怎么认识无限的心？我们生活在城市，在家面对的是柴米油盐、生活压力；出门面对的是车水马龙、水泥森林；头顶那片天空也被高楼切割，被雾霾遮蔽。在这样的环境中，心很容易被封闭。
How can we understand the infinite mind? We live in the city. At home, we face daily necessities and life pressures. When away from home, we face an incessant stream of vehicles and a cluster of high-rise buildings and large mansions. Even the sky above us has been cut by tall buildings and obscured by haze. In such an environment, our minds are easily closed.
视野有多大，决定了我们的心量有多大。包括环境的视野，也包括知识的视野。古人说“读万卷书，行万里路”，你的眼界拓宽了，胸怀乃至生命也会被拓宽。更重要的，则是通过修行得来的对真理的体认，这是世间任何知识不能比拟的。
The size of our vision determines that of our minds. The vision we are talking about here includes that of the environment and knowledge. As the ancients said, “read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.” When our vision is broadened, so are our minds and lives. What is more important is the realization of truth attained through spiritual practice, which is incomparable to any knowledge in the world.
佛教中，普贤菩萨被称为“大行”，在他所发的十大愿王中，每个行为都建立于无限的所缘，每一愿的对象都是“所有尽法界虚空界，十方三世一切佛刹极微尘数诸佛世尊”及无量众生。虚空是无限的，菩萨的大愿和广行也是无限的。
In Buddhism, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is hailed as “Great Conduct.” In his ten vows, each practice is built on infinite perceptual objects. The objects of each of his vows include “all Buddhas and World Honored Ones, as numerous as fine motes in all Buddha lands in the ten directions and the three periods of time, to the exhaustion of the Dharma Realm and void,” along with innumerable sentient beings. The void is infinite, and so are the Bodhisattva’s great vows and virtuous deeds.
佛教关于无限的另一个表达是十方三世。十方代表空间，为东、西、南、北、东南、东北、西南、西北、上方、下方；三世代表时间，为过去、现在、未来。庄子说的“四方上下为宇，古往今来为宙”，也是以空间和时间来说明宇宙。
The infinity in Buddhism is also reflected by the infinite space and time. The ten directions represent space – east, west, south, north, southeast, northeast, southwest, northwest, and up and down; the three periods of time represent time – past, present, and future. Zhuangzi’s depiction of “the four directions, heaven, and earth are called ‘Yu,’ whereas the infinite time since ancient times is named as ‘Zhou’” also illustrates the universe in terms of space and time.
我们每做一件事，都要以无限的空间和时间为对象，建立这样的视野，才能和佛菩萨的心行相应。
No matter what we do, we must take infinite space and time as the object. Only by establishing such a vision can our minds and actions correspond to those of the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
事实上，心本来就像虚空一样，但因为我执，因为认知的局限，使我们的世界变得很狭隘。小到只有一个人、一个家庭，或是一个企业、一个地区，最多就是民族、国家、世界。即使心怀世界，在宇宙中也是微不足道的。
The mind is as vast as the void, but because of self-attachment and the limitations of our cognition, our view of the world has become so narrow that we only care about one person, one family, one enterprise, or one region. At most, we care about our nation, our country, and the world. However, even the world that we hold in our minds is insignificant in the universe.
如何认识无限？佛法为我们提供了两种修行方式。一是以无限的时空和众生为所缘，这样的观修，有助于撤除狭隘的设定，使心回归本来状态。二是由观照力加以审视，超越有限、对待的心，直接认识无限。
How should we get to know and understand infinity? Buddha Dharma provides us with two types of spiritual practice. The first is to take the infinite space and time as well as all sentient beings as perceptual objects. Such practice of contemplation helps us not only remove the inner narrow presumptions but also return the mind to its original state. The second is to examine the mind with the power of careful observation and contemplation, to go beyond the finite, and to know infinity directly.
所以，佛教所说的无限不是纸上谈兵，而是可以通过禅修抵达的。
So, the concept of infinity in Buddhism is not an armchair theory, but something that can be achieved through meditative concentration.
摘自《禅意设计“十二字箴言”》
版权所有：济群法师
Excerpted from:
A Six-word Maxim Regarding the Practice of Chan Design
By Master Jiqun
