修女

　　Missionary Nun

　　看到這個題目，也許有些人會感到不解。作爲一名佛教徒，怎麼忽然間對外道感起興趣來了呢？但今天我要贊美的這位修女，決不能用單純的宗教來界定她的信仰。在我的心目中，她就是活生生的佛菩薩。她，就是馳名全球的修女——特蕾薩。

　　Upon seeing this title, some of you may wonder: As a Buddhist, why am I suddenly interested in affairs of non-Buddhists

　　 But the object of my admiration and respect today, a Catholic nun, is beyond the simple definition of religious faith. In my heart, she is the living Buddha or a Bodhisattva. This person, incidentally, is none other than the renowned missionary nun—Mother Teresa.

　　她出身于一個具有良好教養的南斯拉夫家庭，從小受到天主教的教育，18歲前往印度的加爾各答，在一所擁有漂亮花園的修道院內，過著安定而舒適的歐洲式生活。

　　Mother Teresa was born into a well-educated family from Yugoslavia and had attended Catholic schools since childhood. At the age of 18, she went to Calcutta, India, where she initially enjoyed an easy and comfortable European lifestyle in a monastery complete with beautiful gardens.

　　當她有一天發現修道院高牆之外人們的淒慘遭遇時，她再也不願安于往日平靜的生活，面對一雙雙渴望關懷的眼睛卻熟視無睹了。一種強烈的使命感驅使著她，使她不顧周圍人的極力反對，單槍匹馬地走入貧民窟，勇敢地將世人的悲慘背在自己身上。用一雙柔弱的雙肩，挑起了拯救貧民的重任。

　　One day, she discovered the utter misery of people living outside the tall walls of the monastery, and she could no longer live her peaceful daily life. When faced with scores of eyes desperately in want of care, she could no longer shut her own eyes. Driven by a strong sense of purpose and against the strong opposition of people around her, she ventured into the slum all alone. Bravely, she carried on her back the pains and sorrows of beings in the world; with her frail shoulders, she assumed the heavy burden of rescuing the destitute from the slums.

　　當一個從沒有人關心過，沒有人知道他死活的老人，孤寂地躺在床上等待著死神造訪的時候，特蕾薩走進了他的房間；當一個被人毆傷的酗酒者醉臥街頭、無人問津的時候，特蕾薩挺身而出將他救起，並送到她所創辦的憐憫之家；當渾身蛆蟲的傷者遭到路人的厭惡和唾棄的時候，特蕾薩精心地爲他包紮傷口，並用溫暖的懷抱去迎接那顆瀕臨絕望的心……她的足迹穿越了大半個地球，加爾各答、也門、倫敦、墨爾本、紐約，甚至包括中國。她先後成立了一百多個替窮人服務的處所，在僅僅6年的時間裏，就收留了61273個棄嬰。

　　An utterly lonely old man was lying on a bed. No one had ever cared for him, nor did anyone ever heed whether he was still breathing. When the only visitor he could ever expect was the Lord of Death, Mother Teresa walked into his room. A drunk stretched out on the street, brutally beaten, and severely injured. When he could await nothing but indifference, Mother Teresa appeared and helped him up, escorting him to the “House of the Pure Heart” she had established. A tramp curved up on the roadside, his body covered with oozing sores and maggots. When he was receiving nothing but spiteful looks and revulsion from passersby, Mother Teresa came and bound up his wounds tenderly; she embraced his heart of total despair and gave it warmth…. Her footprints covered more than half of the earth—Calcutta, Yemen, London, Melbourne, New York, even China. She founded more than a hundred charity agencies to serve the lowly poor. She took in 61,273 abandoned babies in a period of merely six years.

　　她的不懈努力終于得到了世人的認同。1979年，她獲得了舉世矚目的“諾貝爾和平獎”，也使她在一夜之間成爲了家喻戶曉的人物。她除了將所有的獎金都用于慈善事業以外，還特別請求諾貝爾委員會，取消例行的授獎宴會。委員會爲她的精神所感動，將准備用于開支宴席費用的7100美元，贈送給了她所創辦的“仁愛傳教修女會”。

　　Her untiring efforts finally gained the recognition of the world. In 1979, she was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Overnight she became a household name. But she donated all her prize money to charity. In addition, she specifically requested the Nobel Committee to forgo the traditional banquet in honor of the Peace Prize winner. The committee was impressed by her spirit and contributed the $7,100 that would otherwise have been spent on the banquet to the Missionary of Charity that she founded.

　　盡管她已成爲名人，卻仍然過著拮據寒碜的生活。她只有叁套衣服，不穿襪子，只穿涼鞋。在電腦等先進電器極爲普遍的時代，她的住處除了電燈以外，唯一的電器用具就是一部電話。她將教皇贈送給她的一部林肯轎車拍賣，並用所得款項開辦了一家麻風病院。

　　Although she had become a celebrity, she still maintained an extremely frugal and sparing life. She owned only three sets of clothes; she wore no socks, only sandals. In an age of advanced electronics pervaded with co…

《修女 Missionary Nun》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…