..續本文上一頁nt powers shaping your experience of the world are the intentional thoughts, words, and deeds you choose in the present moment. This means that you are not insignificant. Every time you take a choice — at home, at work, at play — you are exercising your power in the on-going fashioning of the world. At the same time, this principle allows you to measure yourself in terms that are entirely under your control: your intentional actions in the present moment. In other words, they don”t force you to measure yourself in terms of your looks, strength, brains, financial prowess, or any other criteria that depend less on your present karma than they do on karma from the past. Also, they don”t play on feelings of guilt or force you to bemoan your past lapses. Instead, they focus your attention on the ever-present possibility of living up to your standards in the here and now. If you are living with people who observe the precepts, you find that your dealings with them are not a cause for mistrust or fear. They regard your desire for happiness as akin to theirs. Their worth as inpiduals does not depend on situations in which there have to be winners and losers. When they talk about developing loving-kindness and mindfulness in their meditation, you see it reflected in their actions. In this way the precepts foster not only healthy inpiduals, but also a healthy society — a society in which the self-respect and mutual respect are not at odds. 合乎人性: 戒律即對持戒者，也對受其行爲影響者來說，都是合乎人性的。你若持 守戒律，就等于是遵奉業力原則。根據業力原則，在影響你如何體驗世界的力量當中，最重要的是你在當下選擇的動機的 思考、言語、身行。這意味著你並非是無可作爲的。每作一次選擇——在家、在職、遊戲時——你都在世界的持續造作當中行使著你的力量。同時，這項原則允許你，從完全由你掌控——即你 的當下動機——的角度，衡量自己。換句話說，業力原則並不迫使你從相貌、氣力、腦力、商業才幹等等更多地依賴你的舊業而不是現業 的角度衡量自己。再者，戒律不刺激負疚感，也不逼著你痛悔舊時失誤，而是令你把注意力放在即刻當下一直存在著的圓滿持戒的可能性上。如果你與持戒者共同生活，就會發現同這些人交往，不會是引生不信任或恐懼的因緣。他們把你對幸福的欲求視爲己出。他們的個人價值不依賴于那些必須分出輸贏的場合。當他們談論在禅修中發展慈心和念住時，你發現這也體現在他們的行爲上。以這種方式，戒律滋養的不僅僅是健康的個體，而且也滋養著一個健康的社會——一個自尊與互敬並行不悖的社會。

　　Worthy of respect: When you adopt a set of standards, it is important to know whose standards they are and to see where those standards come from, for in effect you are joining their group, looking for their approval, and accepting their criteria for right and wrong. In this case, you couldn”t ask for a better group to join: the Buddha and his noble disciples. The five precepts are called "standards appealing to the noble ones." From what the texts tell us of the noble ones, they are not people who accept standards simply on the basis of popularity. They have put their lives on the line to see what leads to true happiness, and have seen for themselves, for example, that all lying is pathological, and that any sex outside of a stable, committed relationship is unsafe at any speed. Other people may not respect you for living by the five precepts, but noble ones do, and their respect is worth more than that of anyone else in the world. 值得敬重: 當你采納一套准則時，了解它們由什麼人製定、看清其出處，是十分重要的，因爲在效果上，等于你是在加入那些人的團體，尋求他們的贊許，接受他們的對錯標准。在這裏，沒有比佛陀和聖弟子的團體更值得加入的了。五戒被稱爲“聖者贊許的准則”。根據經典對聖者的描述，他們不是那種因爲某種准則普遍流行便予以接納信受的人。爲了覓得真樂之道，他們投注了自己的生命。並且，對于一切妄語都是病態，穩定、負責的性關系之外的性事俱不安穩等等諸如此類的例子他們已經親眼見過。別人對你持守五戒也許不以爲然，但聖者們必然會敬重此事。他們的敬重較之世上任何人的敬重，價值更高。

　　Now, many people find it cold comfort to join such an abstract group, especially when they have not yet met any noble ones in person. It”s hard to be good-hearted and generous when the society immediately around you openly laughs at those qualities and values such things as sexual prowess or predatory business skills instead. This is where Buddhist communities can come in. It would be very useful if Buddhist groups would openly part ways with the prevailing amoral tenor of our culture and let it be known in a kindly way that they value goodheartedness and restraint among their members. In doing so, they would provide a healthy environment for the full-scale adoption of the Buddha”s course of therapy: the practice of concentration and discernment in a life of virtuous action. Where we have such environments, we find that meditation needs no myth or make-believe to support it, because it is based on the reality of a well-lived life. You can look at the standards by which you live, and then breathe in and out comfortably — not as a flower or a mountain, but as a full-fledged, responsible human being. For that”s what you are. 誠然，不少人覺得加入這麼一個抽象的團體，得到的慰勉溫暖不足，特別是當他們還沒有親自遇到一位聖者時。在周遭社會公然讪笑善心、布施等素養，推崇性能力和商業霸略的情形下，維持自己的善心和布施確不容易。佛教諸團體的價值正在于此。如果它能夠公開地與環境中的不良主調分道而行，善意地肯定對本團體成員的善心和自律的珍視，那將是十分有益的。這樣做，他們將爲全面采納佛陀的療程——那就是，在行爲守戒的生活之中，修習定力與明辨——提供了健康的環境。哪裏有這樣的環境，我們就會發現，禅修不需要神話或假想的輔助，因爲它紮根于正善而活的現實。你可以看一看自己奉行的標准，接下來舒適地修練呼氣、吸氣——不是像一朵花或一座山那樣[1]，而是像一個成熟、負責的人那樣。因爲你就是那樣的人。

　　[1]譯注: 此處意指持戒者無需前文所述的種種輔助手段,而是藉觀想自身的戒德,升起喜樂滿足,修出入息念。

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