No Sinners

　　不是罪人

　　In Buddhism, actions are merely termed as unskillful or unwholesome, not as sinful.

　　佛教否定「原罪」，佛教認爲相信「原罪」的存在是一種愚笨和不健全的行爲。

　　Buddhists do not regard man as sinful by nature of ”in rebellion against god”. Every human being is a person of great worth who has within himself a vast store of good as well as evil habits. The good in a person is always waiting for a suitable opportunity to flower and to ripen. Remember the saying, ”There is so much that is good in the worst of us and so much that is bad in the best of us.”

　　佛教不認爲人類擁有「原罪」，或曾經背叛過「神」。佛教認爲每一個人都積累了善與惡不同的業習。人類的「善因」要等待時機開花、結果而後成熟。有句諺語這麼說：「在我們裏面有最好的，也有最壞的，在我們裏面有最壞的，也有最好的。」

　　Buddhism teaches that everyone is responsible for his own good and bad deeds, and that each inpidual can mould his own destiny. Says the Buddha, ”These evil deeds were only done by you, not by your parents, friends, or relatives; and you yourself will reap the painful results.” (Dhammapada 165)

　　佛教指示我們，每一個人都要爲自己的善與惡的業行負責，每一個人都能創造自己的命運。

　　佛陀說：「自己的惡行使自己變得汙穢不堪，如果不作惡行，便能使自己清淨。清淨與否，在于自己，他人無法爲你淨化。」《法句經》V.165

　　Man”s sorrow is his own making and is not handed down by a family curse or an original sin of a mythical primeval ancestor. Buddhists do not accept the belief that this world is merely a place of trial and testing. This world can be made a place where we can attain the highest perfection. And perfection is synonymous with happiness. To the Buddha, man is not an experiment in life created by somebody which can be done away with when unwanted. If a sin could be forgiven, people might take advantage and commit more and more sins. The Buddhist has no reason to believe that the sinner can escape the consequences by the grace of an external power. If a man thrusts his hand into a furnace, his hand will be burnt, and all the prayer in the world will not remove the scars. The same is with the man who walks into the fires of evil action. The Buddha”s approach to the problems of suffering is not imaginary, speculative or metaphysical, but essentially empirical.

　　人類的煩惱是自己締造的，不是遺傳或施予，更不是神話式的「祖先的原罪」。佛教不接受這世界要我們來受難或考驗我們對「神」的信仰。這世界能使我們獲得高度圓滿的成就，這高度圓滿的成就就是幸福、快樂的同義詞。假如「原罪」可以獲得赦免，那麼人類就可以利用更多的機會來犯罪。佛教決不相信「罪」可以透過外在寬恕的力量，去避免它的果報。如果，一個人將他的手伸進點燃的火爐裏，他肯定會被燒傷，全世界的禱告者都無法消除他手上的疤痕。任何人走進邪惡的火坑，肯定無法得救。佛陀認爲對治一切「苦」，不是單憑想像或猜測，而是建立在觀察和經驗。

　　According to Buddhism, there is no such thing as sin as explained by other religions. To the Buddhists, sin is unskillful or unwholesome action

　　 Akusala Kamma which creates Papa - the downfall of man. The wicked man is an ignorant man. He needs instruction more than he needs punishment and condemnation. He is not regarded as violating god”s will or as a person who must beg for pine mercy and forgiveness. He needs only guidance for his enlightenment.

　　All that is necessary is for someone to help him use his reason to realize that he is responsible for his wrong action and that he must pay for the consequences. Therefore the belief in confession is foreign to Buddhism.

　　佛教否定了其它宗教所謂「原罪」的存在，佛教對「罪」的觀點不同于其它宗教。佛教認爲相信「原罪」的存在是一種愚笨和不健全的行爲。不善的行爲使人墮落，邪惡的人是愚癡的，因此，他們需要的是教導，而不是處罰和責難。人類的一切行爲並沒有違背「神」的旨意，也不需要祈求「神」的仁慈和寬恕，他們所需要的是：有人引導他們走向覺悟。

　　對人類來說，他們需要的是：別人幫助他理解自己所犯下的錯誤，並對自己所犯下的錯誤負責，接受錯誤的果報。佛教不相信單靠忏悔就能免罪。

　　The purpose of the Buddha”s appearance in this world is not to wash away the sins committed by human beings nor to punish or to destroy the wicked people, but to make the people understand how foolish it is to commit evil and to point out the reaction of such evil deeds. Consequently there are no commandments in Buddhism, since no one can command another for his spiritual upliftment. The Buddha has encouraged us to develop and use our understanding. He has shown us the path for our liberation from suffering. The precepts that we undertake to observe are not commandments: they are observed voluntarily. The Buddha”s Teaching is thus: ”Please pay attention; take this advice and think it over. If you think it is suitable for you to practise my advice, then try to practise it. You can see the results through your own experience.” There is no religious value in blindly observing any commandment without proper conviction and understanding. However, we should not take advantage of the liberty given by the Buddha to do anything we like. It is our duty to behave as cultured, civilized and understanding human beings to lead a religious life. If we can understand this, commandments are not important. As an enlightened teacher, the Buddha advised us on how to lead a pure life without imposing commandments and using the fear of punishment.

　　佛陀出現在人間，並不是爲了減免或懲罰人類的罪行，或消滅那些邪惡的人。而是讓人們了解善惡的因果關系，指出惡行將獲得惡業的果報。佛教也不認爲可以透過「他人」或「他力」來提升自己的精神境界。佛陀不僅指示我們解脫于「苦」的八聖道，也鼓勵我們開發和運用我們的智慧。我們遵守的是戒律而不是教條，應該自動的去遵守。

　　佛陀說：「請注意！對我所說的一切，請認真的思考。如果認爲我的教誨有助于修行，那麼就去實現它，透過修行的經驗，你將會看到它的結果。」

　　宗教的價值不在于教條主義，不是盲目的遵守。我們也不要以爲佛陀鼓勵我們自由放任、我行我素、胡作非爲，我們的舉止要文明、有文化、有智慧、有了解並導向神聖宗教生活的責任。如果我們了解這一點，教條主義對我們就不重要了，我們也不必被他人支配，也不怕受到「懲罰」，在佛陀的指引下，過著純淨的生活。

《不是罪人 No Sinners》全文閱讀結束。