五欲與苦

　　The Five Desires and Suffering

　　順古 文

　　by Shun Gu

　　The five desires have us in a powerful hold, but actually they are just ersatz pleasures, shoddy substitutes for real happiness. When we don”t know how to live, how to be a person, or how to use our human life, we tend to believe that gratification of the senses and pursuit of pleasure can guarantee us some happiness. And so we let our inherent wisdom get clouded over by greedy desires. Mindlessly we drift along in the river of love, following the crowd, taking our cures from the TV, newspapers, and magazines, joining (correcting “joinging”) the same superficial pursuits we see everybody else involved in. Why do we do this

　　 Simply because it hasn”t occurred to us that there might be anything more to life.

　　五欲將我們緊緊攫住，

　　但事實上，五欲帶給我們的不過是一些假的快樂。

　　我們不知道怎麼活？怎麼做人？怎麼善用我們的一生時？

　　我們就以爲感官享受及追求享樂會使我們快樂，

　　因此將我們本有的智慧讓貪欲給遮蓋了。

　　愚蠢地同流合汙，在愛欲之海中浮沈，

　　模仿電視、報章、雜志，盲從他人，隨波逐流。

　　爲什麼有這種現象呢？

　　很簡單！就因爲我們的無知––不知道生命還有其他的意義在內。

　　In Buddhism, suffering is analyzed in many different ways. There are the three sufferings, the eight sufferings, and the limitless sufferings. Not obtaining what one desires is one of the eight sufferings, and all people are familiar with this experience. But while not obtaining one”s desires is an obvious form of suffering, does it follow, then, that being able to gratify one”s desires is a source of happiness

　　 Many people, deluded by consumerism and materialism, might think so, since this is what our environment, the media, and the advertising world constantly tell us. But our predicament isn”t that simple.

　　在佛教中將苦分爲多類：有叁、八苦、無量苦。八苦中有求不得苦，相信大家對這一種苦，一定很熟悉。這個「求不 得」很明顯地是一種苦；但是「求得」，是不是一定會帶來快樂呢？許多惑于消費主義和唯物主義的人，或許會這樣想；或者會認爲「求得」是一種樂。因爲我們所 生活的環境，大衆傳播媒體，廣告界等都一再強調這是一種樂，但是我們的處境不是那麼簡單。

　　Unfufilled desires cause frustration, which easily leads to anger. Not being able to obtain the objects of the five desires—wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—we give rise to anger and hatred. But even if we do obtain these, our desires still cause us suffering. By giving in to greedy desires one simply reinforces these desires. Since greed can never be satisfied, one might say that human desires by definition are unquenchable. When one desire is satisfied, at least momentarily, the mind soon gives rise to ever increasing, more sophisticated desires. We thought the object we were grasping at would bring us satisfaction, but once it is ours, we tend to become jaded and bored with it soon. No matter what the coveted object may be—clothes, jewelry, a car, a house, a promotion, a boyfriend or a girlfriend—we tire of it soon and start looking for new, more exciting things to possess and enjoy. This never-ending multiplication of desires is our basic problem.

　　求不得會引起人的挫折感，進而轉變成瞋怒。我們對五欲––財、色、名、食、睡得不到滿足，就會生起瞋恨心。但 是假如我們的五欲得到滿足了，這些五欲仍然會引起我們的痛苦。貪欲只是增強了人的這些欲望，因爲我們的貪心永遠都不會得到滿足的。人類的欲望，根本上可以 說是永遠都不會熄滅的。這個欲望暫時得到滿足了，在心裏又會生起其他更多更大的渴求。我們以爲我們所追求的東西，只要到手我們就會滿足了。但是一但追求到 手了，很快又會覺得厭倦了。不管是什麼值得我們羨慕的好東西––衣服、珠寶、汽車、洋房、職位升遷、男、女朋友等等，只要到手之後又會有厭倦感，然後又想 追求更新的、更有刺激性的東西來占有和享受，這種永無止境的貪心確是我們最根本的問題。

　　As long as we let greed dictate our actions, we reap nothing but suffering. Unsatisfied desires are painful, and satisfied desires, besides feeding our greed, are inevitably undermined by the suffering of change or process. Thus anticipated happiness turns into accumulated suffering. A person attached to his desires and pleasures can never be truly happy, since the slightest change of circumstances can frustrate his desires. If fine food is your attachment, you”ll be disappointed with anything less than the best—and so you end up being dissatisfied most of the time. The same goes for fashionable clothes, fast cars, and even intellectual and artistic pursuits. It is difficult for a person of fastidious tastes to be truly happy or content, since nothing is ever quit…

《五欲與苦 The Five Desires and Suffering》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…