Mulamadhyamakakarika（1）

1.

I prostrate to the Perfect Buddha,

The best of teachers, who taught that

Whatever is dependently arisen is

Unceasing, unborn,

我拜服在最佳的觉者（身前），

所有老师中最好的老师（乔达摩），他教导我们 相依而生的任何东西

是 不会停止的，不出生的。

 

2.

Unannihilated, not permanent,

Not coming, not going,

Without distinction, without identity,

And free from conceptual construction.

不会堙灭的，不会是永恒不变的，

没有“来”和“去”的概念。

不具备任何的差异，没有任何同一性。

并免于概念性的建构。

 

3.

If all of this is empty,

Neither arising nor ceasing,

Then for you, it follows that

The Four Noble Truths do not exist.

如果这全部是空的，

既不会出现也不会停止，

那么对你来说，你就能得到一个结论

——“四圣谛”不存在。

 

4.

If the Four Noble Truths do not exist,

Then knowledge, abandonment,

Meditation and manifestation

Will be completely impossible.

如果“四圣谛”不存在，

那么 知识，弃绝，冥想，显示（四种姿态和形式）

将会是完全不可能的。

 

5.

If these things do not exist,

The four fruits will not arise.

Without the four fruits, there will be no attainers of the fruits.

Nor will there be the faithful.

如果这些都不存在，

那么“四种果位”就不会出现。

没有“四种果位”，那就不存在能得到这些“果位”的人。

也就不会存在“信徒”这种说法。

 

6.

If so, the spiritual community will not exist,

Nor will the eight kinds of person.

If the Four Noble Truths do not exist,

There will be no true Dharma.

如果这样子的话，僧团就不会存在。

也不会有什么八种人。

如果“四圣谛”不存在，

那么就不存在真正的“佛法”。

 

7.

If there is no doctrine and spiritual community,

How can there be a Buddha?

If emptiness is conceived in this way,

The three jewels are contradicted.

如果不存在教义和精神共同体。

那怎么会有所谓的“佛陀”呢？

如果按照这样的方式理解“空”，

那么“三宝”（指佛陀，佛法，佛教僧侣）的说法将是自相矛盾的。

 

8.

Hence you assert that there are no real fruits.

And no Dharma. The Dharma itself

And the conventional truth

Will be contradicted.

因为你已断言 不存在真正的“果位”。

并没有“佛法”。

“佛法”本身就和 传统意义上的真相

互相矛盾。

 

9.

The Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma

Is based on two truths:

A truth of worldly convention

And an ultimate truth.

因为乔达摩对“佛法”的教导

基于两个真相：

世俗意义上的真相，

和 一个终极意义上的真相。

 

10.

Those who do not understand

The distinction drawn between these two truths

Do not understand

The Buddha’s profound truth.

那些不懂得 这两个真相之间的区别的人

不会懂得

乔达摩深刻的真相。

 

11.

Without a foundation in the conventional truth,

The significance of the ultimate can not be taught.

Without understanding the significance of the ultimate,

Liberation is not achieved.

没有世俗谛的基础，

终极的真谛就无法被教导。

不了解终极的真谛，

就不能获得解放。

 

12.

By a misperception of emptiness

A person of little intelligence is destroyed.

Like a snake incorrectly seized

Or like a spell incorrectly cast.

因为对“空”的错误理解，

没有智慧的人就毁了。

就好像把蛇倒过来拿，

或者就像一个咒语被错误的播放。

 

13.

For that reason—that the Dharma is

Deep and difficult to understand and to learn—

The Buddha’s mind despaired of

Being able to teach it.             

鉴于此——所以“佛法”是深的 并且难以去理解和去学

乔达摩很绝望

去教这些。

 

14.

Whatever is dependently co-arisen

That is explained to be emptiness.

That, being a dependent designation,

Is itself the middle way.

任何依赖缘起的东西

那么就可以说它是空的。

成为一个彼此依赖的指称，

这就是 中间的道路。

 

15.

Something that is not dependently arisen,

Such a thing does not exist.

Therefore a nonempty thing

Does not exist.

不依赖而产生的东西，

这样的东西就不存在。

所以一个非空的东西

不存在。

 

16.

For him to whom emptiness is clear,

Everything becomes clear.

For him to whom emptiness is not clear,

Nothing becomes clear.

对于一个 对空很清楚把握的人 来说，

一起都变得 清晰了。

对于一个 对空不清楚的人 来说，

没有东西 变得清楚。

 

17.

If there is essence, the whole world

Will be unarising, unceasing,

And static. The entire phenomenal world

Would be immutable.

如果有本质，那么整个世界

就会是不会产生的，不会停止的，

是静止的。整个现象世界

就不会有变化。

 

18.

If it (the world) were not empty,

Then action would be without profit,

The act of ending suffering and

Abandoning misery and defilement wouldnot exist.

如果这个世界不是空的话，

那么行动就不会得利。

停止受苦和

抛弃烦恼和污秽将是不存在的。

 

19.

Whoever sees dependent arising

Also sees suffering

And its arising

And its cessation as well as the path.

任何看见缘起的人

也看见痛苦

和它的产生

和它的停止和那条路。

 

20.

Essence arising from

Causes and conditions makes no sense.

If essence came from causes andconditions,

Then it would be fabricated.

如果本质来自

原因和条件 那就没有意义。

如果本质来自原因和条件，

那就是编造的。

 

21.

How could it be appropriate

For fabricated essence to come to be?

Essence itself is not artificial

And does not depend on another.

一个编造的“本质”

这怎么可能啊？

本质他自己不是人工造的

并且不会依赖别的。

 

22.

If there is no essence,

How can there be difference in entities?

The essence of difference in entities

Entities are established

如果本质就不存在，

那怎么可能有实体之间的差异？

不同实体差异的本质存在的话，

实体才会被建立。

 

23.

Without having essence or othernessessence,

How can there be entities?

If there are essences and entities,

Entities are established.

如果没有本质和他者性的本质，

怎么可能有实体？

只有有本质和实体，

实体才能建立。

 

24.

If the entity is not established,

A nonentity is not established.

An entity that has become different

Is a nonentity, people say.

如果实体不是被建立的，

那么非实体也不能被建立。

人们会说 一个会变得不一样的实体

是一个非实体。

 

25.

Those who see essence and essential difference

And entities and nonentities,

They do not see

The truth taught by the Buddha.

那些说自己看到本质和本质区别的人

说自己看到实体和非实体的人

他们错失了

乔达摩真正的教导。

 

 

26.

The Victorious One, through knowledge

Of reality and unreality,

In the Discourse to Katyayana

Refuted both “it is” and “it is not”.

胜利的那个人，通过关于真实和非真实的知识

在和Katyayana的对话中

他拒绝了存在和不存在。

 

27.

The Victorious Conqueror has said that whatever

Is deceptive is false.

Compounded phenomena are all deceptive.

Therefore they are all false.

胜利的征服者说了

任何欺骗性的是错的。

复合的现象都是欺骗性的，

因此复合的现象都是错误的。

 

28.

If whatever is deceptive is false,

What deceives?

The Victorious Conqueror has said aboutthis

That emptiness is completely true.

如果欺骗的东西就是错误的，

什么东西在欺骗我们？

胜利的征服者对此说道

空的东西是完全真实的。

 

29.

If there were even a trifle nonempty,

Emptiness itself would be but a trifle.

But not even a trifle is nonempty,

How could emptiness be an entity?

如果存在一个很小的非空

那么空本身就不会是一个很小的东西。

但是即使再小的东西也也是非空，

那么空这么会是一个实体呢？

 

30.

The victorious ones have said

That emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.

For whomever emptiness is a view,

That one will accomplish nothing.

胜利的人们说

空就是放弃所有的观点。

如果一个人持有空的观点，

那个人将一事无成。