花祭

　　Farewell Flowers

　　自從我在《智海浪花》中反複提及對花的偏愛，我的院子裏、家裏便擠滿了別人送來的、真真假假的花。圓觀送來了粉色的月季，晉美慈誠送來了黃色的秋菊……我的院子成了百花盛開的大觀園。

　　Ever since I mentioned repeatedly my fondness of flowers in The Sprays of the Wisdom Ocean, gifts of flowers, real or artificial, started to fill the inside and outside of my house. Flowers like the China rose from Yuan Guan and the yellow chrysanthemum sent by Chimed Tsultrim turned my yard into a grand garden of blooming spectacles.

　　盡管早上出門很早，我也不會忘記給它們澆上一壺水。也許是我的“憐香惜玉”至真至誠，它們總報我以一院子的燦爛，在這秋日臨近時分，院中仍浸潤著夏日的氛圍。

　　Even though I leave my house pretty early in the morning, I have always remembered to water the flowers. Perhaps touched by my sincerity and tender care, they have repaid me with a yard full of beautiful blossoms. With impending autumn in the air, my yard still maintained the glory of summer days.

　　今天下課回家，尚未走到院門，眼見平時緊閉的院門歪斜地敞開著，就有一種不祥的預感。走進院子，各色的花瓣灑落一地，一片狼藉。一只山羊躺在凋落的花叢裏呼呼大睡，旁邊的花盆裏盛著它排泄的新鮮大便。這個調皮的家夥！

　　On my way back home after class today, at a distance I noticed the usually closed front gate was tilted ajar and a gloomy foreboding aroused in me. Once in the yard, a scene of a total mess of scattered petals struck me. A goat was snoring loudly among the fallen flowers and a nearby pot held its fresh excrement. Oh you naughty fellow!

　　仿佛失落了最心愛的寶貝，心一下子沮喪起來。我家裏曾經多次被小偷光顧，偷走過不少價值昂貴的東西，但從來沒有過今天這樣的怅然，也許這源自于前世爲蜜蜂的等流果吧。

　　My heart sank all at once, as if I had lost my most cherished belonging. Many times burglars had raided my house, taking away quite a few valuable items from me, but I have never felt as lost as today, a feeling perhaps predisposed by my having been a bee in previous lives.

　　“菩薩摩诃薩應當發如是心，謂我此身份于諸衆生尚能舍棄，何況所有外財資具。”《羅延所問經》中的句子像頑皮的孩童在眼前晃來晃去，使我蓦然清醒。站在斑駁淩亂的花草中間，先前的心情霧一般漸漸消散，身心竟如釋重負般有一種升騰的感覺。

　　“A Maha-bodhisattva should aspire as such: For the sake of beings I would be willing to offer even my own body and flesh, what needs to be said about offering my material possessions and other things

　　” This sentence from The Sutra Requested by Luoyan sprang up and bounced in front of me like a playful child. Suddenly my mind cleared up. Standing among the debris of the ravaged garden, my sadness dissipated like a fog vanishing; I felt a sense of relief and levitation, as if some heavy weight was being lifted from my heart and body.

　　隔壁的喇嘛也遭受了同樣的厄運，他一邊氣咻咻地罵著，一邊拿著石塊想報仇，作爲“同是天涯淪落人”的我，十分理解他的心情，但還是一邊勸阻，一邊趕緊將山羊送到他看不見的地方，讓他眼不見，心不煩。

　　My next-door lama suffered the same misfortune. While letting loose a torrent of abuse, he was ready to seek revenge using a piece of rock in his hand. As someone sharing the same bitter experience, I could appreciate how he felt. Nonetheless, I tried to calm him down and at the same time pushed the goat to an inconspicuous corner, so at least the problem for my neighbor could be “out of sight, out of mind.”

　　早上還是姹紫嫣紅的花園，現在已是紅消香斷、一遍殘紅。世間萬物都是這麼無常啊！喇嘛欽！

　　The garden, beautiful and luxuriant this morning, is now no longer existing and only messy petals remain. Isn”t everything in the world just as ephemeral

　　 Lama chen!

　　壬午年七月初四　　

　　2002年8月12日 　

　　4th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 12, 2002