该文档作为我加入谷歌佛教小组（内部员工自发组织的佛教文化社团）执委会的个人声明，阐述了我在佛法方面的经历、方法、观点、修行和愿景。中文在前，英文在后。

This doc serves as my personal statement for joining the Google Buddhist Group (an employee-led cultural Buddhist community) Steering Committee, explaining my experience, approach, views, practices and vision with Buddhism. Chinese version in the front part. English version in the latter part.

佛法于我

我的一般原则

即使抛开佛教不谈，以下是我对任何事物的一般原则。其部分源于我的性格，也部分源于谷歌的企业文化，特别是我在谷歌SRE中的工作经验。这些原则在很大程度上影响了我对佛教的态度。

1. 大致正确优于精确有误。
2. 与不确定性共存，在模糊中进步。

放回佛教背景下：

1. 我认为一种全面的，从历史起源到当代传播，涵盖所有教派和学派的整体佛教视角，即使是低分辨率的，也比仅专注于佛教某一特定表达的高分辨率视角，更为有益。
2. 我认为佛法是自成体系、圆融自洽的教法。它暂未 100% 与现代科学相印。尽管持续缩小与科学的解释性差异，对于正见的树立是有益的，但是更重要的是能够平和地接受这一差异，并将佛法的教导和修行付诸行动，直接亲证于事于己的转变。

我的佛教经历

从中学起，我便对宗教和灵性有着广泛兴趣（圣经、风水、易经）。自大学起，我有意识开始阅读更多大乘佛教经典（如金刚经、心经、六祖坛经）。再后来，我接触了早期西方佛教视角，其主要来源于大英帝国殖民时期，一些英国学者对于佛教和巴利文（最可能是佛陀自己所说的语言）在印度和斯里兰卡等地进行的，主要着眼于早期佛教和南传上座部佛教的深入研究。

随后，我对《巴利正藏》有了更深的兴趣，不仅参加了巴利文学习的短期线上课程，还完整阅读了《相应尼柯耶》，这让我对佛陀的原始教导有了坚实的理解。往后至今，我持续阅读更多《巴利正藏》的节选和选集文献，并长期进行冥想打坐。最近，我也开始修持“四念住”，对我的冥想及日常生活中的正念保持，有了极大地促进。

我常前往“伦敦佛教中心”（LBC, London Buddhist Centre），也时常参访其他一些僧伽 (Sanghas)。

我的佛教方法

• 我的方法论可称为“带全教视角的根本佛教”。
  • 借基督教之词，也可以称之为“无宗派佛教” (Non-denominational Buddhism)。
• 我尽可能地采用基于《巴利正藏》所述的原始佛法之见解和修行。
  • 我充分知晓《巴利正藏》亦非佛陀在世所撰，而是由其弟子和信众汇编而成。其中一些内容可能直到上座部佛教时代才出现。但它仍然是我们能接触到的，最早也最接近佛陀原始教导的文献。
    • 我非常重视任何佛教文本的成文年代，也包括《巴利正藏》。
      • 《相应尼柯耶》在《巴利正藏》全册中，很可能仍是其中最接近佛陀原始教导的最根本文献。
    • 我曾幸得机缘与《巴利正藏》的英文翻译者，尊者菩提比丘本人交流，他亦确认《相应尼柯耶》是适合作为学习《巴利正藏》的最佳切入点。
  • 如有可能，我倾向于为任何佛法概念添注巴利原词。
    • 这就是为何我用 “Dhamma” 而非 “Dharma”，“Nibbana” 而非 “Nirvana”，“Sutta” 而非“Sutra”，等等。
      • 我认可 “Dharma”/“Nirvana”/“Sutra” 在流行文化中的广泛使用，故我不介意他人继续使用梵文形式。
    • 如无巴利原词，我倾向于为任何佛教概念使用多语言注称。
      • 这将涵盖从梵文到英文再到中文（甚至藏文，尽管我仍知之甚少）。
• 我对佛教后期的发展和思想仍怀尊重与兴趣。
  • “全教视角”意味着我不是原教旨主义者。我相信佛法是生生不息的教导，能依世界之变而取新貌。我热衷于了解佛教在历史长河中的薪火相传与应机所现之万千法门。
  • 我愿意阅读所有佛教学派的文献：南传上座部佛教、大乘佛教和金刚密乘。
    • 我尽可能避免使用并倾向于纠正“小乘”  (Hīnayāna) 一词的使用。
• 除非公然有违于四法印，或为显而易见有害众生的教法，否则我避免将任何佛教思想视乎“邪教”或“附佛外道”。
  • 任何新兴宗教运动都曾被部分人在特定时期视为“邪教”。
  • 佛陀有生之年也曾受彼时已有宗教之信徒的误解与怀疑。

我的佛教见解

佛法（Buddha Dhamma）之解，既可甚深微妙，亦能平易近人，此文中我倾向于后者。总体而言，尽管我认可二转法轮和三转法轮，均不违正见，而仅于教法之侧重有所不同，但我以为佛陀之全部教导，已蕴含于初转法轮之中。

中道

我视中道（Majjhimā Paṭipadā）为见解和修行的根本态度。它强调既不沦于极端苦行，也不沉溺享乐纵欲的正确心态。推而广之，我重视中道所蕴含的潜力，能于现代生活中平衡地追求精神进步和世俗成就，双生双成。

我认为中道亦体现了佛陀所授之“法随者”（闻思修证）和“信随者”（信解行证）两条道路之殊途同归与辩证统一。般若智慧需与菩提慈悲相结合才能深化修行，正如鸟无双翼，无以远飞。

四圣谛

我视四圣谛（Cattāri Ariya Saccāni）为全部佛法之纲领。

• 苦（Dukkha）
  • 如实了知苦之本质，因缘初处均可归结于贪爱与执着。
  • 造作不息因果业力 (Kamma) 所致的生死往复之轮回（Saṃsāra）。
• 集（Samudaya）
  • 以十二因缘（Paṭiccasamuppāda）为核心，集谛是为对苦之成因的彻底全面的分析。
• 灭（Nirodha）
  • 逆十二因缘而行，灭谛展现了苦之止息的可行性，亦即涅槃真实可达，途中之里程碑清晰可辨：七返还入流圣果（Sotāpanna）、一返还斯陀含圣果（Sakadāgāmin）、不返还阿那含圣果（Anāgāmi），及致终点：阿罗汉圣果（Arahant）。
• 道（Magga）
  • 佛法修行的全部内容，蕴含无遗于八正道（Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga）之中。勤以修之，如佛所示，我无疑坚信此乃通往涅槃解脱之正途。

八正道

我视八正道（Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga）为通往觉悟的完整路线图，是我全部佛法修行的基石。此文先不一一详解，仅于个人重点见解处作略述。

1. 正见/正志
   • 般若解脱道以正见先导。慈悲菩提道以正志先导。
2. 正语/正行/正命
   • 戒行（Sīla）固然重要，但其以“相关性” （Correlation） 而非“因果性” （Causation）为作用机理。两者虽然究竟不二，且于深处不相融无以深入，但其作为修行入口的有效性因人而异。
3. 正念/正定/正精进
   1. 至关重要，对任何人的日常生活都能起到变革性的作用。
   2. 我坚信任何人只要持行正确的见解和修行，均可在合理的时间内取得禅定（Jhāna）。
   3. 我认为对于初修行者来说，正念比正定冥想甚至更为重要有效。我个人信持勤修四念住（Satipaṭṭhāna）。
      1. 我相信推广四念住修行有着巨大的潜力。
      2. 如佛所言，勤修四念住之人，最快 7 天最慢 7 年可证果。
      3. 我对于人之心意如何从五盖，到止（奢摩他），到基于四念住的正念，再到七觉支的升起，有一定的个人理解和经验。
      4. “勤修”绝无问题。勤奋精进（Vīrya）为八正道之一和七觉支之一。出世间欲（Supramundane desire）是佛陀确证的导向解脱的有利因素。

虽然八正道环环相扣，生灭相随，但是通过个人实践，我对八正道大体上的分类次第，依然有多番理解，略表一二：

• 我认为从第 1 组入门，2、3 组紧随，是为闻思修证、法随者之路，以般若智慧为侧重。 我认为从第 2 组入门，1、3 组紧随，是为信解行证、信随者之路，以菩提慈悲为侧重。法门不同，因人福田慧根而异。
• 我认为第 1、2 组于“法轮边缘”处作用，可以视为对见解和言行的“宏观调控”。第 3 组于“法轮轴心”处起强力支撑作用，可以视为对当下时时刻刻的身心的”微观调控“。
  • “我想也想不明白，为什么会这样，我该怎么做”。你需要第 1、2 组宏观调控。
  • “道理我都懂，但就是做不到”。你需要第 3 组微观调控。

我非常乐意深入细谈，如何将佛法真真切切地运用到日常生活，行坐卧立的个人修行之中。

我的佛教愿景

感谢阅读至此。

我深深感激生活于 21 世纪，全球化和信息技术已为我铺平了道路，能以最直接的方式直达佛陀教法之本源。

我相信，带有全教视角的根本佛教，可于觉醒解脱和世俗成就之间，为个人也为集体，取得最佳的平衡。

Buddha Dhamma for me

My Personal Principles

Even putting Buddhism aside, here are my general principles for anything. It partially comes from my personality, but also partially comes from the culture of Google itself, especially from my work experience in Google SRE. These principles largely influence my approach to Buddhism.

1. Vaguely correct is better than accurately off.
2. Thrive with ambiguity.

Putting into the Buddhism context:

1. I think a comprehensive view of the entire Buddhism ranging from its historical origination to contemporary spreading, including all traditions and schools, even at a low-resolution, is more beneficial than a crystal-clear high-resolution view only focusing on a particular representation of Buddhism.
2. I think Buddha Dhamma is a self-contained teaching that’s consistent in itself. It doesn’t (yet) map 100% to modern science. While it’s helpful for the right view to continue closing the gaps, it’s more important to live with the gap and put the Buddhist teachings and practices into action to directly see transformations.

My Buddhism Experience

I have had a general interest in religion and spirituality from my early ages (e.g. reading the Bible, Feng Shui, I Ching). I started reading more Mahāyāna texts since university (The Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch). Later I learnt the early western Buddhist perspective, likely from the British Empire period when a few British scholars did extensive research and studies on Buddhism and Pali language (the language most likely spoken by the Buddha himself) in India and Sri Lanka, which puts great focus on early Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism.

I developed a deeper interest in Pali Canon, so I not only took a short course in actually learning the Pali language but also read the entire Saṃyutta Nikāya, which equipped me with a solid understanding of Buddha’s original teachings. I’ve later started reading more Pali Canon texts in the form of various excerpts and anthologies. I’ve been doing meditation on my own time for a long time. Recently I’ve been following the Satipaṭṭhāna mindfulness practice, which has largely benefited my meditation as well as my daily mindfulness.

I attend LBC (London Buddhist Centre) frequently, but also visit other Sanghas sometimes.

My Buddhism Approach

• I consider my approach as “Fundamental Buddhism with ecumenical perspective”.
  • Using the word from Christianity, one may also call this “Non-denominational Buddhism”.
• I root my Buddhist views and practices in the original teachings in Pali Canon as close as possible.
  • I fully understand that the Pali Canon wasn’t written during Buddha’s lifetime but compelled by his disciples and followers. Some part of it likely didn’t exist until the Theravada period. But still it’s the earliest texts we have as close to the Buddha’s original teachings as possible.
    • I pay great attention to the dating of any Buddhist texts, including Pali Canon.
      • Among all Pali Canon texts, Saṃyutta Nikāya is likely still the most original texts that can be attributed to Buddha’s original teachings.
    • I was greatly honored to have the opportunity to talk to the English translator of Pali Canon, Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi himself, and he confirmed Saṃyutta Nikāya’s appropriateness as the very first entry point into learning Pali Canon.
  • Whenever possible, I tend to include the Pali word for any Buddhist concepts.
    • That’s why you’ll see me write “Dhamma” instead of “Dharma”, “Nibbana” instead of “Nirvana”, “Sutta” instead of “Sutra”, so on and so forth.
      • I acknowledge the wide use of “Dharma”/“Nirvana”/“Sutra” in popular culture, so I don’t mind others continuing the use of the Sanskrit forms.
  • If Pali words aren’t available, I tend to use multi-language denotations for any Buddhist concepts.
    • That ranges widely from Sanskrit to English to Chinese (or even Tibetan, which I still know very little about).
• I still hold great respect and interest for later Buddhist developments and thoughts.
  • The ecumenical perspective means I’m not a pure Fundamentalist. I believe Buddha Dhamma is a living teaching that can take on new forms in accordance with the changing world. I’m keen to learn the spreading and different forms of Buddhism throughout history.
  • I’d like to read texts from all Buddhist schools: Theravada, Mahāyāna and Vajrayana.
    • I avoid and tend to correct the use of Hīnayāna.
• I avoid considering any Buddhist thoughts as ‘cult’ or ‘pseudo-Buddhism’, unless it goes blatantly the opposite of the Four Dhamma Seals, or gives clearly harmful teachings.
  • Any new religious movement was considered a ‘cult’ at some point by someone.
  • Buddha also received much skepticism from existent religion followers during his lifetime.

My Buddhism Views

Buddha Dhamma can be explained as extensively or as succinctly as possible. I’m leaning towards the latter here. In general, although I recognise the theoretical correctness and varying emphasis on different teaching themes from the second and third turning of the Dhamma wheel, I believe all the teachings are subsumed in the first turning of the Dhamma wheel already.

The Middle Way

I see the Middle Way (Majjhimā Paṭipadā) as the basic attitude for both the practice and the views. It emphasizes the rightful mindset avoiding extreme asceticism and indulgence in sensual pleasure. I extrapolate this into a balanced way of living and the potential towards higher attainments through a mix of spiritual endeavor and worldly achievements.

I also see the Middle Way embodying the distinction taught by Buddha between a Dhamma-follower and a Faith-follower, and how we need to combine both wisdom and compassion in order to deepen the practice, just like a bird needs both wings to fly afar.

Noble Four Truths

I see the Noble Four Truths (Cattāri Ariya Saccāni) as the outlines of the entire Buddha Dhamma.

• Suffering (Dukkha)
  • The recognition of suffering characterized by craving and clinging.
  • The relentless force of actions and consequences (Kamma), underpinning the cycle of death and rebirth (Saṃsāra).
• Origination (Samudaya)
  • Centered around the 12 dependent originations (Paṭiccasamuppāda), this presents a complete analysis of the arising of suffering.
• Cessation (Nirodha)
  • Working backwards the 12 dependent originations, this presents the feasibility of the cessation of suffering, leading to Nibbana, with the 4 attainment milestones: Stream-enterer (Sotāpanna), Once-returner (Sakadāgāmin), Non-returner (Anāgāmi) and Arahant.
• Path (Magga)
  • The entire practice lies within the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga), which if diligently followed along, I have no doubt can lead to Nibbana, as showed and taught by the Buddha.

Noble Eightfold Path

I see the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga) as the complete roadmap for leading towards enlightenment, supporting my entire Buddhist practice. I’ll avoid elaborating each of the 8 paths, but just point out a few key personal thoughts.

1. Right View / Right Intention.
   • Liberation path leads with Right View. Bodhisatta path leads with Right Intention.
2. Right Speech / Right Action / Right Livelihood
   • Ethical conduct (Sīla) can be important, but it works on a “correlation-first” basis rather than a “causation-first” basis. Although they’re ultimately non-dual and need to fuse at certain points, their effectiveness as kickstarters varies largely on different people.
3. Right Mindfulness / Right Concentration / Right Effort
   1. Hugely important and can have transformative benefits on everyone’s daily life.
   2. I have no doubt that meditative absorptions (Jhāna) can be attained by everyone with the right view and practice in a reasonable amount of time.
   3. I believe right mindfulness is even more effective and important for average starting practitioners than meditation, and I personally practice Satipaṭṭhāna very diligently.
      1. I believe there’s huge potential in promoting the Satipaṭṭhāna practice.
      2. As taught by the Buddha himself, for one who diligently practices Satipaṭṭhāna, attainments can be expected within 7 days to 7 years.
      3. I have some understanding and experience of how mind progresses from Five Hindrances to Samatha to Satipaṭṭhāna-based mindfulness to Seven Awakening Factors.
      4. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with “diligent practice”. Effort (Vīrya) is one of the 8 path factors and one of the 7 awakening factors. Supramundane desire is affirmed to be wholesome for liberation.

Even though the eight factors are closely knitted together, through my personal practice, I still gained several understandings of the categorisation of the Noble Eightfold Path. To name a few:

• I see the path entering from 1, with 2 & 3 following closely, as the “Dhamma-follower” path, with emphasis on wisdom. I see the path entering from 2, with 1 & 3 following closely, as the “Faith-follower” path with emphasis on compassion. They suit different people.
• I see the groups 1 & 2 working from the “rim of the wheel” as Macro-conditioning, while the strong “support from the wheel hub” by group 3 as the Micro-conditioning.
  • “I have no idea how things become like this. Why’s that and what should I do?” <- You need groups 1 & 2.
  • “I know what are the right things to do, but I just can’t help myself” <- You need group 3.

I’m more than happy to talk into greater lengths about how these can be put into actual personal practice.

My Buddhism Vision

Thanks for following through this long reading.

I’m deeply grateful for living in the 21st century where globalization and information technology have paved ways for me to have direct access to the most fundamental Buddha Dhamma.

I believe a fundamental Buddhism with ecumenical perspective, can strike the right balance for both awakening and worldly prosperity, for both the individual and the collective.