Zen, Tao, Buddha and Philosophy
禅、道、佛与哲学
Zen is not a philosophy at all. To approach Zen as if it were a philosophy is to start in a wrong way from the very beginning. A philosophy is something of the mind; Zen is totally beyond the mind. Zen is the process of going above the mind, far away from the mind; it is the process of transcendence, of surpassing the mind. You cannot understand it by the mind; mind has no function in it.
禅完全不是哲学。把禅当作哲学来研究，一开始就错了。哲学是头脑的产物。禅却完全超越头脑。禅是超越头脑的过程，完全与头脑无关。它是超越的过程，超越头脑。你不能用头脑去理解禅，头脑对此毫无作用。
Zen is a state of no-mind; that has to be remembered. It is not Vedanta. Vedanta is a philosophy; you can understand it perfectly well. Zen is not even Buddhism; Buddhism is also a philosophy.
禅是无念的状态；必须记住。它不是吠檀多。吠檀多是一种哲学；你能很好地理解它。禅甚至不是佛教；佛教也是一种哲学。
Zen is a very rare flowering -- it is one of the strangest things that has happened in the history of consciousness -- it is the meeting of Buddha's experience and Lao Tzu's experience. Buddha, after all, was part of the Indian heritage: he spoke the language of philosophy; he is perfectly clear, you can understand him. In fact, he avoided all metaphysical questions; he was very simple, clear, logical. But his experience was not of the mind. He was trying to destroy your philosophy by providing you with a negative philosophy. Just as you can take out a thorn from your foot with another thorn, Buddha's effort was to take out the philosophy from your mind with another philosophy. Once the first thorn has been taken out both thorns can be thrown away and you will be beyond mind.
禅是非常稀有的开花------它是发生在人类意识历史中最奇妙的事件之一。------它是佛陀经验和老庄经验的相会。佛陀毕竟是印度遗产的一部分：他说哲学语言；他非常清晰；你能理解他。事实上，它避免一切形而上的问题；他很简单、清晰、富有逻辑。但是，他的经验跟头脑无关。他试图用反哲学摧毁你的哲学。正像你用刺来取出脚底的刺，佛陀努力通过另一种哲学来驱除你头脑里的哲学。一旦前一根刺被取出，然后丢掉两根刺，你将超越头脑。
But when Buddha's teachings reached China a tremendously beautiful thing happened: a cross-breeding happened. In China, Lao Tzu has given his experience of Tao in a totally non-philosophical way, in a very absurd way, in a very illogical way. But when the Buddhist meditators, Buddhist mystics, met the Taoist mystics they immediately could understand each other heart to heart, not mind to mind. They could feel the same vibe，they could see that the same inner world had opened，they could smell the same fragrance. And they came closer, and by their coming closer, by their meetings and mergings with each other, something new started growing up; that is Zen. It has both the beauty of Buddha and the beauty of Lao Tzu; it is the child of both. Such a meeting has never happened before or since.
但当佛法传到中国，发生一个交会，很美的事件。在中国，老子以完全非哲学的方式，很荒谬的方式，很不合逻辑的方式来给出他的"道"。但是，当佛教静心者、神秘家与道教神秘家相会时，他们能立即达成心对心的理解，而不是头脑对头脑的理解。他们能有同样的感应，他们能看到同样的内在世界，他们能闻到同样的芳香。他们靠得更近，通过彼此的靠近，彼此的融汇，一种新东西开始成长，那就是禅。它既有佛陀的美，也有老子的美；它是佛陀与老子的产物。那样的汇合，之前没有发生过，之后也不会再发生。
Zen is neither Taoist nor Buddhist; it is both and neither. Hence the traditional Buddhists reject Zen and the traditional Taoists also reject Zen. For the traditional Buddhist it is absurd, for the traditional Taoist it is too philosophical, but to those who are really interested in meditation, Zen is an experience. It is neither absurd nor philosophical because both are terms of the mind; it is something transcendental.
禅既不是道教，也不是佛教；它既是两者，又不是两者。因此，传统佛教抵制禅，传统道教也抵制禅。对传统佛教而言，它是荒谬的，对传统道教而言，它又太理性，但对那些真正对静心感兴趣的人，禅是一个体验。禅既不荒谬也不理性，因为荒谬和理性都只与头脑有关，而禅是超越头脑的。
To understand Zen you need not make a philosophical effort; you have to go deep into meditation. And what is meditation all about? Meditation is a jump from the mind into no-mind, from thoughts to no-thought. Mind means thinking, no-mind means pure awareness. One simply is aware. Only then, Baula, will you be able to understand Zen -- through experience, not through any intellectual effort.
要理解禅，你不用思辨的努力；你非得深深地静心。静心是什么？静心是从头脑跳到无头脑，从思想跳到无思想。头脑意味着思考，无头脑意味着纯粹的觉知。只是保持觉知。勃拉，只在那时，你才能理解禅 ------ 通过经验，而不是通过任何知性的努力。
译于2005年6月1日