歸依

　　[作者]坦尼沙羅尊者

　　[中譯]良稹

　　Going for Refuge

　　by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

　　The act of going for refuge marks the point where one commits oneself to taking the Dhamma, or the Buddha”s teaching, as the primary guide to one”s life. To understand why this commitment is called a "refuge," it”s helpful to look at the history of the custom. 歸依之舉，標志著一個人作出承諾，把佛法或者說佛陀的教導作爲自己生活的主要指南。爲了理解這項承諾何以被稱爲”歸依”，審視該傳統的曆史淵源是有益的。

　　In pre-Buddhist India, going for refuge meant proclaiming one”s allegiance to a patron — a powerful person or god — submitting to the patron”s directives in hopes of receiving protection from danger in return. In the early years of the Buddha”s teaching career, his new followers adopted this custom to express their allegiance to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, but in the Buddhist context this custom took on a new meaning. 在佛教出現之前的印度， “歸依”意味著對某位保護者——當權者或者神明——宣示忠誠，服從該保護者的指示，以期換得遠離危險的安穩庇護。在佛陀傳法生涯的早期，他的新弟子們沿襲了這個傳統，以表達自己對佛、法、僧的忠誠，不過在佛教語境之中，該傳統有其新意。

　　Buddhism is not a theistic religion — the Buddha is not a god — and so a person taking refuge in the Buddhist sense is not asking for the Buddha personally to intervene to provide protection. Still, one of the Buddha”s central teachings is that human life is fraught with dangers — from greed, anger, and delusion — and so the concept of refuge is central to the path of practice, in that the practice is aimed at gaining release from those dangers. Because the mind is the source both of the dangers and of release, there is a need for two levels of refuge: external refuges, which provide models and guidelines so that we can identify which qualities in the mind lead to danger and which to release; and internal refuges, i.e., the qualities leading to release that we develop in our own mind in imitation of our external models. The internal level is where true refuge is found. 佛教不是一個奉神的宗教——佛陀不是一位神祗——因此一個人歸依，在佛教意義上，並非是請求佛陀親自介入，提供庇護。雖如此，佛陀的一條核心教導是，人生布滿了危險——指來自貪、嗔、癡的危險——故此，歸依的概念對修證之道具有根本的重要性，因爲修持的目的正是爲了脫離這些危險。由于心既是危險的來源，又是解脫的來源，我們需要在兩個層次上歸依: 外在層次的歸依爲我們提供榜樣與指南，我們得以認清心的哪些素質引生危險，哪些素質引生解脫; 內在層次的歸依，則是效仿我們的外在榜樣，在自己內心培育起來的趨向解脫的素質。這個內在層次才是歸依的真正實現處。

　　Although the tradition of going to refuge is an ancient practice, it is still relevant for our own practice today, for we are faced with the same internal dangers that faced people in the Buddha”s time. We still need the same protection as they. When a Buddhist takes refuge, it is essentially an act of taking refuge in the doctrine of karma: It”s an act of submission in that one is committed to living in line with the principle that actions based on skillful intentions lead to happiness, while actions based on unskillful intentions lead to suffering; it”s an act of claiming protection in that, by following the teaching, one hopes to avoid the misfortunes that bad karma engenders. To take refuge in this way ultimately means to take refuge in the quality of our own intentions, for that”s where the essence of karma lies. 盡管歸依的傳統古已有之，今日它對我們自己的修行仍具相關性，因爲我們面臨著與佛陀時代的人們同樣的內在危險。我們仍然需要同樣的庇護。當一位佛教徒歸依時，基本上這是對業力法則的一種歸依: 之所以爲遵奉，因爲他承諾在人生中遵奉善業[以善巧動機爲基礎的行爲]趨向幸福，不善業趨向苦痛的原則。之所以爲庇護，因爲借著服從教導，他希望避開惡業招致的不幸。以這種方式作歸依，終究意味著歸依我們自己的動機的質量，因爲那就是業的精髓。

　　The refuges in Buddhism — both on the internal and on the external levels — are the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, also known as the Triple Gem. They are called gems both because they are valuable and because, in ancient times, gems were believed to have protective powers. The Triple Gem outdoes other gems in this respect because its protective powers can be put to the test and can lead further than those of any physical gem, all the way to absolute freedom from the uncertainties of the realm of aging, illness, and death. 佛教的歸依——內在、外在兩個層次上——都是指佛、法、僧，亦稱叁寶。之所以被稱爲寶，既因爲它們有價值，也因爲在古代，人們相信寶石具有種種護佑力量。叁寶于此處勝于諸寶，因其保護力可被驗證，並且功效之遠爲礦物寶石所不及…

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