愛箭
Love Arrow
藏族有句諺語：“草地上中了箭，很容易拔除；心中了愛箭，就難以自拔了。”
A Tibetan proverb goes like this: “An arrow lodged in the earth is easy to pull out, while a love arrow hit in the heart is by no means easy to remove.”
愛欲，是會給人帶來痛苦的利箭。佛在《出曜經》中雲：“猶如自造箭，還自傷其身，內箭亦如是，愛箭傷衆生。”
Love and lust are sharp arrows that bring suffering. The Buddha says in Dhammapada: “The arrow you create may return to hurt you yourself. The same is true for the arrow in your heart. Love arrows bring suffering to beings.”
難怪西方人也將愛情比喻爲丘比特的箭，雖然無數文人用美文嘉言贊歎褒頌過它，但只要是箭都會有危害的。《本師傳》雲：“從愛生憂患，從愛生怖畏。離愛無憂患，離愛無怖畏。”愛不重不生娑婆，愛戀是産生痛苦的根源。且不論愛別離苦，即使形影不離的戀人，也會因彼此執著而引生無窮痛苦。美色如霞轉瞬空，弦歌似水彈指滅。世間情感如同朝露，轉瞬即逝。深陷愛河而難以自拔，只會徒增煩惱的牽絆。
No wonder Westerners also use the metaphor of “Cupid”s Arrow” to describe love. Love, although glorified and embraced by many poignant writings, poems, and lyrics, is nonetheless an arrow: Its nature is to harm. In The Story of the Buddha it says: “From love comes worry, from love comes fear. Disengaging from love frees you from worry, disengaging from love frees you from fear.” Love and lust are the causes of pain and suffering. If we were not weighed down by strong emotions of love, we would not have taken rebirths in samsara again and again. Separation from loved ones is indeed an unbearable sorrow. But even lovers who never separate for a single day are not immune to tremendous anguish over mutual attachment. Like a gorgeous sunset, beauty fades in no time; like a running brook, music is gone in a snap of the fingers; like the morning dew, worldly love evaporates in a blink. To fall in love intensely without knowing how to extricate oneself will only add layer upon layer of troubles and worries.”
如何才能得以逃脫呢？佛經中的一段公案將此答案告訴了我們：曾有一馴象人將千辛萬苦馴服的大象獻予國王，當他與國王騎著大象去到森林裏時，大象因嗅到母象氣息而狂奔不已。國王責怪馴象者，他回答說：“它的貪心增長，鐵鈎及繩索皆無能爲力，我只能調服它的身體，卻不能調服它的心。”“那麼此等衆生的身心何人皆能調服呢？”“唯有佛陀！”
How can we be free from it all
The answer can be found in a story told by the Buddha: A king was offered an elephant tamed meticulously by an elephant specialist. One day during an excursion with the king in the forest, this elephant suddenly became crazed when he sniffed the scent of a female elephant. It could not help but run wildly, to the horrific alarm of the king who subsequently admonished the trainer. This was the trainer”s reply: “When lust flares up, no lasso nor iron hook will work. As a trainer, I can only tame the elephant”s body, but not its mind.” “Then who can tame such beings” body and mind
” “Only the Buddha can! ”
的確，牽纏俗緣溺愛河，唯有佛陀拯救之。《楞嚴經》也有“入大愛河，令汝解脫”之說。要逃離愛河，免中愛箭，解除怖畏，唯有修習佛陀的教言。
Indeed, relying on the Buddha is the only way to save us from drowning in the torrents of love or from being entangled in secular relationships. To fall into the great river of love and lust is to drift around in samsara. The Surangama Sutra says: “Until the river of lust and love is dried up, there is no liberation.” For us to run away from the flood of lust, to dodge the love arrow and to be relieved from sorrow and fear, the only recourse is to practice the Buddha”s teachings.
蘇轼也有詩雲：“欲平苦海浪，先幹愛河水。”欲救衆生于輪回之苦海，必須先斬斷兒女情長之束縛。
A poem written by Su Shih says: “To pacify the pounding waves of the suffering ocean, first let its feeding water of love and lust run dry.” To be rescued from the ocean of samsaric suffering, sentient beings must first cut their Gordian knot of all consuming love.
在漫長的人生中，遭受愛箭痛苦的人有多少呢？
In the long journey of life, how many people have been inflicted with the painful arrow of love
壬午年四月初五
2002年5月17日
5th of April, Year of RenWu
May 17, 2002