..續本文上一頁ldren, they usually expect something in return.
「慈愛」涵蓋的範圍很廣，包括了對一切動物的愛。佛陀說，愛的動機有很多種，首先是自私的愛和無我的愛，自私的愛，只是在滿足于個人對同伴的感受，嫉妒就是自私的愛的另一種表現。無我的愛，是指一個人完全放棄自我的感受，全心全意的去善待他人，如：父母對子女無私的愛。通常，人類對「自私的愛」和「無我的愛」混淆不清，譬如：父母對子女的慈愛，通常都還有要求回報的因素存在。
Another kind of love, but closely related to the above, is brotherly love or the love between friends. In a sense, this kind of love can also be considered selfish because the love is limited to particular people and does not encompass others. In another category we have sexual love, where partners are drawn towards each other through physical attraction. It is the kind that is most exploited by modern entertainment and it can cover anything from uncomplicated teenage infatuations to the most complex of relationships between adults.
另一種與「慈愛」很接近的就是「友愛」。「友愛」也有一定的局限性，它只作用于少部份的人。還有就是「性愛」，「性愛」是一切成長的衆生，締結伴侶，繁衍後代的一種必然程序，「性愛」也造成了成人之間的最密切關系──夫妻關系。
On a scale far higher than these, is Universal Love or Metta. This all-embracing love is the great virtue expressed by the Buddha. Lord Buddha, for example, renounce His kingdom, family and pleasures so that He could strive to find a way to release mankind from an existence of suffering. In order to gain His Enlightenment, he had to struggle for many countless lives. A lesser being would have been disheartened, but not the Buddha-elect. It is for this He is called ”The Compassionate One”. The Buddha”s boundless love extended not only to human beings but all living creatures. It was not emotional or selfish, but a love without frontiers, without discrimination. Unlike the other kinds of love, Universal love can never end in disappointment or frustration because it expects no reward. It creates more happiness and satisfaction. One who cultivates universal love will also cultivate sympathetic joy and equanimity and he will then have attained to the sublime state.
超越種種「愛」的就是「慈悲心」(Metta)，這是佛陀極力推薦的。佛陀抛棄家庭、王位、榮華富貴，爲的就是由于他多世實踐慈悲心。佛陀的慈悲心不僅僅對于人類，也普及一切衆生。佛陀的慈悲心沒有動機也不自私，是一種無欲無求的奉獻。世間的愛，往往以失望爲收場，就是因爲有所求。慈悲心卻能帶來更大的幸福和滿足。
一個人如果發展這種宇宙性的慈悲心，不僅爲他帶來快樂，也提升了他個人的境界。
In this book, The Buddha”s Ancient Path Ven. Piyadassi says:
在《佛陀的古道》(The Buddha”s Ancent Path)一書中，作者毗亞達息尊者( Ven. Pyadass)說：
”Love is an active force. Every act of the loving one is done with the stainless mind to help, to succor, to cheer, to make the paths of others easier, smoother and more adapted to the conquest of sorrow, the winning of the highest bliss.
「慈悲心是一種活躍的力量，由意識的引導而作用，導致一切支援、振奮、簡化、消除煩惱的正面力量，從而獲得更高的幸福。」
”The way to develop love is through thinking out the evils of hate, and the advantages of non-hate; through thinking out according to actuality, according to karma, that really there is none to hate, that hate is a foolish way of feeling which breeds more and more darkness, that obstructs right understanding. Hate restricts; love release. Hatred strangles; love enfranchises. Hatred brings remorse; love brings peace. Hatred agitates; love quietens, stills, calms. Hatred pides; love unites. Hatred hardens; love softens. Hatred hinders; love helps. And thus through a correct study and appreciation of the effects of hatred and the benefits of love, should one develop love.”
「發展慈悲心，要斷除邪惡和嗔恚。根據真性，根據業力而加以發展。嗔恚是一種愚蠢的行徑，導致無明與黑暗，唯有通過正知加以消除。慈悲心增長，嗔恚心減退，慈悲心圓滿，嗔恚心消遁。通過正確的方法以精進對治嗔恚，當慈悲心獲得發展時，也就能獲得慈悲心所帶來的利益。」
In Metta Sutta, the Buddha has expounded the nature of love in Buddhism. ”Just as a mother would protect her only child even at the risk of her own life, even so, let him cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings. Let his thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world, above, below and across without any obstruction, without any hatred, without any enmity.”
佛陀在《慈經》(Metta Sutta)中說道：
「有如母親在危急的環境中保護她唯一的子女一般，我們以類似的心，去培養無邊無際，一視同仁對待衆生的慈悲心。我們把這無邊無際的慈悲心，推廣普及于世間，乃至天下，橫遍十萬方廣，沒有障礙、沒有嗔恚、沒有敵意。」
《慈悲心 Loving-Kindness》全文閱讀結束。