口紅
A Lipstick
偶爾在雜志上讀得一文章，敘述一女工每月工資500元，卻用300元買回一支名牌口紅，令我感慨不已。且不論她本月開銷如何支付，以如此高價買如此之物實在可惜。
An article in a magazine says: A woman worker spent 300 yuan out of her 500 yuan monthly income just to buy a brand-name lipstick. When I chanced upon this news, I sighed deeply. Leaving aside the issue of how she will manage her other expenses for the month, to pay such an exorbitant price for this kind of item is senseless.
對于濃妝豔抹，我向來不以爲然。世間也有“清水出芙蓉，天然去雕飾”、“曾識姮娥真體態，素面原無粉黛”之說。爲區區一只口紅，花費300元，真不如用來放生、供養或者買書。要知道，世間粉妝玉琢的一切，終將煙消雲散。無論你如何將自己粉飾得“雲髻峨峨，修眉聯娟，丹唇外朗，皓齒內鮮”，終將隨著時光的流逝，而使紅潤的容顔轉爲枯槁面容，烏黑的頭發變爲星星白發，如歐陽修在《秋聲賦》中所雲：“渥然丹者爲槁木，黟然黑者爲星星。”到頭來，僅落下一堆白骨。
I have never appreciated the wearing of heavy makeup or fancy outfits, as has been said: “As from clear limpid water emerges the impeccable lotus flower, a natural beauty does not need any polishing,” and: “No scented ointments overlaying it, no coat of leaden powder applied. Such is the true face of a real beauty.” If 300 yuan can be squandered on a mere lipstick, wouldn”t it be better to spend it on, say, releasing live beings, Dharma offerings, or even buying books
Remember: Perfectly sculpted faces or polished jade in this world are all destined to disintegrate. No matter how you make yourself the fairest beauty of all—cloud-bank coiffure rising steeply, long eyebrows delicately arched, red lips appearing so lustrously, white teeth gleaming within—all will erode as time goes by. There is no avoiding that rosy checks will turn into a dry and wrinkled face and the once-ebony hair into a frosty mess. Ouyang Xiu in the “Ode to the Autumn Sound” laments: “Rosy facial features become faded and black hair turns hoary.” In the very end, nothing will be left except a pile of gristle and bone.
任何一個具智之人也不能使自己成爲“金玉其外，敗絮其中”的繡花枕頭，唯有增長自己的智慧、修正自己的品德，才是世上最莊嚴之飾品。將時間和金錢用于修飾外表，不如聞思修行，誰不對舉止閑雅的僧尼生起敬重之感？誰會覺得雞皮鶴發、慈眉善目的老者有礙觀瞻？如果通過修行發現自心的本來面目，才是令人視而不厭的美。不辨真正的美醜，實爲當今世人之悲哀。我多想告訴世人：“應當放棄毫無意義的修飾，尋找真正的美。”
Anyone with wisdom should avoid turning oneself into “gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside”—that is, an elaborately embroidered pillowcase only. The grandest ornament comes only from cultivating one”s virtuous qualities and gaining wisdom. Devoting oneself to the study, reflection, and meditation on Dharma is better than wasting time and money on outward refinements. Who wouldn”t feel a sense of reverence toward monks or nuns whose every act demonstrates elegance and appropriateness
Who would think a loving and kind elderly person with wrinkled skin and white hair an eyesore
The only unfailing beauty is the one that emerges from realizing the true nature through Dharma practice. It is so sad that people in this world still can”t distinguish real beauty from the fake; how I would like to tell them: “Give up meaningless embellishments, seek only true beauty!”
壬午年四月十叁日
2002年5月24日
14th of April, Year of RenWu
May 24, 2002