誘惑

　　Lures and Temptations

　　可怕的魔鬼往往擁有天使般的外衣，讓你不知不覺地受其引誘，等到醒悟，已悔之晚矣。

　　Demons usually appear as angelic apparitions. People tend to fall prey to their temptations before realizing it, but by then it”s too late to go back.

　　修行人也常常面對各種魔鬼的引誘，比如說金錢魔、名聲鬼等等。如果不能善加分辨，它們就會趁其不備，神不知、鬼不覺地成爲我們修行路上的絆腳石。

　　There are many demons trying to woo practitioners, such as the lure of money and of fame. When we let down our guard, they insidiously worm their way in and morph into obstacles to our spiritual growth.

　　噶當巴的修行人常將自己比爲狐狸，名利等魔鬼比爲獵人和獵網，網內承載著獵人布下的誘餌。狐狸對誘餌的香味垂涎叁尺，最終因貪食誘餌而陷于網中不能自拔。

　　The Kadampas often described themselves as foxes, the demons of fame and wealth as hunter and hunting net. The hunter sets tempting lures in the net, and the fox, its mouth salivating from the appetizing smell of the bait, walks right into the trap and becomes ensnared beyond help.

　　修行人被財物所惑，進入魔王波旬設置的陷阱——城市，最終被世間八法所俘獲，淪爲被其任意鞭打、驅使的奴隸。

　　Similarly, tempted by money and possessions, practitioners walk into the trap set by the Mara—the city. Sooner or later they are taken prisoners by the eight worldly concerns and reduced to being their slaves, constantly subject to their masters” bitter beatings and subjugation.

　　印度一位修行人的上師再叁叮咛他：一定要躲避叁種最可怕的東西，即：金錢、女人和名聲。離開上師後，他一直遵從師訓，嚴防外界侵擾。一次，他在河邊發現一些錢，他突發奇想：如果用這些錢來修建寺廟，倒是一件不錯的事情。結果，在尋找修廟工人的途中，他曆盡艱難，差點命歸黃泉。開局的不順利，使他消除了修廟的打算。

　　Once in India a teacher bade his student repeatedly to stay away from the three worst things: money, woman, and fame. When the student took leave, he remembered his teacher”s instruction well and took strict precautions against external intrusions. One day he found some money by the riverbank and had a wild thought: It would be wonderful if he could use the money to build a monastery. He began to look for contractors and in the process encountered numerous hardships to the extent that he almost lost his life. He then dropped his project of building a monastery, as it did not pan out from the start.

　　後來，一個女人闖入了他的世界，她先送給他一只貓，因爲貓需要喝奶，她又附送他一頭牛，女人因爲要承擔放牛的工作而留了下來。他們順其自然地成了家，並生了孩子。當他意識到自己已陷入世間的網罟，早已遠離正法時，已悔之晚矣。

　　Later, a woman came into his life. First, she offered him a kitten and, as the kitten needed milk, she added the gift of a cow. Then, to help herd the cow the woman stayed over at his place, and they became husband and wife and had children. By the time the student realized he was sinking deep into the trap of the world and had long walked in the wrong direction away from the Dharma, it was far too late to turn back.

　　“浮名浮利過于酒，醉得人心死不醒。”

　　An adage goes:

　　Illusory fame and flimsy prosperity are more seductive than wine alone,

　　They make the mind dead drunk and incapable of awakening.

　　女人更是包裝精美的毒酒，除了聖者，具縛凡夫很難抵擋。如今的大城市裏，布滿了獵人的誘餌，若身陷其中，恐怕就難以自拔了。

　　Woman, especially, is a poisonous wine in an exquisitely gift-wrapped exterior. Except for sages, ordinary people in general are incapable of resisting her temptations. In the same way, big cities nowadays are rife with lures set by hunters; once a person falls into the trap, there is little hope to extricate oneself.

　　壬午年七月初五　　

　　2002年8月13日 　

　　5th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 13, 2002