生日

　　My Birthday

　　四十年前的今天，我于草場上的一頂帳篷裏呱呱墜地，如今，四十年光陰如同風馳電掣般飛逝，嗷嗷待哺的嬰兒時代，天真爛漫的少年時代，血氣方剛的青年時代，如同遙遠的夢幻一般離去。我永遠也忘不了父母的生養之恩，更忘不了大恩上師的諄諄教導，使我能從心底裏對叁寶生起堅如盤石般的信念。

　　Forty years ago today in a yurt overlooking a prairie, I arrived in this world with a cry. Now four decades have sped away like a gusting wind or a bolt of lightning: My days as an infant who had to be fed, the naive and carefree boyhood, and the days as a vigorous young man all have disappeared like a hazy dream, an illusion. What remains indelibly in my mind is the kindness from my parents of giving me life and raising me. Moreover, I am fully in debt to my most precious Guru who, with loving tutelage, has cemented in me an unshakable heartfelt faith toward the Three Jewels.

　　今天，最令我欣慰的是，全國各地的道友，都爲我的生日舉行了規模不小的放生活動，蒙古、北京等地都放生幾萬元以上。能令無數的生靈得救，即使別人認爲虛張聲勢也是值得的。

　　What makes me especially pleased today is that as a celebration for my birthday, many Dharma friends all over the country are carrying out releasing live beings on a considerable scale. In Mongolia, Beijing and other places, tens of thousands of yuan have been pooled together to save various creatures. Numerous lives are thus snatched from the jaws of death; it is a worthy effort, even though some may consider it just a showy gesture.

　　世間的愚昧衆生，爲滿足自己的饕餮之欲，以自之強，淩彼之弱，塗炭生靈。豈不知水陸飛禽之物，如同你我一樣，皆有覺知之心，雖然口不能言，但求生之情與我等無異。戕殺無辜，與禽獸有何區別？如今我們因前世善根而幸得人生，雖因前世業障習氣，不能完全戒葷茹素，但也應當厲行戒殺放生之善行。

　　For the purpose of satiating their palates, deluded humans with mighty power recklessly kill weaker species and plunge them into the abyss of misery. Yet all living creatures—those in the air, on land, or in the water—without exception have feelings and senses, just like you and me. Their desire to live is no different from yours or mine, even though they are incapable of speaking out. Humans who rashly kill other innocent beings are behaving like beasts—is there any difference

　　 Now that we have this precious human existence through our past virtuous deeds, even if we are unable to abstain from meat, we must at least perform the good deed of lifesaving.

　　如果在將來，誰能見聞我所著、所譯的法本，並因此而生起信心，想表達自己感激之意的話，再沒有比放生，更能令九泉之下的我深感快慰之事了。這也是我一直想致力于此，但卻因個人能力有限而無法成辦的心願。

　　In the future, should anyone arouse faith after reading my Dharma writings or my translations and wish to express gratitude to me, there is no better way than to release live beings to please my departed soul. This task has always been my earnest aspiration, yet it is still a wish unfulfilled due to my own limited capability.

　　壬午年六月初四　　

　　2002年7月14日

　　4th of June, Year of RenWu

　　July 14, 2002