母親

　　My Mother

　　離開喇榮已有160天了，這是母親今天在電話裏提醒我的。可見她日日都在挂念著遠方的不孝之子。

　　You have been away from Larung for 160 days—this was what my mother reminded me on the phone today. So every day, she is concerned with her undutiful son who is now living in a distant place.

　　如同世上所有的母親一樣，母親對我的成長和修行付出了很大的代價。在艱苦的歲月裏，母親含辛茹苦、忍辱負重，表現出極大的忍耐力和善良的品格。

　　Like all the mothers in the world, my mom paid dearly for my upbringing and spiritual practice. Throughout the rough years, she endured humiliation and shouldered heavy burdens, fully reflecting her extreme tenacity and kind heart.

　　我2歲的時候，一次突患疾病。母親背著高燒不退、奄奄一息的我，深一腳、淺一腳地向幾十公裏外的縣城走去。路上不知摔了多少跤，吃了多少苦，馬不停蹄地走了整整兩天兩夜。看到昏迷不醒的我終于從死魔的嘴裏逃脫出來，母親淌滿汗水的臉上才綻開了笑顔。

　　Once when I was 2 years old, I became ill suddenly. My fever wouldn”t drop and I was at the verge of dying. Carrying me on her back, my mom trudged one step after the other toward the county town scores of kilometers away. For two full days and nights, she walked nonstop; the number of times she stumbled and the difficulties she encountered on the road could not be counted. I was unconscious in the grip of the Lord of Death until finally, I managed to break free from the ordeal. It was only then that a smile appeared upon on my mother”s sweltering face.

　　在我兒時的每天晚飯之後，全家人都會圍著火塘，母親就開始念誦她每日的必修課——《極樂願文》，紅紅的爐火映著她年輕如花的臉龐，使我生起一種像面見度母一樣的聖潔感。娓娓的誦經聲仿佛來自于空行刹土，在帳篷間久久回蕩……這種耳濡目染的熏陶建立了我最初對佛法的認識。直到如今，每當看到或聽到《極樂願文》的頌詞，母親念誦經文的聲音就會在耳邊回響。我至今尚能完整地背誦《極樂願文》，母親實在是功不可沒。

　　In my childhood, every night after dinner our whole family would sit around the fire pit and my mom would start her daily must-do homework—reciting The Aspiration Prayer to Be Born in the Pure Land of Great Bliss. The fire cast a reddish glow on her blossoming young face; I was struck with a sense of pure awe as if beholding the immaculate Tara in person. Her vivid recitation and chanting were like melodies coming from the Dakini Land, reverberating in our tent on and on…. This subtle influence led to my early understanding of Buddhism. To this day, whenever I hear or read the Aspiration Prayer to Be Born in the Pure Land of Great Bliss, my mother”s chanting voice resounds in my ears. I owe it greatly to her that I can still remember the entire prayer to this day.

　　記得我七八歲的時候，母親還算年輕，臉色白裏透紅，眼睛像黑色的寶石，牙齒潔白如雪。一天，我與母親在山上放牧，山上的樹木郁郁蔥蔥，牧草青翠欲滴，花朵五彩缤紛。我們一起捉起了迷藏，當我從花叢中找到母親時，覺得她像仙女一般美麗。也許這印證了漢地的一句說法：“兒不嫌母醜，狗不嫌家貧。”

　　I remember when I was around 7 or 8, my mom was still quite young, her white porcelain face had a reddish tint, her eyes were like jet-black jewels, and her teeth were as white as the snow. One day I went herding with her on the mountainside. Up there the trees grew lavishly and the verdant pasture was dotted with colorful flowers. We played hide and seek and, when I spotted her hiding among the flowers, I felt she was just as beautiful as the pine maiden. Perhaps that”s what is meant in the Han Chinese proverb: “Never does a son see his own mother as ugly; never does a dog see its own master as poor.”

　　如今，歲月的刀斧已將母親的臉刻得溝壑縱橫，兩腮凹陷、牙齒脫落，腳也一瘸一拐，幾近殘廢，整天只有拿著一根手杖挪動著沈重的身軀。如果我提起她年輕時代的卓卓風姿，誰也不會相信。歲月不饒人啊！

　　These days, the carving knife of time has chiseled deep lines on my mother”s face, her cheeks are now sunken, and her teeth have fallen out. With legs almost crippled, she can only move her heavy body jerkily with the aid of a cane. Should I recount her agility and stunning beauty in her youth, no one would believe me. Indeed, time pays no mercy to anyone!

　　父母的恩德是難以估量的，佛陀在《父母恩重難報經》中宣說了父母的種種恩德。阿底峽尊者也說：孝敬父母與修大悲空性無別。記得曾有一位居士將此話告訴父母，令父母對佛法生起信心，因而皈依了佛門。

　　The kindness of parents is inconceivable. The Buddha recounts in The Sutra about the Deep Kindness of Parents and the Difficulty of Repaying It our parents” many acts of kindness. Master Atisha also teaches that to be filial and respectful to one”s parents is no different from practicing emp…

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