你是你自己的主人

仁波切近来一直表示钦哲基金会与同修法友可以尝试新的做法来接引年轻人，并且激发他们对佛教智慧与修持的兴趣。仁波切在这个主题上着墨甚广，本期“智慧之语”我们分享他关于寻找如何与年轻人沟通的新方法。

我们需要使用年轻人的语言，我们需要去了解这些12岁的男孩与女孩，他们喜欢什么、不喜欢什么、害怕什么，以及想要与幻想什么。我们不是以一种传教士心态来使他们皈依于某一个教派或团体，而是要去回应他们与需求与期望。我们须要设想以不同的方式去触及年轻世代。

我们需要使人们能够了解与欣赏佛法，并且为佛法所吸引。为了达到这个目标，我们有许多事情要做，我们需要学习如何包装，我们需要学习如何与年轻世代谈论佛法。因为佛法提供给我们很多东西。佛经当中的每一句话、每一个偈诵都与人们的生活息息相关，并且可以带来利益。

我们可以引领我们的觉知到事物是相互依存的这个现实，以及我们的生命在本质上是依仗不同的因缘(和合)而生，并且也可以强调着重于内在世界，而非外在世界。佛法可以提供给我们很多方法。

仁波切启发我们不只是考虑谁来教授佛法，而且要思考如何教授佛法给年轻世代。

我们必须体察时代的改变，并且适应这些改变，因为我们的任务是保存与传播佛法，我们必须确保纯正的佛法能够保持足够的活力。与此同时，我们要设法让人容易接触到佛法，不仅仅是通过翻译佛典、举办教学活动和提供修持指导等 。当然，这些都必须要做，而我们也都在做。但是我们必须认真地思考要如何令佛法对下一代的人来说易于理解、咀嚼、消化，而且饶有兴味。

让我们一起思考如何去触及年轻人，让他们知道佛陀在2500年前所说的话在今天仍然意义深远，并且完全适用。

我不觉得我们应该说“做一个佛教徒意味着做一位好人”，没有人在乎做人的好坏与否。实际上，我认为佛教的品牌标语应该是佛陀所说的“རང་ཉིད་རང་གི་མགོན་ཡིན་གྱི། །གཞན་ནི་སུ་ཞིག་མགོན་དུ་འགྱུར། ([Wylie:] rang nyid rang gi mgon yin gyi / / gzhan nis u zhig mgon du ‘gyur)”， 中文就是“你是你自己的主人”。佛法的八万四千法门全部都是教你如何能够掌控自己，成为自己的主人。

A consistent theme in what Rinpoche has been expressing recently is how KF and our sangha can explore new ways to engage younger people and ignite an interest in Buddhist wisdom and practice. Rinpoche has spoken broadly on this topic, and this month we share his thoughts on finding new ways to communicate with young people.

We need to speak the language of teenagers, we need to learn about these 12-year-old boys and girls—what they like, what they don’t like, what they are afraid of, what are they imagining and fantasizing about. And not with some sort of missionary mind to convert them into some sect or group, but to answer their needs and wants. We need to think of other ways to reach the younger generations.

We need to make people understand and appreciate and get attracted to the dharma, to the teachings of the Buddha. And for that, we have a lot of work to do. We need to learn how to package. We need to learn how to communicate with future generations about the dharma. Because there is so much to offer. Every shloka, every stanza of the Buddha’s teachings, offers so much, and each and every one of them is relevant and beneficial.

This is something that we can deal with by bringing our awareness of interdependent reality, the dependent arising nature of our lives, and also emphasizing our inner world rather than the external world. The buddhadharma has so many things to offer. 

Rinpoche inspires us to think about not just who is teaching the younger generations, but how the dharma could be taught.

We have to be aware of change and we have to adapt to it because our mission is really to propagate and preserve the buddhadharma. We also have to keep the dharma, authentic dharma, alive and kicking.  At the same time, we also have to think in terms of making the buddhadharma available—not only available in terms of translating the words of the Buddha, organizing teachings, facilitating practice. Of course, that we have to do, and we are doing it. But we also have to think seriously how to make the dharma translatable, chewable, digestible, and appetizing—very appetizing— for the next generation. 

We ask you to consider how we might reach young people where they are, and let them know that what the Buddha was expressing 2,500 years ago is still profoundly applicable today.

I don’t think we should say things like, “To be a Buddhist means to be a good human.” Nobody cares about being good. So actually, I think the Buddhist branding should be རང་ཉིད་རང་གི་མགོན་ཡིན་གྱི། །གཞན་ནི་སུ་ཞིག་མགོན་དུ་འགྱུར། ([Wylie:] rang nyid rang gi mgon yin gyi / / gzhan ni su zhig mgon du ‘gyur). This is what Buddha said: “You are your own master, no one [else] is.” (Often it’s translated literally as “You are your own guardian. Who else could be your guardian?”) Buddhadharma, the whole of 84000, is all pointing toward giving you control of yourself.