諸行無常

諸行無常 [作者] 菩提尊者 [中譯] 良稹 Anicca Vata Sankhara by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi	原文版權所有 © 1999 佛教出版社。免費發行。本文允許在任何媒體再版、重排、重印、印發。然而，作者希望任何再版與分發以對公眾免費與無限制的形式進行，譯文與轉載也要求表明作者原衷。中譯版權所有 © 2022 良稹，http://www.theravadacn.org ，流通條件如上。轉載時請包括本站連接，並登載本版權聲明。
Anicca vata sankhara — "Impermanent, alas, are all formations!" — is the phrase used in Theravada Buddhist lands to announce the death of a loved one, but I have not quoted this line here in order to begin an obituary. I do so simply to introduce the subject of this essay, which is the word sankhara itself. Sometimes a single Pali word has such rich implications that merely to sit down and draw them out can shed as much light on the Buddha's teaching as a long expository article. This is indeed the case with the word sankhara. The word stands squarely at the heart of the Dhamma, and to trace its various strands of meaning is to get a glimpse into the Buddha's own vision of reality.	Anicca vata sankhara——“諸行無常!”——這是上座部佛教國家通報親人去世的用語; 不過我在此引用這個偈句，非是作為訃告的開端，僅是為了介紹本文的主題—— sankhara:small`[行]`這個詞本身。有時候，一個巴利單詞具有如此豐富的內涵，僅僅坐下把它們勾畫出來，對於闡明佛陀的教導，作用不亞於一篇義理長文。Sankhara一詞的確可當此說。該詞正居於佛法的核心，對其內涵的種種線索探究一番，即是對佛陀本人的現實觀作一管窺。
The word sankhara is derived from the prefix sam, meaning "together," joined to the noun kara, "doing, making." Sankharas are thus "co-doings," things that act in concert with other things, or things that are made by a combination of other things. Translators have rendered the word in many different ways: formations, confections, activities, processes, forces, compounds, compositions, fabrications, determinations, synergies, constructions. All are clumsy attempts to capture the meaning of a philosophical concept for which we have no exact parallel, and thus all English renderings are bound to be imprecise. I myself use "formations" and "volitional formations," aware this choice is as defective as any other.	Sankhara 一詞來自前綴 sam 與名詞 kara 的組合; 前者意謂“共同”，後者意謂“做、造”。諸行因此就是“合造”，即與其它事物共同行動的事物，或者被其它組合事物造作起來的事物。對這個詞的譯法，衆譯家已有種種表達: 造作、合成、活動、過程、力量、化合、組成、製造、決意、協同、構造。這都是為了把握一個我們並無準確對應的哲學概念所作的粗陋嘗試，因此一切英譯必然是不準確的。我自己用的是 formations (造作)與 volitional formations(有動機的造作/意志的造作)，亦知其缺憾不少於任一別譯。
However, though it is impossible to discover an exact English equivalent for sankhara, by exploring its actual usage we can still gain insight into how the word functions in the "thought world" of the Dhamma. In the suttas the word occurs in three major doctrinal contexts. One is in the twelvefold formula of dependent origination (paticca-samuppada), where the sankharas are the second link in the series. They are said to be conditioned by ignorance and to function as a condition for consciousness. Putting together statements from various suttas, we can see that the sankharas are the kammically active volitions responsible for generating rebirth and thus for sustaining the onward movement of samsara, the round of birth and death. In this context sankhara is virtually synonymous with kamma, a word to which it is etymologically akin.	不過，雖不可能為 sankhara 找到一個確切對應的英語詞彙，透過對其用法的探討，我們仍然可對它在佛法 “思維世界”中的功能獲得領悟。在經文中，該詞出現於三類主要的教義語境。一類是十二因緣的連鎖公式，在其中 sankhara (行/造作)居系列的第二位。經文中說，它們以無明為緣，又作為意識的緣。把諸經中有關句子歸納起來，我們可以看見，諸行乃是負責造作重生、從而維持生死輪迴繼續運行的有業力活性的意志。在這個語境當中，諸行與語源學上一個相近的詞 kamma (業) 基本上同義。
The suttas distinguish the sankharas active in dependent origination into three types: bodily, verbal, and mental. Again, the sankharas are divided into the meritorious, demeritorious, and "imperturbable," i.e., the volitions present in the four formless meditations. When ignorance and craving underlie our stream of consciousness, our volitional actions of body, speech, and mind become forces with the capacity to produce results, and of the results they produce the most significant is the renewal of the stream of consciousness following death. It is the sankharas, propped up by ignorance and fueled by craving, that drive the stream of consciousness onward to a new mode of rebirth, and exactly where consciousness becomes established is determined by the kammic character of the sankharas. If one engages in meritorious deeds, the sankharas or volitional formations will propel consciousness toward a happy sphere of rebirth. If one engages in demeritorious deeds, the sankharas will propel consciousness toward a miserable rebirth. And if one masters the formless meditations, these "imperturbable" sankharas will propel consciousness toward rebirth in the formless realms.	經文中把作用於十二因緣的諸行分為三類: 身、語、意。諸行又被分為福行、非福行、以及“不可擾動” —— 即四類無色界禪定中的存在意志。當無明與渴求主宰我們的意識流時，我們身、語、意的有動機行為，便成為造作果報的力量，在它們産生的果報之中，最重要的是死後該意識流的更新。以無明為促進，以渴求為燃料，是諸行推動著意識流，朝下一個重生模式行進，並且，意識的具體立足點，取決於諸行的業力性質。假若某人行福德事，那麼該行或者說“有動機的造作”將會把意識推向喜樂的重生域界。假若某人行損福德事，則將把意識推向痛苦的重生。假若他掌握了無色界禪定，這些“不可擾動”的諸行將推動他的意識流重生於無色界。
A second major domain where the word sankharas applies is among the five aggregates. The fourth aggregate is the sankhara-khandha, the aggregate of volitional formations. The texts define the sankhara-khandha as the six classes of volition (cha cetanakaya): volition regarding forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects, and ideas. Though these sankharas correspond closely to those in the formula of dependent origination, the two are not in all respects the same, for the sankhara-khandha has a wider range. The aggregate of volitional formations comprises all kinds of volition. It includes not merely those that are kammically potent, but also those that are kammic results and those that are kammically inoperative. In the later Pali literature the sankhara-khandha becomes an umbrella category for all the factors of mind except feeling and perception, which are assigned to aggregates of their own. Thus the sankhara-khandha comes to include such ethically variable factors as contact, attention, thought, and energy; such wholesome factors as generosity, kindness, and wisdom; and such unwholesome factors as greed, hatred, and delusion. Since all these factors arise in conjunction with volition and participate in volitional activity, the early Buddhist teachers decided that the most fitting place to assign them is the aggregate of volitional formations.	“諸行”一詞的第二個主要應用領域，是作為五蘊之一。第四蘊即為行蘊(sankhara-khandha)，也就是有動機的造作的聚集體。經典上把行蘊定義為六類動機(cha cetanakaya): 即與色、聲、香、味、觸、法相關的動機。盡管這些“行”與十二因緣公式中的“行”密切對應，兩者並非處處等同，因為行蘊的範疇更為廣泛。有動機的造作蘊[行蘊]涵攝一切動機種類。不僅包括業力上有活性的造作，也包括造作的業果，還包括那些與業力無關的造作。在後來的巴利文獻中，行蘊成為一個覆蓋了除受蘊與想蘊之外的一切心理素質的類別，前兩項各具獨立的蘊。於是行蘊這個詞便涵攝著諸如接觸、專注、思維、能量等倫理上中性的素質，諸如慷慨、仁慈、智慧等善巧的素質，以及諸如貪、嗔、癡等非善巧的素質。既然這一切素質隨著動機共同升起，並且參與動機的活動，早期佛教導師們認為它們最適合歸類於有動機的造作。
The third major domain in which the word sankhara occurs is as a designation for all conditioned things. In this context the word has a passive derivation, denoting whatever is formed by a combination of conditions; whatever is conditioned, constructed, or compounded. In this sense it might be rendered simply "formations," without the qualifying adjective. As bare formations, sankharas include all five aggregates, not just the fourth. The term also includes external objects and situations such as mountains, fields, and forests; towns and cities; food and drink; jewelry, cars, and computers.	“行”的第三個主要語境，是作為一切有為[緣起的]事物的統稱。在這個語境當中，該詞有了一種派生的被動性，指凡是因緣造作的事物，凡是有為的、被造作的、被合成的。在這個意義上，也許可以把它只譯成不帶限制性形容詞的“造作”。作為廣義的造作，諸行不僅是第四蘊，而且包括了所有五蘊。該詞還包括諸如山、地、林; 城鎮; 飲食; 珠寶、車輛、電腦等外在的客體與狀態。
The fact that sankharas can include both active forces and the things produced by them is highly significant and secures for the term its role as the cornerstone of the Buddha's philosophical vision. For what the Buddha emphasizes is that the sankharas in the two active senses — the volitional formations operative in dependent origination, and the kammic volitions in the fourth aggregate — construct the sankharas in the passive sense: "They construct the conditioned; therefore they are called volitional formations. And what are the conditioned things they construct? They construct the body, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; therefore they are called volitional formations" (SN XXII.79).	諸行既可包括主動的力量，也包括由它們産生的事物，這個意義的重要性，確立了它在佛陀的哲學觀中的奠基石作用。這是因為，佛陀強調的是，兩種主動意義上的諸行——即十二因緣中的有動機的造作，以及第四蘊的業力動機——造就了被動意義上的諸行: “它們造作有為的，因此被稱為有動機的造作。它們造作的有為事物是什麼? 它們造作色、受、想、行、識; 因此它們被稱為有動機的造作。”(SN XXII.79)
Though external inanimate things may arise from purely physical causes, the sankharas that make up our personal being — the five aggregates — are all products of the kammically active sankharas that we engaged in our previous lives. In the present life as well the five aggregates are constantly being maintained, refurbished, and extended by the volitional activity we engage in now, which again becomes a condition for future existence. Thus, the Buddha teaches, it was our own kammically formative sankharas that built up our present edifice of personal being, and it is our present formative sankharas that are now building up the edifices of personal being we will inhabit in our future lives. These edifices consist of nothing other than sankharas as conditioned things, the conditioned formations comprised in the five aggregates.	盡管外在的無活性的事物可以純粹從物理因緣中升起，構成我們個人存在的諸行——五蘊——則完全是我們在宿世生命中所作的具有業力活性的造作産物。此生的五蘊也同樣地被我們當下所作的有動機的活動不斷地維持、替補、延續，這些活動再復成為將來的存在之緣。因此佛陀教導說，是我們自己的業力形成的諸行，建築了我們當前個人存在的結構，是我們當下的諸行，正在建造我們未來生命中將進住的個人存在的結構。這些結構由有為的諸行組成，也就是，由有為的造作形成的五蘊。
The most important fact to understand about sankharas, as conditioned formations, is that they are all impermanent: "Impermanent, alas, are formations." They are impermanent not only in the sense that in their gross manifestations they will eventually come to an end, but even more pointedly because at the subtle, subliminal level they are constantly undergoing rise and fall, forever coming into being and then, in a split second, breaking up and perishing: "Their very nature is to arise and vanish." For this reason the Buddha declares that all sankharas are suffering (sabbe sankhara dukkha) — suffering, however, not because they are all actually painful and stressful, but because they are stamped with the mark of transience. "Having arisen they then cease," and because they all cease they cannot provide stable happiness and security.	以有為的造作來理解諸行，其中最重要的事實是，它們無一持久: 所謂“諸行無常”。在意義上，無常不僅指諸行的那些粗糙形體終究完結，更重要的是，它們在微妙、精深的層次上，連續不停地升起、落下，永遠出生，又在轉瞬間敗壞、消失: 所謂“是生滅法”。因此，佛陀宣稱諸“行”皆苦(sabbe sankhara dukkha)。不過，這並非是因為它們本身痛苦、緊張，而是因為它們具有不持久的特徵，所謂“生滅滅已”; 由於它們都趨向止息，因此不能夠提供安穩的幸福。
To win complete release from suffering — not only from experiencing suffering, but from the unsatisfactoriness intrinsic to all conditioned existence — we must gain release from sankharas. And what lies beyond the sankharas is that which is not constructed, not put together, not compounded. This is Nibbana, accordingly called the Unconditioned — asankhata — the opposite of what is sankhata, a word which is the passive participle corresponding to sankhara. Nibbana is called the Unconditioned precisely because it's a state that is neither itself a sankhara nor constructed by sankharas; a state described as visankhara, "devoid of formations," and as sabbasankhara-samatha, "the stilling of all formations."	為了從苦中徹底解脫——不僅從苦的體驗，而且從一切有為存在的不滿意屬性中解脫——我們必須從諸行中解脫。諸行之外者，是那非構造、非組建與非合成。這就是涅槃，相應地又稱“非行” (asankharas)，它與 sankhata (被造作)——諸行的被動分詞——意義相反。涅槃之所以被稱為非行，正是因為這個狀態本身既非是一種“行”，也非由“行”造成; 它被描述為“離行”(visankharas)，又被描述為“一切行的寂止”(sabbasankhara-samatha)。
Thus, when we put the word sankhara under our microscope, we see compressed within it the entire worldview of the Dhamma. The active sankharas consisting in kammically active volitions perpetually create the sankhara of the five aggregates that constitute our being. As long as we continue to identify with the five aggregates (the work of ignorance) and to seek enjoyment in them (the work of craving), we go on spewing out the volitional formations that build up future combinations of aggregates. Just that is the nature of samsara: an unbroken procession of empty but efficient sankharas producing still other sankharas, riding up in fresh waves with each new birth, swelling to a crest, and then crashing down into old age, illness, and death. Yet on it goes, shrouded in the delusion that we're really in control, sustained by an ever-tantalizing, ever receding hope of final satisfaction.	因此，當我們把 sankhara 一詞置於顯微鏡下觀察時，便在其中窺見了整個佛法世界觀的壓縮版。主動的 “行” 藉著業力上活躍的動機，持久地製造、構建著我們存在的五蘊。只要我們繼續認同五蘊(此為無明的作用)，在其中尋求享樂(此為渴求的作用)，我們就繼續噴放有動機的造作(諸行)，建築起未來的諸蘊組合。那正是輪迴的本質: 空洞而有效的諸行連續推進，製造出更多的行，隨著每一次新生，堆聚起新的波動，上升至頂峰後傾頹，又成為舊式的老、病、死。然而它繼續著，被一團我自掌控的癡迷所籠罩，為一股對終極滿足的冀望所維持，該冀望永具誘惑，永見退卻。
When, however, we take up the practice of the Dhamma, we apply a brake to this relentless generation of sankharas. We learn to see the true nature of the sankharas, of our own five aggregates: as unstable, conditioned processes rolling on with no one in charge. Thereby we switch off the engine driven by ignorance and craving, and the process of kammic construction, the production of active sankharas, is effectively deconstructed. By putting an end to the constructing of conditioned reality, we open the door to what is ever-present but not constructed, not conditioned: the asankhata-dhatu, the unconditioned element. This is Nibbana, the Deathless, the stilling of volitional activities, the final liberation from all conditioned formations and thus from impermanence and death. Therefore our verse concludes: "The subsiding of formations is blissful!"	不過，當我們開始修習佛法時，諸行的這場不屈不撓的生産就被緩止下來。我們學會看見諸行的真相，看見我們自己的五蘊: 它們是不穩定、有為的過程，無人主宰地滾動著。因此，我們關閉被無明與渴求所驅動的引擎，中止業力的築造，那麼諸行的主動生産，就被有效地卸除了。藉著對有為現實的造作的終止，我們打開了通往無時相、但非是造作有為的非行元素(asankhata-dhatu) : 即，非緣起元素。這就是涅槃、不死、意志活動的止息、從一切緣起造作也就是從無常與死亡中的最後解脫。因此我們的偈句末尾如此結束:“寂滅為樂!”

譯按: “諸行無常，是生滅法。生滅滅已，寂滅為樂。”——此偈為帝釋天王在佛陀般涅槃之際所誦，見於《大般涅槃經》等。常在南傳佛國葬禮上持誦，首句亦為訃告之發端語。現代語中譯為: “一切造作無常啊，生滅是其法則。既已升起，必然滅去，它們的止息是安樂!”