Egolessness

Egolessness

The effort to secure our happiness, to maintain ourselves in relation to something else, is the process of ego. But this effort is futile because there are continual gaps in our seemingly solid world, continual cycle of death and rebirth, constant change.

The sense of continuity and solidity of self is an illusion. There is really no such thing as ego, soul, or atman. It is a succession of confusions that create ego. The process which is ego actually consists of a flicker of confusion, a flicker of aggression, a flicker of grasping— all of which exist only in the moment. Since we cannot hold on to the present moment, we cannot hold on to me and mine and make them solid things.

The experience of oneself relating to other things is actually a momentary discrimination, a fleeting thought. If we generate these fleeting thoughts fast enough, we can create the illusion of continuity and solidity. It is like watching a movie, the individual film frames are played to so quickly that they generate the illusion of continuous. And once we have this idea, we manipulate our thoughts to confirm it, and are afraid of any contrary evidence. It is this fear of exposure, this denial of impermanence, that impressions us. It is only by acknowledging impermanence that there is the chance to die and the space to be reborn and the possibility of appreciating life as a creative process.

努力的去获得幸福，让自己保持和其他事物相关联，就是自我形成的过程。 但是这种努力是徒劳无意的， 因为在我们看似坚固的世界中有着连续不断的间隙，死亡和再生的不断循环，持续的改变。自我的连续和稳固感是一个幻觉。其实根本就没有一个像是自我、个人和自我存在感的事物存在。连续不断的迷惑创造了自我。

自我形成的过程其实是由短暂的困惑、短暂的野心和刹那的贪执而构成——所有这些都只是片刻存在的。因为我们不可能抓住当下的片刻，于是我们也不可能紧握着“自我”和“我的”而让它们成为固定不变的事物。

一个人和其他事物的关系实际上是由持续瞬时的辨别、一闪而过的念头的经历所构成。如果我们这些瞬间即逝的念头足够快的话，就能够创造出幻像的连续性和坚固性。这就像是看电影，一部电影的帧数播放的足够快速时就会产生出连续性的幻像。于是一旦我们有了一些想法，我们就会造作出我们的思想以确认它的存在，并且害怕任何相反的可以证实它是幻象的证据出现。这是对暴露的恐惧，对无常的否定，給我们所留下的印象。只有通过承认无常，才会有机会去死，才有重生的空间，才有可能去感恩生活，将其作为一个创造的过程。

There are two stages to understanding egolessness. In the first stage we perceive that ego does not exist as a solid entity, that it is impermanent, constantly changing, that it we our concepts the made it seem solid. So we conclude that ego does not exist. But we still have formulated a subtle concept of egolessness. There is still a watcher of the egolessness, a watcher to identify with it and maintain his existence.

The second stage is seeing through this subtle concept and dropping the watcher. So true egolessness is the absence of the concept of egolessness.

In first stage there is a sense of someone perceiving egolessnes.

In the second, even the perceiver does not exist.

In the first, we perceive that there is no fixed entity because everything is relative to something else.

In the second stage there is the understanding that the notion of relativity needs a watcher to perceive it, to confirm it, which introduces another relative notion, the watch and the watched.

To say that egolessness does exist because things are constantly changing is quite feeble, since we still hold on to change as something solid. Egolessness is not simply the idea that, since there is discontinuity, therefore there is nothing to hang on to. True egolessness involves the non-existence of the discontinuity as well. We cannot hang on to the idea of discontinuity either. In fact, discontinuity really does not operate. Our perception of discontinuity is the product of insecurity; it is concept. So too is any idea about the oneness behind or within phenomena.

理解无我有两个阶段。第一个阶段是我们觉知到自我并不是作为固定的实体而存在，它是无常的，持续改变的，只是我们所形成的观念使得它看起来是固定不变的。由此我们可以推断出自我其实是不存在的。但是我们还是形成有关无我的微妙概念。还是会有一个无我的观察者，一个断定无我保持其存在的观察者。

第二个阶段是，洞见出这个细微的观念，然后放下这个观察者。所以真正的无我是连有关无我是什么的观念都没有。

在第一个阶段，有一个观察者觉知着无我。 而第二个阶段，即使是观察无我的这个观察者也不存在。

首先，我们觉知到没有一个固定不变的实体，因为一切事物都和其他事物是相关联的。

在第二个阶段中，我们了解到，在相对的概念中需要一个观察者来觉知到它，确定它，于是这就会引生出另一个相对的概念，观察者和被观察者。

只因事物的持续变化就声称无我的存在是站不住脚的，因为当某些事情恒常不变时，我们仍然想要坚持去改变。无我并不是简单的认为，因为非连续性，因此就没有什么是可以去坚持的。真正的无我也包括不存在的非连续性。

我们不能坚持非连续性存在的观点，也不能坚持非连续性不存在的观点。 事实上，非连续性其实没有起到什么作用。我们对间断性的觉知是不安全的产物，它只是一个概念。因此关于现象背后和内在的单一性也只是一个概念罢了。

The idea of egolessness has often been used to obscure the reality of birth, suffering, and death. The problem is that, once we have a notion of egolessness and a notion of pain, birth, and death, then we can easily entertain or justify ourselves by saying that pain does not exist because there is no one to witness them. This is just cheap escapism. The philosophy of shunyata has often been distorted by the presentation of the idea that: “ There is n one to suffer, so who cares ? If you suffer, it must be your illusion.” This is pure opinion, speculation. We can read about it, we can think about it, but when we actually suffer, can we remain indifferent? Of course not; suffering is stronger than our pretty opinions . A true understanding of egolessness cuts through opinion. The absence of a notion of egolessness allows us to fully experience pain, birth, and death because then there are no philosophical paddings.

无我经常和出生、受苦和死亡的事实相混淆。问题在于，一旦我们有了对无我的概念，以及有关痛苦、出生和死亡的概念，我们就会很容易的自我安慰，并且为自己辩护说，因为没有一个观察者就因此痛苦也是不存在的。

这只是一种短浅的逃避主义。空见地经常被这样的观点扭曲的表达成：“没有一个受苦者，因此有谁在乎呢？如果你觉得正在受苦，那一定是你的幻觉。”这是一种纯粹理论的、投机的观点。这种想法，我们可以读懂它，可以理解它，但是当我们真正受苦时，苦受的感觉，我们会有什么不同吗？当然不会了；那时苦受感会比这些可怜的观点要更加强烈。真正对无我的理解穿透了概念。对无我概念性认知的匮乏，允许我们全然经验着痛苦、出生和死亡，因为那没有哲学上的造作。

The whole idea is that we must drop all reference points, all concepts of what is or what should be. Then it is possible to experience the uniqueness and vividness of phenomena directly. There is tremendous room to experience things, to allow experience to occur and pass way. Movement happens within vast space. Whatever happens, pleasure and pain, brith and death and so forth, are not interfered with but are experience in their fullest flavor. Whether they are sweet or sour, they are experienced completely, without philosophical overplays or emotional attitudes to make things seem lovable or emotional.

所有说的是我们必须要放下一切相关的观点，所有关于是什么或者应该是什么的概念。这样才有可能直接的经验到现象的独特和鲜活。就会有极大的空间去经验所有的事物，允许去体验着现象的发生和流过。流动就发生在广阔的空间之中。不论发生什么，高兴和痛苦，出生和死亡等等，只是去全然的体验着经验它们的觉受而不被概念所诠释。不论是甜还是酸，它们被完全的体验者，没有哲理上的过度演绎，也没有感情用事，好让事物看起来是可爱的或是打动人心的。

We are never trapped in life, because there are constant opportunities for creativity, challenges for improvisation. Ironically, by seeing clearly and acknowledging our egolessness, we may discover that suffering contains bliss, impermanence contains continuity or eternity, and egolessness contains the earth quality of solid being. But this transcendental bliss, continuity and beingness is not based on fantasies, ideas, or fears.

我们从未被生活所困，因为生活中不断会有机会去创造，和临时性的挑战可以去开发潜能。有趣的是, 通过承认无我和对无我清晰的观察了解，我们会发现——苦受蕴藏着幸福，无常蕴藏着持续和永恒，无我蕴涵着坚固存在的地球特性。然而，这种超越了的幸福、持续性和存在并不是以幻像、概念或恐惧为基而来。