《旅途脚印》| 离亲——索达吉堪布
离亲 | Forsaking Kinships
既想获得不退转之菩提果位，又希望能常伴亲友，很多人都打着这种两全其美的如意算盘。
Nowadays many practitioners entertain a win-win wish of attaining perfect enlightenment and at the same time enjoying the company of friends and relatives.
然而，从古至今，坐在自己家中，尚能获得成就者，恰如凤毛麟角。我等凡夫若想达此目的，更是异想天开。
But from time immemorial, people who are successful in Dharma practice while maintaining a family life are almost nonexistent. For us ordinary people, wishing to attain the same goal is nothing but indulging in flights of fantasy.
若居于家中，则时时有各种因缘困扰。今天婶婶家出事，明天舅舅家需要帮助，后天姑姑又下岗……日复一日，年复一年，日子就这样悄悄地从身旁溜走。修行之事也就这样一再拖延。
Staying at home, one is likely to be enmeshed in all sorts of activities. One day, your paternal aunt’s family has an accident; the next day, your maternal uncle needs some help, the day after that, your father’s sister gets laid off…. Day after day, year after year, time slips by just like that, while Dharma practice gets delayed and put off indefinitely.
《修行入门》中讲道：“虽然在行为上弃离亲友，心里却不能舍弃众生，而应当对他们生慈悲心，但必须断绝身体、受用的牵连。否则，修法就会一败涂地。要斩断牵连，若能得到父母的欣然应允最好不过。即便他们百般加以阻挠，大发雷霆、大失所望、怨气冲天，自己也不能退缩。自往昔的释迦佛开始，所有的修行人都是在亲友们的依依不舍、泪雨滂沱中抛下一切的，这是一种特定的缘起规律。”
The Gateway to Practice says: “Outwardly, you appear to abandon friends and relatives, inwardly, you never give up on them. In truth, you always hold great compassion toward them, but you must sever ties in body and physical environment. Were it otherwise, your practice would be bound to fail miserably. If your parents gladly support your wish of cutting off secular ties, that is most ideal. But even if they try to stop you with all sorts of tactics—to become furious, to show utter disappointment, to fly off in resentment, and so on—you should not recoil. From the time since Buddha Shakyamuni, all spiritual seekers practically have to cast off all concerns amidst the torrents of tears and long goodbyes of their loved ones. This has something special to do with the law of causality.”
无著菩萨也说：“亲友等以爱心相敦促，操持今生圆满当勤苦。本欲利益反成损害行，彼即逐今生利之愚夫。为解脱故当看破今生，精进修习深广之妙道，为彼胜义今生皆放弃，前往静处勤修极关要。富贵之时匿遁亦追逼，衰落之日投靠却逃逸。儿子尚会弒杀亲生父，至爱亲眷何者可赖依？当面喜笑颜开和气状，背后种种恶语相中伤。利济反以损害相回报，凡愚伴侣纵亲定相欺。盛时媚笑阿谀且谄曲，权施巧计令自财物离；颓时颦蹙争斗无毫利，护养亲友悉皆为鲁迷。众亲兴盛联合摧他众，各自分离内部起贪嗔。紧要关头弟兄相残杀，亲友能成利乐实罕稀！”
Bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo says:
Out of warm intention, your loved ones advise you to work diligently to assure a happy life.
But their intent of help brings harm instead, as chasing after this life is all but a fool’s endeavor.
To attain liberation, you must see through the vanity of the mundane world and practice diligently the vast and profound Dharma.
For the ultimate truth, renounce this life and go to a solitary place to practice ardently. These are the crucial points.
When you are famous and wealthy, people pursue you even if you try to hide.
While being down and out, people run away from you when you beg them for help.
A son could even slay his own father, what is there to say about any loved ones to rely on?
People in your face are all smiling and cordial, yet behind your back they slander and bite you.
Your benevolence and hospitality are returned with strife and hostility, deluded companions turn against each other even within families.
When you are riding high, people creep and crawl all over you, skillfully they manage to appropriate all your possessions.
When you hit bottom, you meet forlorn faces, bickering and fighting.
How utterly foolish it is to care for and protect so-called friends and relatives!
In good times members of the clan are united to destroy outsiders, when dispersed, with avarice and hatred they fight within.
Blood brothers murder each other when personal interest is at stake, how rare it is for loved ones to bring you any benefit!
前辈大德们已为我们列举了亲友的诸多过患，速速从此羁绊中逃离，已成为浊世修行人的当务之急。
The sages from the past have thus listed the many evils of friends and relatives. For a practitioner in this degenerate time, it is absolutely urgent to run away from any entanglement with them.
壬午年三月初三
2002年4月15日
3rd of March, Year of RenWu
April 15, 2002