恐怖
Being Fearful
隨著社會的日益發展，我們享受著科學技術帶給我們的巨大物質財富。但另一方面，現代社會帶來的一堆魚龍混雜、良莠不齊的東西，卻因腐爛發酵而未作清理，正散發著令人作嘔的氣息，攪亂了我們往日的甯靜，使原有的傳統幾乎受到了毀滅性的打擊。
As society progresses, we are privileged to enjoy tremendous material well being resulting from science and technology. But bad influence is part and parcel of modernization. Once getting jumbled in and staying on, the evil force becomes a putrid, fermenting thing giving off nauseating odors. It demolishes the peacefulness we once knew and delivers destructive blows to old traditions.
“路不拾遺，夜不閉戶”已經成爲了一個童話，人們隨時隨地都有可能遭到恐怖的襲擊。白天怕小偷，夜晚懼強盜。走在街上，膽戰心驚；坐在家裏，提心吊膽。雖然家家戶戶的陽臺上，都安裝起鳥籠一樣的防護欄，卻並不能抑製人們的恐怖心態。
The Utopian life described as “no one pockets anything found on the road, nor is there a need to lock the door at night” has been reduced to a fairy tale these days. People are subject to horrific attacks at any time and any place. We fear brigands by day and burglars by night. Sitting at home, we are terrified; going out, we are scared. Security fences like birdcages are erected around the balconies of every household for protection, yet they have no power to mitigate people”s fearful mindsets.
9·11事件後，世界各國都在盡力采取各種方式，以期對恐怖活動予以致命的打擊，結果卻收效甚微。
After 9•11, many countries in the world have attempted various means of fatally cracking down on terrorist activities, but their outcomes are anything but effective.
美國第一暢銷書《恐怖檔案》中透露，爲了維護和平，挽救無辜生命，美國政府懸賞500萬美元尋找本·拉登的下落，並保證爲提供線索者的身份保密，並爲其家人轉移居住地提供方便等等。盡管待遇優厚，但至今卻毫無下文。
A bestseller in the United States, the book Profile of a Terrorist Network revealed that the American government, for the sake of peace keeping and saving innocent lives, had offered a reward of $25 million for tips regarding Osama Bin Laden”s whereabouts. The offer also promised total privacy for the tipster as well as relocation assistance, etc. Regardless of the rich reward, no progress has come about so far.
《入菩薩行論》中雲：“頑者如虛空，豈能盡製彼？若息此嗔心，則同滅衆敵。”如果沒有調服自己的內心，而想將世間的怨敵一一消滅，完全是癡心妄想！
In A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, it says:
Wicked beings are as unending as space; they cannot possibly all be subdued.
But when the mental attitude of anger is slain, slain is every enemy.
Trying to conquer all the enemies in the world without first overcoming one”s own mind is nothing but wishful thinking!
釋迦牟尼佛在因地時曾轉世爲一婆羅門。一次，他與蛇、鴿子、烏鴉、野獸在一起，野獸說：“恐怖是最大的痛苦。”烏鴉說：“饑餓是最大的痛苦。”蛇說：“嗔恨是最大的痛苦。”鴿子說：“貪心是最大的痛苦。”婆羅門爲了斷除它們的四大痛苦，而對它們說：“痛苦的根源是無明，要遠離痛苦，必須持守五戒。”蛇、鴿子、烏鴉、野獸依此法行持，而轉世得人身，並經修持，終獲果位。
In one of his past lives, Buddha Shakyamuni was reborn as a Brahmin. During one of his gatherings with a snake, a pigeon, a crow, and a beast, the beast said: “Horror is the worst suffering.” The crow said: “Hunger is the worst suffering.” The snake said: “Hatred is the worst suffering.” The pigeon said: “Avarice is the worst suffering.” The Brahmin then taught them how to eradicate these four worst sufferings: “The root cause of suffering is ignorance. To be free from suffering, one must uphold the five precepts.” The snake, pigeon, crow, and beast all followed the instruction and were reborn as humans; they eventually attained liberation through practice.
其實，曆代很多修行人生活的山澗、岩洞，都是遠離恐怖的殊勝地。元代的石屋清珙禅師在岩畔的叁間石屋裏苦修，方圓幾十裏，荒無人煙，柴門也是虛設的，從不關閉。因爲除了自己沒有其他人出入。
In fact, the dwellings of spiritual seekers through the ages, whether set in rocky caves or by mountain streams, were all auspicious locations devoid of terror and fear. The Zen master Shiwu Qing-gong of the Yuan Dynasty retreated to a place where no human had ever set foot for miles around. He practiced unremittingly in three stone huts located near rocky boulders; his twig door was never locked, as there was no one else around. He wrote:
故寫下了“黃葉任從流水去，白雲曾便入山來，寥寥岩畔叁間屋，兩片柴門竟日開。”可見其悠閑自在之心情。真是羨煞我也！
Fallen yellow leaves float away freely in the stream,
White fluffy clouds sail toward the mountains.
The plain hut of three stone caves by the cliff is my dwelling,
Its twig double door is always left open all day long.
How easygoing and carefree was his mind, I am totally envious!
壬午年正月十八日
2002年3月2日
18th of January, Year of RenWu
March 2, 2002
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