a young male growing up in the United States, I was trained to not allow anyone to overstep their boundaries with me, to prevent aggression by another, and to 'stand up for myself.' This is in contradiction to Buddhism.
My profession is practicing law. When I first started practicing, I wrote one of my first letters to another lawyer, making a demand. The old lawyer called me and said 'you need to watch what you say in your letters, for, if you are too demanding you may be committing extortion on others.' I have remembered this lesson forever, but I have never really quite understood the philosophy behind his words.
In Buddhism I have learned the logic behind the lesson. To practice the Buddha Way one must be patient, kind and tolerant. When a person becomes aggressive or raises his/her voice towards me, I try not to speak and say little, to allow them to speak their piece before responding. Then, when I speak, I speak with power; I speak from the heart.
The Buddha way is waiting and being one with the world. The world is one through your sitting. The world comes to you. You do not go to the world. The peace that passes all understanding will come when you wait, if you are tolerant.
（對西方人而言，大乘佛法是一個重新定位的新人生觀。在西方，每個人從小就被訓練成必須積極主動地向外去爭取每一件事。有句話說：「如果你不去做，誰會去做？」只有主動積極，才是成功的不二法門。總是在等待的人，就會沒有飯吃；拖延的人，絕不可能成功。然而，佛陀的教法卻不盡相同。
西方的教育體制同時教導我們，要精確地去定義每一件事物，運用邏輯去區別比較事物的不同。西方所謂的批判式學習方法，就是鼓勵學生去比較、分別。這種訓練讓我們走在一條與佛法完全背道而馳的路上。
大乘佛法教我們息心而坐，不要起分別、比較的念頭。在生活中，強要企圖去證明自己的存在時，我們就迷失了。然而，當我們息心靜慮之時，就會發現這世界一切現成，一切都本具在我們心中。我們不需突顯自己的存在，而是讓一切有情與無情的本性自然呈現。這就是修行，也是一種契悟。
靜觀，就是通往佛法忍辱波羅蜜的祕密。忍辱本身的定義，就是不將自己的意見或情緒強加於眾生身上。忍辱是靜待、是傾聽、是觀息、是數息，更是觀此能觀之心。
從修行上來說，忍辱可說是練習接受我們不認同的事。忍辱也可以說是一種耐心，是一種堅忍的心。在忍辱中，我們靜觀，不去分別、不去論斷，而是體會自他不二，視人如己，無有差別。
世間一切沒有絕對的好與壞，接受那些不能包容我們的人的一舉一動。這些舉動的本身，既非好事，也不是壞事，也不是我們贊不贊成的問題。這一切只是如實地存在。
身為在美國長大的年輕男子，從小我所受的訓練是，當有人跨過我的界線時，我必須站起來捍衛自己，以防止他人的侵犯。但這卻和佛法相互矛盾。
我是一位律師。在我剛開始執業的時候，曾經寫信給另一位律師，要求他達成我的需求。結果，這一位老律師打電話對我說：「要注意你信裡的用詞，如果用太過命令的口氣，可能會犯了勒索敲詐的罪。」雖然，自此以後我永遠記得這個教訓，但其實我並未真正明白他話中的哲理。
現在回想起來，是佛法讓我了解這個事件背後的道理。也就是說，在成佛之道上，必須要學會忍耐、慈悲和包容。當別人攻擊我或對我大聲嚷嚷的時候，我學會儘量不要回應，讓他們先把話講完，我再回應。於是，當我開始說話時，我的話變得更有力量，而且它完全發自於內心。
成佛之道有賴於靜觀及與世界融合無礙的智慧。世界的真實相貌會因你的靜觀而自然呈現，這不是強求而來的。當你能靜觀和包容時，一種由於全然了解而生的寂靜之心，自然現前。）
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