法句經---11

Thinking to be essential, what is not,

seeing no essence in what is essential,

they, feeding on wrong thoughts,

do not discover the essence.

將不真實認為真實，將真實見為不真實﹔

他們增長錯誤的思惟，不能了解真實。

A. 支謙《法句經》卷1〈9 雙要品〉：

「以真為偽、以偽為真，是為邪計，不得真利」

(CBETA, T04, no. 210, p. 562, a29-b1)

B. 非真思真實，真實見非真；邪思惟境界，彼不達真實。

  (了參法師譯 譯自巴利經文)

C. In the unreal they imagine the real, in the real they see the unreal; they who feed on wrong thoughts never achieve the real.

(Thera Narada 英譯，錫蘭、那羅陀長老英譯自巴利文)

D. 真實的認為不真實，不真實的認為真實﹔是錯誤的理解，不能到達真實。（淨海法師譯）

sāra，真實，在Narada Thera譯為 the real，在本文中譯為 essence，』，受格應該為 sāraṃ﹔第一句巴利文的意思為：『將不真實的想像為真實，將真實的見為不真實』，跟各家的翻譯差別在：「主詞為下一句的第一個字 te 他們，名詞 sāramatino 想為真實，形容另一個名詞 asāre 不真實。名詞 asāradassino 不見為真實，形容另一個名詞 sāre 真實。〕

第二句，巴利文 adhigacchanti，在Narada Thera譯為 achieve，在本文中譯為realize or discover 了解、發現。上半句 te sāraṃ na adhigacchanti的意思為『他們不能了解真實』，下半句(只是 micchāsaṅkappa-gocarā一個字)，micchā為『錯誤的』，saṅkappa為見解、思惟，此字的前半部是『錯誤的見解，思惟』，此字的前半部gocarā，go是牛，carā是行走，gocarā指牛行走的地方，就是『牧場』的意思。全句依字面直接翻譯是『錯誤思惟的牧場』，意思是讓錯誤的思惟像牛一樣在牧場繁殖長大﹔譯者譯為『feeding on wrong thoughts』，在Narada Thera也譯為 feed the wrong thoughts，我在此暫時譯為『增長錯誤的思惟』。

本偈依文法來說，主詞為 te他們，na 副詞「不」，動詞為 adhigacchanti了解，受詞為sāraṃ(sāra 為主格，sāraṃ為受格)真實，本句為否定句，na 不能。所以主幹為『他們不能了解真實』，其他三個片語用來形容其原因：將不真實的想像為真實、真實認為不真實、增長錯誤的見解。

asāre sāramatino,

sāresu cāsāradassino;

te sāraṃ nādhigacchanti,

micchāsaṅkappagocarā.(PTS)

asāre: asāra-, N.n.: non-essence. Negated (by the negative prefix a-) word sāra-, N.n.: essence, substance. Loc.Sg. = asāre.

sāramatino: sāramatin-, thinking [to be] the essence. A compound of:
sāra-, N.n.: essence, substance.

matin-, N.m.: having imagined. Derived from the word mata- (p.p. of man-, to think, to imagine) by the way of adding the possessive suffix -in.
Nom.Pl. of the compound = sāramatino.

sāre: sāra-, N.n.: essence (see also above). Loc.Sg. = sāre.

ca, conj.: and.

asāradassino: asāradassin-, Seeing the non-essence. A compound of:
asāra-, N.n.: see above.
dassin-, N.m.: having seen. Derived from the verb das- (to see) by adding the denominative suffix -in.
Nom.Pl. of the compound = asāradassino.

te, pron.: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te (they).

sāraṃ: sāra-, : see above. Acc.Sg. = sāraṃ.

na, neg.: not.

adhigacchanti, V.: discover, obtain. The verb gam- (to go) with the prefix adhi- (above, towards). 3.Pl.act.pres.in. = adhigacchanti.

micchāsaṅkappagocarā: micchāsaṅkappagocara-, N.m.: having pasture for wrong thoughts. A compound of:
micchāsaṅkappa-, N.m.: wrong thought, wrong intention. This can be further analyzed as:
micchā, Adv,: wrongly.
saṅkappa-, N.m.: thought, intention.
gocara-, N.m.: pasture, sphere. This can be further analyzed as:
go-, N.m.: cow
cara-, N.m.: going, walking. Derived from the verb car- (to walk, to roam).
Nom.Pl. of the whole compound = micchāsaṅkappagocarā.

    The subject of this sentence is te (they). It is in nominative plural. Its corresponding verb is adhigacchanti (realize, discover), in 3rd person, plural, active, indicative and present tense. It is negated by the particle na (not). The object is sāraṃ (the essence), which is in accusative singular. The subject has three attributes: asāre sāramatino (thinking to be essential, what is not), sāre asāradassino (seeing no essence in what is essential) and micchāsaṅkappagocarā (feeding on wrong thoughts).

    The first of them is asāre sāramatino (thinking to be essential, what is not). The actual attribute here is sāramatino (thinking to be essential), which is in nominative plural to agree with the subject. The word asāre (in the non-essence) forms an attribute to the word sāramatino. It is in locative singular.

    Next one is sāre asāradassino (seeing no essence in what is essential). Again, the actual attribute is the word asāradassino (seeing no essence), which is in nominative plural. This word has itself an attribute, sāre (in the essence), which is in locative singular. The conjunction ca (and) connects this attribute to the previous one.

    Last of the attributes is micchāsaṅkappagocarā (feeding on wrong thoughts). It is a compound and it is in nominative plural, because it has to agree with the subject.

Commentary:

    One can of course never expect to understand, or get close to, the "essence", the heart of the problem, if one keeps looking in the wrong direction. This is true in every field of our endeavor. Therefore this rule necessarily applies also to spiritual efforts. This verse says that if we mistake the essential things for nonsense and think that there is some essence in things that are actually empty of it, we can not ever get even close to the reality. All kinds of superstition fall into this category, various activities that (although they look nice and can be even pleasant) do not bring us closer to the goal, which is the purification of mind. As the verse notes, this is the "pasture for wrong thoughts". As the cows on the pasture, the thoughts, wandering in this direction, will grow stronger and will multiply. The only problem is -- it will not help us on our way at all.