佛法真實義- Indra’s net 的比喻

佛法最反對的字眼就是「分別」，它的意思就是切割，把自己、他人切割（分別）出來，形成互相敵對的或互相歧視的二個對象。依此方式切割萬物為孤立原子般的個別存在，也依之形成攀比好惡的偏見和歧視。這樣地看事情的角度，世界怎會和平？

佛法告訴我們：我們以為利用 思想和語言分別或切割出萬物，其實 ，事物本身並未被分割出來，它們本來一直就是彼此互相聯結在一起，如同一個因陀羅網（Indra net，見附件）。萬事萬物相關聯，沒有真實的、絕對的切割，這就是萬物的實相。所以，人們所以為的實在分別丶真實切割是錯覺，顛倒的戲論。我執丶法執就是這種顛倒見，必須空掉。（真空）

了解這點，同時也就知道一切分別丶切割只是相對的丶假名的分別施設，而這並不被佛法所否認，也就是說無常的緣起萬有並不被否定。（假名有、妙有）

因此佛法顯示的真實相是：真空妙有，它只破除無明的自性見執著，並没有破除 妙有的萬事萬物，這即是佛法「破執不破法」的意義。

附件：Indra’s net, Bell’s Theorem and Enlightenment

By Nick Jankel
Author, Keynote Speaker, Leadership Theorist, Transformational Coach, Wisdom Teacher, Co-Creator of Bio-Transformation Theory & Practice®

In Buddhism there is a beautiful scripture, the ‘Flower Garland’ Sutra(華嚴經）that  contains a description of a net used by the King of the Hindu Gods, Indra. The net goes on infinitely (he is the king of the Gods after all) and – hanging in at each cross-point – is a jewel. If you look closely at one of the jewels, in its polished surface you can see all the other jewels reflected. In other words, each jewel contains every other jewel, just as any part of a hologram contains all the information of the entire image.

Indra’s net is in fact an ancient precursor to recent research in the hard sciences, where physicists have proven Bell’s Theorem – where events happening in one place can have an instantaneous impact on other particles that are not connected in any way to them in space. Therefore atoms (just like us) are not discrete entities, islands unto themselves, but part of a field of reality where everything is interwined with everything else.

This is the A-field (or Unified Field) that network theorist Ervin Laszlo and others think might well be the ‘theory of everything’ that will at last connect Quantum Theory with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

This is also remarkably similar to Derrida’s insight that ‘texts’ (books, films, political beliefs, policies and humble words) are never fully ‘present’ in themselves – they always refer, infinitely, to other ‘texts’.

Human society too is like Indra’s net. Although it appears as if we are separate individuals, all alone to fend for ourselves, when we reflect deeper into reality we see we are all intrinsically linked to everyone else through the webs of life; money and financial crises: global trade; and the digital network. What happens to one impacts us all… and, perhaps, we are not many but just one.

If I experience myself as the same as my neighbour ，then – as Christ （or Buddha ，原文沒有，我加上的）suggested – I will truly love them as I do myself. Waking up to this truth is the real nature of enlightenment.
（請參考 奇思異想集66）