Can the First Cause be Known

　　能知道第一因嗎

　　It is rather difficult for us to understand how the world came into existence without a first cause. But it is very much more difficult to understand how that first cause came into existence at the beginning.

　　我們很難理解，如果沒有第一因，世界如何存在呢？但是，更難理解的是：第一因是如何成爲存在的開端？

　　According to the Buddha, it is inconceivable to find a first cause for life or anything else. For in common experience, the cause becomes the effect and the effect becomes the cause. In the circle of cause and effect, a first cause is incomprehensible. With regard to the origin of life, the Buddha declares, ”Without cognizable end is this recurrent wandering in Samsara(cycle of birth and death). Beings are obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving. A first beginning of these beings is not to be perceived.

　　根據佛陀的看法，爲生命或事物尋求第一因，是一件不可思議的事。根據一般的經驗：因變爲果，果變爲因，在因果循環中，要找到什麼是第一因，是一件不可思議的事。有關生命的緣起，佛陀這麼說：「在生死輪回中，沒有可以被認定的目標，人被愚癡所阻撓，被貪欲所束縛，人的開始是不可知的。」《相應部經》

　　(Anamatagga Samyutta in Samyutta Nikaya). This life-steam flows on ad infinitum, as long as it is fed by the muddy waters of ignorance and craving. When these two are cut off, only then does the life-steam cease to flow, only then does rebirth come to an end.

　　生命只要不離開貪和癡，將是無止盡的。唯有斷除貪和癡，生命之流才不會泛濫。 也只有到那時候，輪回才會結束。

　　It is difficult to conceive an end of space. It is difficult to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time. But it is more difficult for us to understand how this world came into existence with a first cause. And it is more difficult to understand how that first cause came into existence at the beginning. For if the first cause can exist though uncreated, there is no reason why the other phenomena of the universe must not exist without having also been created.

　　我們很難理解空間的盡頭，我們也很難理解時間的本性，更難理解的是：一旦沒有時間，時間又將如何？同樣的，我們也無法理解：世界是如何由第一因而存在的？世界一開始時，第一因是如何導致世界的存在？如果說，第一因是不被創造而存在的，那麼，就沒有理由說明宇宙的其它現象，因爲不被創造，所以不能存在。

　　As to the question how all beings came into existence without a first cause, the Buddhist”s reply is that there is no answer because the question itself is merely a product of man”s limited comprehension. If we can understand the nature of time and relativity, we must see that there could not have been any beginning. It can only be pointed out that all the usual answers to the question are fundamentally defective. If it is assumed that for a thing to exist, it must have had a creator who existed before it, it follows logically that the creator himself must have had a creator, and so on back to infinity. On the other hand, if the creator could exist without a prior cause in the form of another creator, the whole argument falls to the ground. The theory of a creator does not solve any problems, it only complicates the existing ones.

　　我們不禁要問：何以沒有第一因而有衆生呢？佛陀不正面回答這個問題，因爲問題本身，是由于人有限的理解力而引起的。假如，我們能理解時間相對性的本質，我們就可以理解爲什麼世界可以沒有開端。有關這個問題的解答，本身就出了問題。我們假設：每個生命的存在都必須有一個創造者，那麼，誰是創造者之前的存在者呢？

　　依據邏輯：創造者本身也必須有一個創造者，這樣的推理，最終是無窮盡。如果說：創造者不須要因(以前各種形態的創造者)而存在，那麼，問題就不能成立了，整個爭論也就沒有了結果。創造者的理論，不能解決問題，只能使問題更加複雜化。

　　Thus Buddhism does not pay much attention to theories and beliefs about the origin of the world. Whether the world was created by a god or it came into existence by itself makes little difference to Buddhist. Whether the world is finite or infinite also makes little difference to Buddhists. Instead of following this line of theoretical speculations, the Buddha advises people to work hard to find their own salvation.

　　佛陀不願意討論世界緣起的問題。無論世界是被神所創造的，或是自發而生起的，都無關重要，佛教徒的修持也不會因此而不同。無論宇宙是有限或無限，佛教徒依然是佛教徒。佛陀告誡人們，要不斷的努力精進，尋求自我解脫的道路，不要做無謂的推測。

　　Scientists have discovered many causes which are responsible for the existence of life, plants, planets, elements and other energies. But it is impossible for anyone to find out any particular first cause for their existence. If they go on searching for the first cause of any existing life or thing, they point certain causes as the main cause but that never becomes the first cause. In the process of searching for the first cause one after the other, they will come back to the place where they were. This is because, cause becomes the effect and the next moment that effect becomes the cause to produce another effect. That is what the Buddha say, ”It is incomprehensible and the universe is beginningless.”

　　雖然科學家已經發現了許多形成生命、植物、星體或其它事物的原因，可是依然無法爲它們的存在，找出第一因。如果他們繼續的尋求第一因，在一個接一個的過程中，他們可能回到起點，因爲「因」變成「果」，「果」又變成另一個「果」的「因」。

　　所以佛陀說： 「第一因是不可思議的，宇宙是無始的。」

《能知道第一因嗎 Can the First Cause be Known

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