What Buddha Taught(佛陀的啓示)
Chapter VIII. What the Buddha Taught and the World Today
第八章 佛的教誡與今日世界
There are some who believe that Buddhism is so lofty and sublime a system that it cannot be practised by ordinary man and woman in this workaday world of ours, and that one has to retire from it to a monastery, or to some quiet place, if one desires to be a true Buddhist.
有些人相信，佛學體系極其崇高卓絕，非一般生活在碌碌塵世裏的男女所能實踐；假使他想做一個真正的佛教徒的話，必須要離世棄俗，住到寺院裏或是其他僻靜的處所去。
This is a sad misconception, due evidently to a lack of understanding of the teaching of the Buddha. People run to such hasty and wrong conclusions as a result of their hearing, or reading casually, something about Buddhism written by someone, who, as he has not understood the subject in all its aspects, gives only a partial and lopsided view of it. The Buddha”s teaching is meant not only for monks in monasteries, but also for ordinary men and women living at home with their families. The Noble Eightfold Path, which is the Buddhist way of life, is meant of all, without distinction of any kind.
這是一個可悲的錯誤觀念，顯然是對佛的教誡缺乏了解所致。達到這種輕率而錯誤結論的人，都因爲只是偶然聽到或讀到某些佛教的讀物，而這些讀物的著者本身對佛教的面面觀並沒有充分了解，因此他所發表的見地也是片面而偏差的。佛的教誡，不僅是爲了寺院中的僧衆而設，也是爲了住在家庭中的普通男女。代表佛教生活方式的八正道，是爲了一切的人而設，沒有任何分野。
The vast majority of people in the world cannot turn monk, or retire into caves or forests. However, noble and pure Buddhism may be, it would be useless to the masses of mankind if they could not follow it in their daily life in the world of today. But if you understand the spirit of Buddhism correctly (and not only its letter), you can surely follow and practice it while living the life of an ordinary man.
這世間絕大多數的人，不能出家做和尚，或住到山林洞窟中去。不論佛教是多麼純淨而高尚，如果廣大的群衆不能在今日世界的日常生活裏受持奉行它，它就將一無用處。可是，如果你能正確的了解佛教的精神(而不囿于它的文字)，你自能一面過著普通人的生活，一面遵行其教誡。
There may be some who find it easier and more convenient to accept Buddhism, if they do live in a remote place, cut off from the society of others. Others may find that that kind if retirement dulls and depresses their whole being both physically and mentally, and that it may not therefore be conducive to the development of their spiritual and intellectual life.
也許有若幹人會覺得住在邊遠之處與世隔絕，比較易于接受佛法。但也有些人也許會覺得這種離世的生活，會使得他們整個身心都變得沈郁滯鈍，不利于發展他們的精神與理智的生活。
True renunciation does not mean running away physically from the world. Sāriputta, the chief disciple of the Buddha, said that one man might live in a forest devoting himself to ascetic practices, but might be full of impure thoughts and ”defilements”; another might live in a village or a town, practising no ascetic discipline, but his mind might be pure, and free from ”defilements”. Of these two, said Sāriputta, the one who lives a pure life in the village or town is definitely far superior to, and greater than, the one who lives in the forest. [1]
真正的出離，並不就是將此身離開塵世。佛的大弟子舍利弗就說過：一個人可以住在林間修苦行，心中仍然充滿了染汙不淨的思想。另一個人住在鄉鎮裏，也不修苦行，可是他心境澄朗，了無微瑕。兩者之中，舍利弗說，在鄉鎮中過清淨生活的人，遠勝于住在林間的人，也要比後者爲偉大。［注一］
The common belief that to follow the Buddha”s teaching one has to retire from life is a misconception. It is really an unconscious defence against practising it. There are numerous references in Buddhist literature to men and women living ordinary, normal family lives who successfully practiced what the Buddha taught, and realized Nirvāna. Vacchagotta the Wanderer, (whom we met earlier in the chapter on Anatta), once asked the Buddha straight-forwardly whether there were laymen and woman leading the family life, who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states. The Buddha categorically stated that there were not one or two, not a hundred or two hundred or five hundred, but many more laymen and women leading the family life who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states. [2]
一般相信遵奉佛教必須離世，是一項錯誤的觀念。這實際上是爲不願實行佛教而作的一項下意識的辯護。在佛教…
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