Further to his earlier teaching “are we living beings, are we not“, the Buddha reminds Subhuti again in this chapter, “don’t think that I have liberated any being, for if you think so, i will be fallen into the limitation of a self, others, beings, and immortals“.
As devoted students of healing and enlightenment, don’t we all want to liberate suffering through various forms of healing and charity? Is suffering real, and the liberation of it through various means of healing to be done then? Yes, indeed the suffering and healing are both real. Otherwise the Buddha would not have taught on earth for 40+ years! The reason why the Buddha told us that no beings have been liberated by him is that, he knows that when we live our lives and heal sufferings, we easily fall into the temptation of the labels “healers” who heal “others”. This labeling and claiming credits are to be avoid, not the healing work itself. For if we get sucked into these labels, we would be hijacked and sidetracked by our own ego on the road to true healing and enlightenment.
What then, could be a proper way to live our life and do our healing work? Refer to our earlier discussion: “how does Bodhisattva do charity?“.
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化无所化分第二十五
TRANSFORMING WITHOUT THERE BEING ANYONE TRANSFORMED, TWENTY-FIVE
须菩提！于意云何？
汝等勿谓如来作是念：我当度众生。
“Subhuti, what do you think?
“You should not say the Tathagata has this thought (in His mind): ‘I should liberate living beings.’”
须菩提！莫作是念。何以故？
实无有众生如来度者，若有众生如来度者，如来则有我人众生寿者。
须菩提！如来说：“有我者，则非有我，而凡夫之人以为有我。
须菩提！凡夫者，如来说则非凡夫。
“Subhuti, you should not think so. Why?
“Because there are really no living beings whom the Tathagata can liberate. If there were, the Tathagata would hold (the concept of) an ego, a personality, a being and a life.”
“Subhuti, (when) the Tathagata speaks of an ego, there is in reality no ego, although common men think so.
“Subhuti, the Tathagata says common men are not, but are (expediently) called, common men.继之前的讨论“彼非众生，非不众生” ，佛在这章再次提醒须菩提 “汝等勿谓如来作是念：我当度众生。” 不要以为我有解放众生的念头，因为如果你这样想，我将落在我，人，众生，寿者相 。
作为修道的学生，我们不都希望能通过各种形式的学习和修行来治疗自己和众生的痛苦吗？ 为什么佛陀在这里说他不曾度众生和没有众生呢？ 是的，世间上的痛苦和治疗都是真实的。 否则，佛也不会在他在生时教化了我们40年之久！ 那么，如果这都是真实的，为什么佛陀又要告诉我们，没有任何众生曾得到他的度化呢？ 原因是，佛陀知道，当我们在生活或者是在帮助自己和别人时，我们可以很容易就陷入了“医者”在帮助“他人”的标签中。 我们要避免这种标签和对它的执着，而不是不要帮助自己和他人。 因为，如果我们执着于这些标签，我们就被自己的小我劫持，形成了修道路上的障碍和歧途。
那么，我们如何能正常的生活和帮助自己他人而不落于自我的标签呢？ 可参考我们先前的讨论：“菩萨如何布施？ ” 。
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化无所化分第二十五
须菩提！于意云何？
汝等勿谓如来作是念：我当度众生。
须菩提！莫作是念。何以故？
实无有众生如来度者，若有众生如来度者，如来则有我人众生寿者。
须菩提！如来说：“有我者，则非有我，而凡夫之人以为有我。
须菩提！凡夫者，如来说则非凡夫。
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