..續本文上一頁eless ones who have come to visit today, please consider this teaching. Ask yourselves, "Who am I

　　 Why am I here

　　" Ask yourselves, "Why was I born

　　" Some people don”t know. They want to be happy but the suffering never stops. Rich or poor, young or old, they suffer just the same. It”s all suffering. And why

　　 Because they have no wisdom. The poor are unhappy because they don”t have enough, and the rich are unhappy because they have too much to look after.

　　當我還是個年輕沙彌時，曾說過一個譬喻，是關于擁有財富與仆人的快樂——男仆與女仆各一百名，大象、乳牛與水牛各一百頭，任何東西都是一百件。這在家人真的非常享受這一切，但你能想像照顧各一百頭水牛、乳牛與各一百個男、女仆人的情形嗎

　　你能想像必須照顧這一切嗎

　　In the past, as a young novice, I gave a Dhamma discourse. I talked about the happiness of wealth and possessions, having servants and so on... A hundred male servants, a hundred female servants, a hundred elephants, a hundred cows, a hundred buffaloes...a hundred of everything! The laypeople really lapped it up. But can you imagine looking after a hundred buffaloes

　　 Or a hundred cows, a hundred male and female servants...can you imagine having to look after all of that

　　 Would that be fun

　　人們未考慮到事情的這一面，他們只想擁有上百的乳牛、水牛、仆人……。但我說五十頭水牛可能就太多了，光爲那些畜生綁上繩子就不得了了!但人們從未想到這點，只想到獲得的快樂，而未想到涉入其中的麻煩。

　　People don”t consider this side of things. They have the desire to possess...to have the cows, the buffaloes, the servants... hundreds of them. But I say fifty buffaloes would be too much. Just twining the rope for all those brutes would be too much already! But people don”t consider this, they only think of the pleasure of acquiring. They don”t consider the trouble involved.

　　(想要是苦想不要也是苦)

　　若沒有智慧，身邊的每樣事物都會成爲痛苦的根源；若有智慧，這些事物則會帶領我們脫離痛苦。眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意……你知道，眼睛不一定是好東西，當心情不好時，只是看到別人就能讓你生氣和失眠。你也可能在談戀愛，若得不到想要的，愛情也是一種苦。因爲貪欲，所以愛與恨都是痛苦。

　　If we don”t have wisdom everything round us will be a source of suffering. If we are wise these things will lead us out of suffering. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind...Eyes aren”t necessarily good things, you know. If you are in a bad mood just seeing other people can make you angry and make you lose sleep. Or you can fall in love with others. Love is suffering, too, if you don”t get what you want. Love and hate are both suffering, because of desire.

　　想要是苦，想不要也是苦，想要的東西即使得到後，仍然是苦，因爲會害怕失去。一切是苦，你應如何和它相處呢

　　你可能有棟大豪宅，但若心不好，它就永遠無法如你所願。

　　Wanting is suffering, wanting not to have is suffering. Wanting to acquire things... even if you get them it”s still suffering because you”re afraid you”ll lose them. There”s only suffering. How are you going to live with that

　　 You may have a large, luxurious house, but if your heart isn”t good it never really works out as you expected.

　　你應看看自己。我們爲何出生

　　這一生真的有得到什麼東西嗎

　　人們在鄉下從小就開始種田，當長到十七、八歲時，便匆匆忙忙地結婚，唯恐沒有足夠的時間賺錢。他們從年輕時就開始工作，以爲會變得有錢，直到七十、八十甚至九十歲都還在種田。我問他們：「你從出生就一直工作到現在，如今差不多要走了，你能帶走什麼呢

　　」除了「我不知道」之外，他們不曉得還能說些什麼。

　　Therefore, you should all take a look at yourselves. Why were we born

　　 Do we ever really attain anything in this life

　　 In the countryside here people start planting rice right from childhood. When they reach seventeen or eighteen they rush off and get married, afraid they won”t have enough time to make their fortunes. They start working from an early age thinking they”ll get rich that way. They plant rice until they”re seventy or eighty or even ninety years old. I ask them. "From the day you were born you”ve been working. Now it”s almost time to go, what are you going to take with you

　　" They don”t know what to say.

　　關于這部分，我們有則諺語：「別沿途停下來采草莓，在你曉得以前，暮色早已降臨。」他們進退兩難，只能以一句「我不知道」來搪塞，坐在草莓園中狼吞虎咽：「我不知道，我不知道……」

　　All they can say is, "Beats me!" We have a saying in these parts, "Don”t tarry picking berries along the way ... before you know it, night falls." Just because of this "Beats me!" They”re neither here nor there, content with just a "beats me"... sitting among the branches of the berry tree, gorging themselves wi…

《爲何我們生于此？Why Are We Here

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