照顾好自己

According to Buddhist beliefs, our life is a like dream. When we are dreaming, we experience the dream as real and within the dream, we can be happy and we can also suffer. However, from the moment that we wake up, there is no way that we can prove to others the things and experiences of our dreams, which seemed so real.  Actually, we are the only ones who experienced the dream.

The experience of our lives is similar. No one has come from the past or future to tell us what things are like, and even if they did, how can they really show us what happened in the past or what will happen in the future. Here, the main difference between dreams and waking is duration.

At the time our consciousness leaves our body, just like waking from a dream, there is nothing we can take with us. So, in this life, we should not put too much burden on ourselves and have too many worries. What is important at the time of death is not what we accumulated, but what we have done. Since, although can take our possessions with us, the mind does carry with it the energy of our actions and these will manifest in different forms after our consciousness has left our body.

This perspective should also lead us to not judge others based on appearances. For example, the appearances of animals are the results of their past actions and so they may look friendly or frightening, but actually inside have a different experience. So, I believe, it is wisest to reserve our judgments and comments about others, after all we already have enough burdens and worries to take care of.

根據佛教的信仰，人生就如同一場夢一樣。當我們做夢的時候，夢境的體驗是如此真實；而且在夢境中，我們可以感受快樂，也可以遭遇痛苦。不過，一旦我們清醒過來，我們便無法向別人證明夢境中那些看似真實的事物和經歷了。實際上，我們是唯一曾經歷過自己夢境的人。

我們的人生經歷也是類似的情況。沒有人能穿越過去或未來告訴我們事情是怎麼樣。即使真的有人能穿越時空，他們又如何能真實地讓我們知道過去曾發生過什麼事，或將來會發生什麼事？因此，做夢與清醒之間的主要區別，也只是時間的長短而已。

當我們的神識離開肉體時，就像從夢境中醒過來一樣，沒有任何東西是我們可以隨身帶走的。因此，在這一生中，我們不應該讓自己背負太多的壓力，也不必過度地煩惱。在臨終的那一刻，重要的不是我們積聚了多少財富，而是我們過去的所作所為如何。儘管人生在世時我們可以擁有財產，但心識會帶走的卻是業力，在我們的神識離開肉體之後，業力將以不同的形式展現出來。

依循這樣的觀點，我們就不該根據外表來評判他人。例如，動物的外貌是牠們過去業力的結果，因此牠們看起來可能很友善，但也可能令人生畏，至於實際上牠們的內心到底如何，那又是另外一回事了。因此，我相信保留一點我們對他人的判斷和評論，是最明智的選擇。畢竟，光是照顧好我們自己，就已經夠多負擔和煩惱了。

苏曼迦旺