根据宗萨钦哲仁波切2008年2月7日在美国纽约录制的讲话（音频文件请见：http://siddharthasintent.org/podcast/），多多把内容整理成文字并翻译成中文，希望能有更多的朋友接收到仁波切的法语加持。特别感谢遥遥同学和YOYO同学的鼎力支持，才得以使整个开示的中、英文稿完整而准确。还请其他同学如果发现更多未尽善之处，能够及时告知，多多合十！

 

正文如下：

     录制这一段讲话，是想要籍此提醒大家，应该说要提醒包括我自己在内的所有人：虽在身处这个世间、在此轮回之中，人们总是会遭遇到各种各样的不适，各种各样出乎意料的状况，甚至是反复的无常变异，但我们仍然是幸运的。相对来说，直到今天我们已经做得很好——我们能够生存下来，而且不仅仅是生存，相对于很多跟我们处在同一地球上的不幸众生而言，我们已经活得够好了。如果去思维一下，在这个危险、快速变化而充满压力的社会里，那些只是勉强为继、挣扎着存活的幸存者们，你就会意识到：直到今天仍然能够活得相对安适，已经是一件值得庆贺的事。

 

     当然，我们之中也有一些朋友没有其他人来得幸运，他们被卷入了一些状况，例如癌症、亲人过世、失去朋友，或者其它的种种不幸。但我必须说，事实上有的人正是籍由这些不幸的经历证明了自己，我要说，你们证实了自己不愧是佛陀的跟随者。当然在一开始你们会有点退缩，但我相信，最终你们一定能承担这一切，不光是能够处之泰然，更是在对佛法产生进一步了解之后的承担——即使只是在理论上了解佛法。

 

     嗯，我不知道大家是否注意到，我所说的其实是一个重要的事实。因为我曾经和现在都认识一些，从我们佛教徒的观点来看，是真正意义上的不幸的人。所谓的“不幸”是指：他们不曾被佛法所吸引，对佛法缺乏热诚，甚至没有丝毫的兴趣，基本上他们是纯粹的物质主义者。我见到过他们的起起落落。当然，当一切顺遂时，他们的贪心和期望滋长得更多更大，而非享受当下。而当他们遇到不幸，他们就会变得非常绝望、神经质，仿佛找不到出路，他们的这种态度、情绪或者意识不光影响着自己，就连身边的人都倍受影响。

 

      如果你现在（从这段录音中）听到了各种噪音，那是因为我正身处于纽约这个不可思议的城市，所以噪音是无法避免的。我想我现在应该是在市中心的某个地方，我祝福这个国家，因为我有听说，美国的势力与影响力已经开始衰退。虽然这有可能只是我们百千亿万个臆想与心理投射之一而已，但如果这是真的，我希望新一年的到来，能为这个国家带来清醒与繁荣，不光是美国，应该是全球。但是以我那小小的、有限的心来想的话，我觉得如果美国变得不稳定，可能会给世界上的其它国家带来一段时期的不稳定，不管怎么样，这只是我心里突然冒出来的想法。

 

     录制这段讲话，也是为了奉上我对即将到来的鼠年的祈祷及祝愿。作为释迦牟尼佛的跟随者，我们都深信一条法则，那就是因果或者说业力。所以我想祈祷和祝愿并不是主观而无用的东西，也因此我要在这里祝福大家好运、健康、繁盛，等等等等。尤其是既然我们都发愿要跟随佛陀的步伐，有的人甚至发愿要成为菩萨，因此我祈愿，不管通过什么方法，我们所有的健康、好运和财富可以变得，假如不能与佛法相一致，最起码不要与佛法相违背，如果可能的话，我们的所有行为、我们的整个存在都应该对众生有所饶益，为佛法而服务。

 

     接下来，我想我们要提醒自己，应该要为在这个世界各个角落中，或者是你自身的世界里、你的生活里，随时会发生的那些不确定、意外以及震惊的事做好准备。因为你要知道，当然，你也许已经知道了：所有的这些意外之事和打击都是源自于我们自己的希望、数不尽的希望、数不尽的恐惧、数不尽的期待和无数次的丧失信心，才产生的。出于这些希望、恐惧和期待，为了制造安全感，我们造作了那么多的规则与体系。世代以来，我们身陷于这些规则、体系与游戏，终于我们开始发觉自己已经无法自拔。事实上，很多人甚至处于更糟糕的境地：我们已经忘记了自己是在一个虚幻的规则、系统或者说游戏之中，忘记了一切不过是一场游戏而已。

 

      因此，对于我们很多人来说，几乎无法想象这个游戏能够停止，这场游戏必须继续下去。而且我很肯定，对于我们大部分人来讲，这场游戏将会持续很长一段时间。当然，但愿我们能够……其实也不是一定要终止这场游戏，但应该认识到我们只是在玩游戏而已，不要太过沉迷游戏，不要太被这个游戏所追逐、所缠缚。这并不会是像听上去那样的抽象和困难，我们并不是做不到的，我们完全可以做到。我的意思是，既然我们可以精通于“期待”，我们既然我们能够学会如何去精通“期待”，我们也就同样能够学会“无所期待”的艺术。当你学会“无所期待”的艺术，可能“震惊”就变成了“意外”，或者变得不再使你意外或震惊了。也就是说，所谓的“震惊”与“意外”，是可以互相转化的。

 

     当然在今天，我只是想要祝大家新年快乐，这是中国和西藏的新年。我相信世界上有很多不同的新年，上个月我们已经过了一个新年了。我想，就像佛陀说的，一切都是缘起的，而缘由心生，所以调伏自心就是关键。我想对于地球上的大部分人来讲，“新年”就是一个缘，人们愿意相信，虽然过去的一年是艰难的，但人们总是相信新年能够带来一些安定、运气、健康、财富等等。为什么不呢，既然佛陀说一切都是缘起的。所以，作为佛法的修行者，让我们把新年作为一个可以让我们重新开始的时刻来庆贺吧！当然，不仅仅是世间的事业有个新开始，出世间的事业亦当如是。但不光是新年，新的一周、新的一个月、新的一天、新的一个小时，我想我们都可以为之庆贺。

 

     现在我有一些话要对那些给我发过很多电子邮件或短讯的人们说。如果给我发邮件能够为你带来激动，欢迎你继续发，这也能给我带来很大的快乐。但你们要明白，我相信你们也已经了解，因为我一直以来都是如此，现在再次提醒你们——我只是一个普通人而已。所以如果我要每天一一地阅读每一封邮件，我需要在电脑前一天待上三个小时。而你们有的人往往，在我回复了邮件之后马上，在我还在写下一封邮件的时候就已经又发来了四个新问题。所以大家请记住，就像先前说的，我不得不跟大家玩这样的一个游戏，而且是一对好几百的游戏。所以那些对我不回邮件已经不耐烦或者有点苦恼的人们，我必须提醒你，你要接受这个现实并以此庆贺你的新年。

 

     就像你们现在（从录音中）听到的，我身边总是有各种的事务，而我又好像有某种学习障碍，我总是记不住别人的名字，记不住各种约会或者会面，这些可能都给你们很多人带来了压力，所以请试着以学习如何不抱太大的期望来开始这个新年吧，不仅是对我不要抱太大期望，也对你认识的每一个人，对世界、对国家，对政客，对足球俱乐部，对你最喜欢的俱乐部，都要学会不抱太大的期望。

 

     好了，我想你们已经注意到我已经被（电话铃）分心了，就这样吧，我们会在明年再相见！

 

 

This is to remind all of you, I should say all of us including myself, how fortunate we have been that although living in this world, this Samsara, one is almost always certain to encounter of all kinds of discomfort here and there, unexpected situations here and there, and at times quite volatile situations.

 

Relatively speaking, we have all done quite well until today, that we have survived, and not only just survived, we have survived much better compared to many unfortunate beings just on this earth alone. If you think about the sheer survivor struggling to just mere surviving in this dangerous and fast moving and stressed society, one would realize that to have just lived relatively comfortably till today is worth celebrating.

 

Of course some of our friends have been little less lucky than the rest of us, have stumbled into situation such as cancer, death in the family, loss of friendship, and many any other situations, unfortunate situations. But I must say that many of these people have actually proved themselves to be, I should say not disgraceful follower of the Buddha. Of course some of you may have a bit of hiccup in the beginning, but at the end of the day, I think many of you have managed to accept it, not only graciously, but accept them with the reinforcement of understanding the Dharma, even it means just intellectual one.

 

 em, I don’t know whether you notice that what I’m saying is kind of big deal because I have also known or I still to know people who are from what we Buddhist point of view call really unfortunate, unfortunate in the sense that they have no attraction or enthusiasm or inclination to the Buddha Dharma, to the teachings, basically pure materialistic, and I have seen them going through also lots of ups and down, and of course when they go through good situations instead of enjoying that their greed and their expectation becomes higher, bigger. And when they encounter unfortunate situations they really you know become very desperate and kind of nervosity and basically kind of like no way out, kind of attitude or the feeling or mind stream not only to themselves but also to their own people.

 

If you are hearing all these different noises, then because I’m in this incredible city of New York,  that’s why this is kind of unavoidable. I think I’m somewhere in the middle of New York City, and I pray that this country, because from what I hear that the power and the influence of this country is beginning to end. And so this could be just another of our millions and billions of imaginations and projections but if it is, towards the end I hope that this new year will bring sanity and prosperity and peace to this country and not only this country but world in general. But I don’t know, somehow my small limited mind thinks that if this country becomes unstable, it might make the rest of the world also unstable for a while, anyway this just came out from my mind. 

 

This is also to wish and offer my aspiration for the coming year of the Mouse. As follower of the  Sakyamuni Buddha, we all have a conviction in the law of cause condition and effect in other words Karma. And as a believer of Karma,I think the practice of wishing and aspiration is not something arbitrary, so here I wish you all good fortune, good health, prosperity etcetera, etcetera. And especially since many of us are aspiring to follow the footsteps of the Gautama Buddha, and some of us are even aspiring to becoming a bodhisattvas, I wish that all our good fortune, good health, and prosperity will in one way or anther become, if not become compatible with the Dharma, at least not contradict the Dharma, and if possible all our actions, our very being will also benefit all sentience beings, and become the service to the Dharma..

 

Having said that, I think we must remind ourselves that we should be prepared for all kinds of uncertain, surprises and shocks, that is awaiting us in many different corner of this world or your world your life. Because you know, of course you all know that, all these surprises and shocks they come just because of our own hopes, endless hopes, and endless fears and endless expectations and endless loss of confidence. And out of these hope and fear and expectation, in order to sort of create a sense of security we have created so many rules and systems, and for generations we insert ourselves into these rules and systems, games, and now many of us find so difficult to eject ourselves. In fact, many of us is in the worse situations because we have even forgotten that we are in some kind of a illusory rule or system or game, that is just a game.

 

So for many of us I think it’s almost unthinkable to stop the game, the game has to go on, and I’m  sure for many of us the game will go on for some time. Of course hopefully we will, not  necessarily stop the game, but realize that we are playing the game and not get too sort of stuck with that game, and too caught up or too worked up or too occupied with this game. And this is not as abstract and as difficult it may sound, it’s not undoable, it’s very much doable. I mean as much as we have mastered having expectations, we have learned, mastered having expectations, we can also learn the art of non-expectations. When you learn the art of non-expectations that probably shocks might become surprise, maybe things might not surprise you or things might not shock you or as it says shocks might become surprise, surprise might become shock.

 

Of course here today I’m wishing all of you just one kind of a new year, Chinese and Tibetan new year, I’m sure there are many different new years, we already celebrated one new year a month ago. I guess as Buddha said, everything is condition and conditions are made by mind, therefore taming the mind is the key. I guess new year is a condition for lots of people on this earth to celebrate, I don’t know, new year to make belief that the past year has been a tough year but maybe, you know make believe that this new year will bring some kind of stability, fortune, good health, prosperity and all that. Why not? As Buddha said everything is conditioning. So as a practitioner of the Buddha Dharma, let us celebrate the New Year as a point where we can kind of make belief that we can start fresh, of course not only the worldly activities but the spiritual activities. Not only the new year but new week, new month, new day, new month, new hour, I think all can be celebrated.

 

I have a personal message for those who have been sending me many E-mails and messages, please keep on sending them if sending a mail to me gives you a thrill, it gives me a lot of joy. But you must understand, I’m sure you already understood the way, because I’ve been here, I’ve been around for some time in this earth, so by now you must re-know that I’m just a ordinary human being. So if I have to go through all the E-mail everyday, then that is almost like sitting in front of the computer three hours a day. And some of you as soon as I send a reply, you send me four new questions while I’m writing the next E-mail. So you just please remember I have to sort of play this game as I was saying before, one against several hundreds, so those who are impatient or are  a little bit annoyed with no reply, then I must remind you to celebrate your new year with this realization.

 

And as you can hear there are always all kinds of things going on surrounding me, and I have this dyslexia I don’t remember the names, I don’t remember the dates and appointments and all of that, so this may have also caused lot of stress to you people, many of you. So try to begin this new year by learning how not to expect too much, not only from me just from every one, from every one you know like from the world the country, the politicians, the foot ball club, your own favorite club.

 

OK.I think I’m already distracted as you may have noticed, that’s about it, I’ll be seeing you next year!