英文原文
Humour lies at the heart of Buddhist thought and practice. Indeed, according to Buddhist history, it was a central factor in the enlightenment experience of the monk Kashyapa. As you may recall, during one of his discourses the Buddha fell silent and held up a single golden flower. Kashyapa responded not with ideas or words but with a smile. From this smile, this spontaneous opening of the heart-mind, this direct transmission of the truth from one being to another, came the Zen tradition. Or so the story goes. Fun and laughter are also central to the story of Maitreya, the future Buddha, as taught in Mahayana literature. When Buddhism first entered China, several transformations of the Indian teachings took place and one of these changes concerned the role of Maitreya. Maitreya became Mi-Lo-Fu, the Laughing Buddha. In Buddhist art he is often portrayed as a lovable, pot-bellied, figure with jovial features. In Japan he became known as Hotei, and his image can now be found in souvenir shops almost anywhere. Even those who know nothing of Buddhist mythology and folklore may believe that gently rubbing his belly can bring good luck. With the image of the Laughing Buddha as my point of departure, I would like to explore the part that humour can play in living the spiritual life. I am going to suggest that humour can, in the context of spiritual practice, be used as a kind of upaya, a skilful means, to help us towards enlightenment. Joy and laughter provide us with a wonderful opportunity to challenge the assumed sovereignty of the ego. The fierce look that we sometimes see on the faces of some dharma teachers — both past and present — is really something of a put-on, a mask. If you can find the courage and the wisdom to look closely enough, you just might find that behind that somewhat severe façade there awaits a broad, gargantuan smile that may just break into a glorious belly laugh at any moment. These teachers seem to have understood the Cosmic Joke. So why aren’t we laughing? As students of the dharma we seem to be the ones who have all the problems. There are times when we seem perpetually troubled by the state of the world, and at these times when all seems lost, when we feel hopeless and helpless, we may have some sympathy, perhaps, for Martyn Lewis, the BBC newsreader, who recently got into trouble for suggesting that we could all benefit from hearing some good news for a change! But I think that what worries us even more than the state of the world is the state of our own minds. Before we realize what is happening to us, we are taking our views and opinions so seriously that we run the risk of ending up in a state of perpetual anger or frustration. Without a sense of humour we may become completely perplexed or baffled by Kashyapa’s smile, or our chosen teacher’s outrageous sense of laughter and fun. We may even find ourselves asking, ‘What the hell is so funny about all this misery?’ All this fun and laughter in the face of tragedy or adversity seems like an affront, a problem. But the real issue is that we have not yet tasted the divine madness of enlightenment for ourselves. We still lack what the Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa called ‘that crazy wisdom’, which has been instrumental in transforming the lives of great spiritual teachers the world over. This experience can, it is said, help us to walk lightly through this troubled world with compassion and understanding. I think it was the Catholic writer and humorist G.K. Chesterton who once said that angels had wings because they took themselves lightly. It would seem, then, that humour has an important part to play in the spiritual life and I will go into this in a little more detail in a moment. But before I do that I would like to say a few things about the value that humour can have for our physical wellbeing. One of the best accounts of the role that humour can play in the healing process comes from the pen of journalist and writer Norman Cousins. In 1964 he contracted a condition called ankylosis spondylitis in which the connective tissue in his spine gradually deteriorated. This left him totally immobile and he was told that his chances of recovery (in 1964) were no more than one in five hundred. During his years as a journalist, Cousins had maintained an interest in advances in medicine and now, as he lay flat on his back and in pain, he remembered reading about the effects of stress and negative emotions upon body chemistry. It had been established that negative emotions such as hopelessness, despair, anger, frustration, and a sense of helplessness, all had a powerful effect upon the body. It suddenly occurred to Cousins that, if negative emotions could have negative physical effects, then the opposite ought also to be true — love, faith, courage, confidence and laughter ought to have positive effects. To test this out he formulated a plan. He discovered that he was hypersensitive to both painkilling and to anti-inflammatory drugs. And so he decided to use vitamin C to deal with the inflammation and laughter to deal with the pain. There was nothing funny about lying flat on your back in severe pain, and so Cousins felt that a good place to start might be with funny movies. He watched Candid Camera classics and Marx brothers films, and, as he says in his article, he made an interesting observation: ‘I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.’ In order to give his discovery some scientific credibility he arranged, with the help and support of his personal physician, to have blood samples taken both before and several hours after each bout of laughter. The results showed that there was a physiological improvement and, more important still, it was cumulative. There was one negative side effect of the laughter from the hospital’s point of view — he was disturbing the other patients! He eventually resolved this by moving into a hotel room. It was a long process of recovery for Norman Cousins, but he showed that laughter can play an important part in the healing process. Since he published his account in 1976 the role of laughter in health has been widely studied and researched, and one practical application of the research has been the setting up of a free NHS Laughter Clinic in Britain. Perhaps, then, there is something to be said for Voltaire’s view that the art of medicine consists in amusing the patient whilst nature cures the disease. To return to the main theme of this article — how can humour help us on our chosen spiritual path? I have already suggested that if we cultivate a sense of humour, a light-hearted approach to life, we can go some way towards seeing through our egocentric view of life, and I would like to explore this in a little more detail. From a Buddhist point of view, what we call our sense of ‘ego’ is a social fiction, a fabrication of the mind that is continually reinforced by society and its systems. When we observe ‘it’ closely we soon discover that the ego is actually quite selective and can never be a true reflection of our total conscious experience — we create boundaries. Another way of understanding this is to see the ego as a mental model, a collage of acceptable views, opinions, thoughts and feelings. On careful reflection (through the practice of meditation), what we refer to as ‘I’ or ‘me’ turns out to be nothing more than an imaginary centre of control around which all our thoughts, words and deeds revolve. The aim of Buddhist practice in general, and of methods of meditation in particular, is to help us realize that, in reality, we can open ourselves to life without this illusion of being outside of it all. To do this it is necessary to pay careful attention to our thoughts and images at the very moment they arise in the mind. The principle of letting go of a habit of thought is very similar to that needed to give up destructive patterns of behaviour such as smoking or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. You begin by simply not picking up the next cigarette or alcoholic drink, and then the next, and then the next, and so on. Transcending the habitual patterns of thought and feeling which we call ‘the self or ‘ego’ is accomplished in the same way. We watch as a particular image or idea arises, and then instead of automatically reacting to it (which, of course, simply reinforces it), we let it run its natural course until it ceases to be. In that moment of letting go, of not clinging to old ideas and actions, we may experience liberation from the past. When the clouds of our old habits of thought dissolve, Buddha-nature shines through. Well, all of this sounds so easy in theory, doesn’t it? In practice we may end up smoking a million cigarettes or swallowing a thousand drinks without once being totally aware of what we are doing. The skill seems to be in being able to extinguish the cigarette, or in putting down the drink, as soon as we notice that we have lapsed into a kind of psychological unconsciousness. Indeed, anyone who sincerely undertakes a spiritual training soon realizes that you cannot control the ego through sheer willpower. The late Alan Watts described the futility of trying to bring the ego under control many times in his lectures and writings. He offers us this advice: ‘Don’t try to get rid of the ego sensation. Take it, as long as it lasts, as a feature or play of the total process — like a cloud or wave, or like feeling warm or cold, or anything else that happens of itself. Getting rid of one’s ego is the last resort of invincible egoism! It simply confirms and strengthens the reality of the feeling. But when this feeling of separateness is approached and accepted like any other sensation it evaporates like the mirage it is.’ It would seem, then, that the real tragedy of our ego-bound existence is that we appear totally unable to break free from this unconscious replication of our old habits of thought and behaviour. Is this not a situation totally lacking in humour? And yet humour can emerge in that moment when we recognize the absurdity of trying to live our lives on ‘automatic pilot’. Once we glimpse even a little of the mechanical nature of the ego-mind, an opportunity to transcend it arises. Humour is a rising-above and a stepping-outside of our conventional roles in life. It can help us to go beyond the manufactured images of ourselves, and it can offer us a taste of real freedom. Perhaps, then, our spiritual practice is the discipline of real humour. Through meditation and other spiritual practices we have an opportunity to become aware of that essential freedom from conditioning, and, of course, we will also see the humour in our failure to realize and sustain that freedom in our daily lives! Another area in which humour can play an important part in the spiritual life is in the relationship between a teacher and his student. I have mentioned above that behind the apparently stern look of the master, the Buddha within is suppressing a smile. It seems to me that, as Westerners, we have a tendency to take the spiritual journey a little too seriously. And this can create its own problems because if we are unable to see the humour in our predicament we may become the willing victim of a spiritual charlatan, a fake guru.
中文翻译
幽默是佛教思想和修行的核心。确实，根据佛教历史，它是迦叶尊者开悟体验中的一个关键因素。你可能还记得，在一次开示中，佛陀沉默不语，举起一朵金色的花。迦叶没有用思想或言语回应，而是报以微笑。从这个微笑，这种心性的自发敞开，这种真理从一个生命到另一个生命的直接传递，诞生了禅宗传统。故事就是这样流传的。 在大乘佛教文献中，快乐和笑声也是未来佛弥勒故事的核心。当佛教最初传入中国时，印度教义发生了若干转变，其中之一涉及弥勒的角色。弥勒变成了弥勒佛，即笑佛。在佛教艺术中，他常被描绘成一个可爱、大腹便便、面容欢快的人物。在日本，他被称为布袋和尚，如今他的形象几乎在任何地方的纪念品商店都能找到。即使是那些对佛教神话和民间传说一无所知的人，也可能相信轻轻抚摸他的肚子能带来好运。 以笑佛的形象为出发点，我想探讨幽默在灵性生活中可以扮演的角色。我建议，在灵性修行的背景下，幽默可以作为一种方便法门，一种善巧的方法，帮助我们走向觉悟。喜悦和笑声为我们提供了一个绝佳的机会，来挑战自我假定的主权。 我们有时在一些佛法老师脸上看到的严厉表情——无论是过去还是现在——实际上是一种伪装，一种面具。如果你能找到足够的勇气和智慧去仔细观察，你可能会发现，在那看似严肃的外表背后，隐藏着一个宽广、巨大的微笑，随时可能爆发出开怀大笑。这些老师似乎理解了宇宙的笑话。那么，我们为什么不笑呢？作为佛法的学生，我们似乎是那些拥有所有问题的人。有时我们似乎永远被世界的状态所困扰，在这些似乎一切都已失去、我们感到绝望和无助的时刻，我们或许会对BBC新闻主播马丁·刘易斯有些同情，他最近因为建议我们都可以从听一些好消息中受益而惹上了麻烦！ 但我认为，比世界状态更让我们担忧的是我们自己内心的状态。在我们意识到发生了什么之前，我们把自己的观点和意见看得如此严肃，以至于我们冒着陷入永久愤怒或沮丧状态的风险。没有幽默感，我们可能会对迦叶的微笑，或我们选择的老师那种出格的欢笑和乐趣感到完全困惑或不解。我们甚至可能会问：“所有这些苦难到底有什么好笑的？”面对悲剧或逆境时的所有这些乐趣和笑声似乎像是一种冒犯，一个问题。 但真正的问题是我们自己还没有尝到觉悟的神圣疯狂。我们仍然缺乏藏传佛教老师邱阳·创巴所说的“疯狂智慧”，这种智慧在转变世界各地伟大灵性老师的生命中起到了关键作用。据说，这种体验可以帮助我们以慈悲和理解轻松地走过这个纷扰的世界。我想是天主教作家兼幽默作家G.K.切斯特顿曾说过，天使有翅膀是因为他们不把自己看得太重。 那么，幽默似乎在灵性生活中扮演着重要的角色，我稍后会对此进行更详细的探讨。但在此之前，我想谈谈幽默对我们身体健康的价值。 关于幽默在疗愈过程中可以扮演的角色，最好的描述之一来自记者兼作家诺曼·卡曾斯。1964年，他患上了一种叫做强直性脊柱炎的疾病，他脊柱中的结缔组织逐渐恶化。这使他完全无法动弹，并被告知康复的机会（在1964年）不超过五百分之一。 在担任记者的那些年里，卡曾斯一直对医学进展保持兴趣，现在，当他平躺着忍受痛苦时，他想起了读过关于压力和负面情绪对身体化学的影响。已经确定的是，负面情绪如绝望、愤怒、沮丧和无助感，都对身体有强大的影响。卡曾斯突然想到，如果负面情绪能产生负面的身体影响，那么相反的情况也应该成立——爱、信仰、勇气、信心和笑声应该产生积极的影响。为了验证这一点，他制定了一个计划。他发现他对止痛药和抗炎药都过敏。因此，他决定用维生素C来处理炎症，用笑声来处理疼痛。 平躺着忍受剧痛并没有什么好笑的，所以卡曾斯觉得一个好的起点可能是看搞笑电影。他观看了《偷拍相机》经典和马克思兄弟的电影，正如他在文章中所说，他做了一个有趣的观察：“我欣喜地发现，十分钟真正的开怀大笑具有麻醉效果，能让我至少有两小时的无痛睡眠。” 为了给他的发现一些科学可信度，他在私人医生的帮助和支持下，安排在每个笑声发作前后几小时采集血样。结果显示，有生理上的改善，更重要的是，这种改善是累积的。从医院的角度来看，笑声有一个负面副作用——他打扰了其他病人！他最终通过搬进酒店房间解决了这个问题。对诺曼·卡曾斯来说，这是一个漫长的康复过程，但他表明笑声可以在疗愈过程中扮演重要角色。自1976年他发表他的描述以来，笑声在健康中的作用得到了广泛研究和调查，这项研究的一个实际应用是在英国建立了一个免费的NHS笑声诊所。那么，或许伏尔泰的观点有些道理：医学的艺术在于娱乐病人，而自然治愈疾病。 回到本文的主题——幽默如何帮助我们在选择的灵性道路上？我已经建议，如果我们培养幽默感，一种轻松的生活态度，我们可以在某种程度上看透我们以自我为中心的生活观，我想对此进行更详细的探讨。 从佛教的角度来看，我们所谓的“自我”感是一种社会虚构，一种由社会及其系统不断强化的心灵构造。当我们仔细观察“它”时，我们很快发现自我实际上是相当选择性的，永远不能是我们全部意识经验的真实反映——我们创造了边界。理解这一点的另一种方式是将自我视为一个心理模型，一个可接受的观点、意见、思想和感觉的拼贴画。通过仔细反思（通过冥想修行），我们所谓的“我”或“自己”原来不过是一个想象中的控制中心，我们所有的思想、言语和行为都围绕它旋转。佛教修行的一般目标，特别是冥想方法的目标，是帮助我们认识到，实际上，我们可以向生活敞开自己，而没有这种置身事外的幻觉。 要做到这一点，有必要在思想和图像在心灵中升起的那个时刻，仔细关注它们。放下思维习惯的原则与放弃破坏性行为模式（如吸烟或过量饮酒）所需的原则非常相似。你从简单地不拿起下一支烟或下一杯酒开始，然后下一支，再下一支，依此类推。超越我们称之为“自我”或“我”的习惯性思维和感觉模式，也是以同样的方式完成的。我们观察一个特定的图像或想法升起，然后不是自动地对它做出反应（这当然只会强化它），而是让它自然运行，直到它消失。在那个放下的时刻，在不执着于旧思想和行动的时刻，我们可能会体验到从过去中解脱。当我们旧思维习惯的乌云消散时，佛性就会显现。 嗯，所有这些在理论上听起来都很容易，不是吗？在实践中，我们可能会抽一百万支烟或喝一千杯酒，而没有一次完全意识到我们在做什么。技巧似乎在于，一旦我们注意到自己陷入了一种心理无意识状态，就能够熄灭香烟或放下酒杯。确实，任何真诚进行灵性训练的人很快意识到，你不能通过纯粹的意志力来控制自我。已故的艾伦·瓦茨在他的讲座和著作中多次描述了试图控制自我的徒劳。他给我们这样的建议：“不要试图摆脱自我感。只要它持续，就把它当作整个过程的一个特征或游戏——就像一朵云或一个波浪，或像感觉温暖或寒冷，或任何其他自行发生的事情。摆脱自己的自我是无敌自我主义的最后手段！它只是确认和加强了这种感觉的现实。但当这种分离感像任何其他感觉一样被接近和接受时，它就会像海市蜃楼一样蒸发。” 那么，我们自我束缚存在的真正悲剧似乎是我们似乎完全无法摆脱这种对我们旧思维和行为习惯的无意识复制。这难道不是一种完全缺乏幽默的情况吗？然而，幽默可以在我们认识到试图在“自动驾驶”模式下生活的荒谬性的那一刻出现。一旦我们瞥见自我心灵机械性质的一点点，超越它的机会就会出现。幽默是一种超越和走出我们在生活中常规角色的方式。它可以帮助我们超越自我制造的自我形象，并可以让我们尝到真正的自由。 那么，或许我们的灵性修行是真正幽默的纪律。通过冥想和其他灵性修行，我们有机会意识到那种从条件制约中解脱出来的本质自由，当然，我们也会看到我们在日常生活中未能实现和维持那种自由的幽默！ 幽默在灵性生活中可以扮演重要角色的另一个领域是老师和学生之间的关系。我在上面提到，在师父看似严厉的表情背后，内在的佛陀正在抑制一个微笑。在我看来，作为西方人，我们倾向于把灵性旅程看得有点太严肃了。这可能会产生它自己的问题，因为如果我们无法看到我们困境中的幽默，我们可能会成为灵性骗子的自愿受害者，一个假上师。
文章概要
本文探讨了幽默在佛教修行中的核心作用，以笑佛形象为切入点，强调幽默作为方便法门如何帮助人们挑战自我、促进身心健康。文章结合迦叶微笑的禅宗起源、弥勒佛的演变，以及诺曼·卡曾斯用笑声疗愈的案例，说明幽默能缓解痛苦、提升生理健康。从佛教视角分析自我是心灵虚构，幽默帮助超越自我束缚，实现心灵自由。文章还指出幽默在师生关系中的重要性，避免灵性修行过于严肃，防止受骗。整体上，文章倡导以轻松态度面对生活，将幽默融入灵性实践，促进觉悟与解脱。
高德明老师的评价
1. 用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容： 这篇文章就像在说，佛教里有个笑佛，他总在笑，告诉我们生活中要多笑一笑。比如，有个故事说佛陀拿一朵花，迦叶尊者就笑了，这成了禅宗的开始。还有，笑能让人身体变好，像有个生病的人看搞笑电影，笑一笑就不那么疼了。文章还说，我们有时候太把自己当回事，容易生气，如果学会幽默，就能更开心，看事情更轻松。就像做作业时，如果太紧张，笑一笑可能就想出办法了！ 2. 佛学的各个宗派视角评价，突出《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角： 从佛学宗派视角看，本文强调的幽默与轻安，在大乘佛教中尤为契合，特别是准提法所倡导的“心性本净、烦恼即菩提”理念。显宗如禅宗，以迦叶微笑为例，直指心性，幽默作为顿悟的契机；密宗如准提法，则视幽默为一种方便法门，帮助行者破除我执、显发佛性。《显密圆通成佛心要集》强调显密圆融，本文的幽默观可视为一种显密双修的实践：在显宗层面，幽默培养慈悲与智慧，减轻修行负担；在密宗层面，笑佛形象象征准提佛母的喜悦本质，引导行者体验法界一体。准提法的优点在于整合显密，幽默作为修行工具，能快速净化业障、提升觉性，适合现代人忙碌生活，实现“即事而真”的修行目标。 3. 在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题： 在修行实践上，幽默可以应用于以下方面，解决人们的十个问题： （1）缓解压力：通过笑声释放日常焦虑，如工作或学习压力。 （2）改善健康：像诺曼·卡曾斯案例，笑能减轻疼痛、促进康复。 （3）破除我执：幽默帮助看清自我虚构，减少自我中心带来的冲突。 （4）增强人际关系：轻松态度促进和谐，避免严肃导致的隔阂。 （5）提升修行乐趣：使冥想和诵经更愉悦，防止修行枯燥。 （6）应对逆境：在困难中保持幽默，培养坚韧心态。 （7）净化心灵：笑能扫除负面情绪，如愤怒或沮丧。 （8）促进觉悟：幽默作为方便法门，加速开悟过程。 （9）防止灵性陷阱：避免因过于严肃而受假上师欺骗。 （10）实现生活平衡：将幽默融入日常，达到工作与修行的和谐。