PART ONE

　　Life and Nature of the Buddha

　　Chapter 1 Gautama, the Buddha

　　第一篇 佛陀的言教與生平

　　第一章 佛陀的本懷與生平

　　苟答馬佛陀

　　The Founder of Buddhism

　　佛教的創始者是苟答馬佛陀。

　　Gautama Buddha, the founder of what came to be known as Buddhism, lived in Northern India in the 6th century B. C. His personal name was Siddhartha, and family name Gotama. The name ”Buddha” was given to Him after He attained Enlightenment and realized the Truth. It means the ”Awakened” or the ”Enlightened One”. He generally called Himself the Tathagata, while His followers called Him Bhagava, the Blessed One. Others spoke of Him as Gotama or Sakyamuni.

　　苟答馬佛陀(Gotama，古譯：喬達摩、瞿昙佛)，這位佛教的創始者，于公元前六世紀生于北印度。他的原名是悉達多，苟答馬是他的家族姓氏。佛陀是他在證得正自覺後給予的尊稱。佛陀的意思就是醒悟者或覺者。他稱呼自己爲如來(Tathāgatassa)，他的追隨者則稱呼他爲世尊(Bhagavatā，古譯：薄伽梵)。苟答馬佛陀或釋迦牟尼佛也是他的稱號。

　　He was born a prince who seemed to have everything. He had a luxurious upbringing and His family was of pure descent on both sides. He was the heir to the throne, extremely handsome, inspiring trust, stately and gifted with great beauty of complexion and fine presence. At sixteen He married His cousin named Yasodhara who bore Him a son whom they called Rahula. His wife was majestic, cheerful day and night, and full of dignity and grace.

　　他一出世，就是一位擁有一切的王子。他住在一座金碧輝煌的王宮裏，受到無微不至的照顧和過著奢侈的生活。當他十六歲那年，和亞壽塔拉(Yasodharà)結婚。婚後生了一個兒子叫拉胡喇(Ràhula)。他的妻子是一位充滿正義感，整天笑臉迎人，尊貴又漂亮的女人。

　　Despite all this, He felt trapped amidst the luxury like a bird in a golden cage. During a visit to the city one day, He saw what is known as the ”Four Sights”, that is , an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy recluse. When He saw the sights, one after another, the realization came to Him that, ”it is subject to age and death”. He asked, ”Where is the realm of life in which there is neither age nor death

　　” The sight of the recluse, who was calm for having given up the craving for material life, gave him the clue that the first step in His search for Truth was Renunciation.

　　王子對于這一切並不感到滿意，他覺得自己好像一只小鳥，生活在黃金打造的鳥籠裏。有一天，當他到城裏巡遊時，他發現了「四種現象」，那就是一個老人，一個病人，一個死人和一位修行者。當他逐一的看見這些現象後，他尋思道：「生命離不開年老和死亡。」他問自己：「有什麼辦法能解脫生死？」這時候，那放棄欲望和物質生活的修行者，平靜的相貌浮現在他眼前，使他萌起了出家和尋求真理的念頭。

　　Determined to find the way out of these universal sufferings, He decided to leave home to find the cure not for Himself only, but for all mankind. One night in His twenty-ninth year, He bade His sleeping wife and son a silent farewell, saddled His great white horse, and rode off toward the forest.

　　爲了尋求如何脫離世間一切苦的道路，他毅然決定出家。他不是爲了自己，而是爲了全人類。在他二十九歲那年的一個晚上，他站在寢室門外，注視著熟睡中的妻子和兒子後，靜悄悄的騎上心愛的白馬，離開王宮向樹林飛馳而去。

　　His renunciation is unprecedented in history. He left at the height of youth, from pleasures to difficulties, from certainty of material security to uncertainty, from a position of wealth and power to that of a wandering ascetic who took shelter in the cave and forest, with His ragged robe as the only protection against the blazing sun, rain and winter winds. He renounced His position, wealth, promise of prestige and power, and a life filled with love and hope in exchange for the search for Truth which no one had found.

　　他的出家是一件不尋常的事。當時他正當年輕有爲，從尊貴到平凡，從充滿物質的生活到一無所有，從擁有極高權力和財富的王儲成爲一位修行者，在山洞或樹林裏過著日曬雨淋的生活。他披上袈裟，只爲了遮擋強烈的陽光和風雨。他舍棄了他將來的王位、財富和權力，以大慈大悲的心，尋求前人從未發現的真理。

　　For six long years, He labored to find the Truth. He studied under the foremost masters of the day, and learned all these religious teachers could teach Him. When He could not find what He was looking for, He joined a band of ascetics and tortured His body so as to break its power and crush its interference, since it was believed that Truth could be found this way. A man of enormous energy and will power, He outdid other ascetics in every austerity they proposed. While fasting, He ate so little that when He took hold of the skin of His stomach, He actually touched His spine. He pushed H…

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