..續本文上一頁靜點！」潘舍卡法師說：「不要再想你的夥伴，或你們一起走過的罪惡之路了！想想你自己的命運吧！喝下這些水，讓我幫你包紮傷口，或許還可以保住你的命。」
"Calm down." Panthaka said. "Don”t think of your comrades, or of the evil road you have taken together. Think of your own fate and drink this water, and let me dress your wounds. Perhaps your life can still be saved."
這時摩诃都塔第一次仔細地看著潘舍卡法師：「您是昨天才被我打過的出家人！而現在你卻來救我的命。您使我感到好慚愧！」他又喝了些水，就躺在那兒，望了一下身邊的情形：「他們都跑了？這群忘恩負義的狗黨！我教他們如何攻擊和打鬥，現在他們竟用同樣的方法來襲擊我！」
For the first time Mahaduta looked closely at Panthaka. "You are the monk to whom I gave a beating only yesterday! And now you have come to save my life. You shame me." He drank some more water and looked around him. "And the others have run off, the ungrateful hounds! I was the one who taught them to fight, and now they have turned on me."
「你教他們打鬥。」潘舍卡法師說：「所以他們以打鬥來回報你；你若教他們慈悲，他們也會以慈悲來回報你。你所收獲的，正是自己所栽種的。」
"You taught them to fight," Panthaka said, "and they have repaid you by fighting. If you had taught them kindness, they would have repaid you with kindness. You have reaped the harvest that you planted yourself."
「您說的一點也不錯，我以前就常常擔心他們會對我如法炮製──嘔！嘔！」當潘舍卡法師試著扶起他的肩膀時，他痛得呻吟起來。
"What you say is true. I”ve often been afraid they would turn on me─ah! ah!" He groaned as Panthaka tried to lift him by the shoulder.
「我想您是救不了我了。如果能夠的話，請您告訴我，我要怎樣才能免受地獄的痛苦呢？我知道這是我一生惡貫滿盈的果報。近來，我常常感覺到死期不遠了，而對死後所要遭遇的恐懼感，就像是一塊大石頭壓在胸口上，有時甚至讓我透不過氣來。」
"I don”t think you can save my life. But tell me, if you can, how I can be saved from the pains of the hells, which I know I deserve as payment for my evil life. Lately I have felt that my death cannot be far off, and the dread of what will come after has weighed like a heavy stone on my chest, so that sometimes I”ve hardly been able to breathe."
「誠心誠意地忏悔你的罪業並改過自新。」潘舍卡法師說：「把貪、瞋從自心中連根拔除，並且讓心中充滿對衆生的慈悲。」
"Sincerely repent of your offenses and reform," Panthaka said. "Root out the greed and hatred from your heart, and fill it instead with thoughts of kindness for all beings."
「天啊！我根本就不懂什麼叫慈悲。」摩诃都塔說：「我的一生是一篇壞事做盡，好事全無的故事。法師啊！我會墮落到地獄，永遠不得出離，不能走向您所行的正道了！」
"Alas, I know nothing of kindness," Mahaduta said. "My life has been a story of much evil and no good. I will go to the hells and never escape along the noble Path that you have walked, Dharma Master!"
自私心起 蜘蛛絲斷
A thought of selfishness
broke the spider”s thread.
「不要絕望！」潘舍卡法師回答：「也不要低估了忏悔和改過的力量。俗語說：
一念真心忏悔，
消得萬劫罪業。
"Don”t despair," Panthaka answered, "and don”t underestimate the power of repentance and reform. It is said:
A single heartfelt thought of repentance
can wipe away ten thousand eons” worth of evil.
舉個例子來說吧！你知道大盜甘德塔嗎？他死時未忏悔，就墮入了無間地獄；在經曆無數劫痛苦的折磨後，釋迦牟尼佛出現于世，並在菩提樹下成正覺了。
"For example, do you know of the great robber Kandata, who died unrepentant and fell into the Unintermittent Hells
After he had been suffering there for several eons, Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in the world and accomplished enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree.
當時佛的眉間放出光來，遍照整個地獄，使地獄的衆生獲得了新生命和新希望。甘德塔往上一看，看見了佛陀在菩提樹下靜坐，便喊道：『世尊！救救我！救救我啊！我因爲往昔所造的惡業而在這兒受苦，不得出離。世尊，請帶領我走向您走過的正道吧！』
"The rays of light that shone forth from between his brows at that moment penetrated all the way to the hells and inspired the beings there with new life and hope. Looking up, Kandata saw the Buddha seated in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, and he cried out, ”Save me, save me, World Honored One! I am suffering here for the evils I have done, and I cannot get out! Help me walk the Path you have walked, World Honored One!”
佛陀向下一看，見甘德塔在那兒。『一定要靠你自己善業的力量，我才能指引你出離。甘德塔！你在世爲人時，曾做過什麼好事嗎？』
"The Buddha looked down and saw Kandata. ”I will guide you in your escape,” he said to the robber, ”but it must be with the help of your own good karma. What good did you do, Kandata, when you were in the world of men
”
甘德塔默然無語，因爲他一向是個凶暴的人；然而世尊以佛眼觀察甘德塔的過去，發現有一次甘德塔在森林裏時，曾經避開腳步，以免踩到腳下的蜘蛛；當時他想：『這只蜘蛛並沒有傷害任何人，我爲什麼要踩死牠呢？」
"…
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