愚者执断或执常
[111] Those Foolish [Are] Attached [To] Nihilism Or Eternalism
愚痴者，非谓全无知识也。乃指世人于善恶境缘，不知皆是宿业所招，现行所感。妄谓无有因果报应，及前生后世等。
Those ignorant, cannot [be] said [to be] completely without knowledge. Thus pointed [out are the] world’s people in regard to good [and] evil situations [and] conditions, [who do] not know [they] are all [by] past karmas those attracted, [and] present actions those connected. Falsely saying [there] are no causes [and] effects’ rewards [and] retributions’ responses, and past lives, later births [and] others.
一切众生，无有慧目，不是执断，便是执常。
All sentient beings, not having [the] wisdom eye, [if] not attached [to] nihilism, are then attached [to] eternalism.
[Note 1: Nihilism is the wrong extreme belief that the consciousness does not exist before (i.e. was nothingness) and after this life (i.e. becomes nothingness).]
[Note 2: Eternalism is the opposite but also wrong and extreme belief that there is a permanent (i.e. unchanging) consciousness before and after this life.]
执断者，谓人受父母之气而生，未生之前，本无有物。及其已死，则形既朽灭，魂亦飘散。有何前生，及与后世？此方拘墟之儒，多作此说。
Those attached [to] nihilism, say humans receive [the] qì of [their] fathers [and] mothers [to] then [be] born, yet [to be] born before, originally not having living beings. And [with] them already dead, then [with their] forms already rotten [and] destroyed, [their] consciousnesses also drift [to be] scattered. Where are [their] past lives and later births? This then [is the] narrow ‘knowledge’ of scholars, [with] many writing this said.
执常者，谓人常为人，畜常为畜。不知业由心造，形随心转。
Those attached [to] eternalism, say humans constantly are humans, [and] animals constantly are animals. Not knowing karmas [are] due [to the] mind created, [and] forms follow [the] mind [to be] transformed.
古有极毒之人，现身变蛇。极暴之人，现身变虎。当其业力猛厉，尚能变其形体。况死后生前，识随业牵之转变乎？
[In] ancient [times, there] were humans of extreme malice, [with their] present bodies transformed [to be] snakes. Humans of extreme brutality, [with their] present bodies transformed [to be] tigers. When their karmas’ power [is] powerful [and] severe, [it is] also able [to] transform their forms [of] bodies. Moreover, after death [and] before birth, [with their] consciousnesses following karmas, leading them [to be] transformed.
是以佛说十二因缘，乃贯三世而论。前因必感后果，后果必有前因。
Therefore, [the] Buddha spoke [on the] twelve causes [and] conditions, [which are] thus connected through [the] three periods then discussed. Past causes [are] definitely connected [to] later effects, [and] later effects definitely have past causes.
[Note 3: The cycle of the Twelve Causes And Conditions (十二因缘) are with (1) Ignorance (无明), (2) Mental Formation (Volition) (行), (3) Consciousness (识), (4) Name And Form (Mind And Matter) (名色), (5) Six (Sense) Bases (六处), (6) Contact (Touch) (触), (7) Feeling (受), (8) Craving (Greed) (爱), (9) Clinging (Attachment) (取), (10) Becoming (有), (11) Birth (生) and (12) Ageing And Death (老死), with the preceding link as a cause and condition for the next link. This is the process that sustains rebirth. With (8) Craving (爱) ceased, the cycle will be broken free from.]
[Note 4: The three periods (三世) are the (1) past period (过去世), (2) present period (现在世) and (3) future period (未来世).]
善恶之报，祸福之临，乃属自作自受，非自天降，天不过因其所为而主之耳。
[The] rewards [and] retribution of good [and] evil, arrival of misfortunes [and] blessings, thus belong [to those] personally done [and] personally received, not from [the] heavens descending, [as the] heavens [are] no more than because [of] that done then hosting [them] only.
生死循环，无有穷极，欲复本心以了生死者，舍信愿念佛，求生西方，不可得也。
[Of] births [and] deaths’ cycle, [as there] is no exhaustible extreme, those desiring [to] recover [their] original minds with liberation [from the cycle of] birth [and] death, [if] renouncing [with] Faith [and] Aspiration [being] mindful [of the] Buddha, [to] seek birth [in his] Western [Pure Land, this] cannot [be] attained.
贪瞋痴三，为生死根本。信愿行三，为了生死妙法。
[Of] greed, anger [and] delusion, [these] three, [they] are [the cycle of] birth [and] death’s fundamental roots. [With] Faith [and] Aspiration [having] Practice, [this] is liberation [from the cycle of] birth [and] death’s wonderful method.
[Note 5: Greed, anger and delusion are the three poisons (三毒). Faith, Aspiration and Practice are the Three Provisions (三资粮).]
欲舍彼三，须修此三。此三得力，彼三自灭矣。
Desiring [to] renounce those three, [there] must [be] cultivating [of] these three. [With] these three attaining power, those three [will] naturally [be] eliminated.
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
《印光法师文钞》（正编）：对治瞋恚等义；
Dharma Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings (First Compilation): Meanings [Of] Remedies [For] Anger [And] Others;
印光大师文钞菁华录（第一百十一则）：三、示修持方法：丙、明对治习气（第十八则）
Record [Of] Great Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings’ Essence (111th Short Section): 3rd [Chapter]: Guidance [On] Practice Methods: Third, Clear Remedies [For] Habitual Tendencies (18th Short Section)
[Ref: #111 / 3.3.18]
Namo Amituofo : Translation and notes by Shen Shi’an
相关典籍
Related Text:
《印光大师文钞菁华录》
Record Of Great Master Yìnguāng’s Collected Writings’ Essence
https://purelanders.com/jinghualu
