Compassion and Justice—Meeting Venerable Chao Hwei
慈悲與正義－－與昭慧法師晤談
By Rebecca Li
美國紐澤西大學社會學副教授
陳悅萱 中譯
July 2, 2006
Recently, it was my privilege to participate in the Women Faith Leaders Retreat held at Dharma Drum Mountain, Taiwan, on June 20-22. The theme of the retreat was “Compassionate Mind, Compassionate World.” I was there primarily to translate for Shifu in his closing address, but prior to that I had the good fortune to participate in the discussion and meet some amazing women, one of whom was Venerable Chao Hwei.
今年6月20日到22日，我非常榮幸參與了法鼓山舉辦的“全球女性慈悲論壇”，論壇的主題是“慈悲的心靈，慈悲的世界”，主要是爲惜福會的閉幕致詞翻譯，正好有機會參加論壇的討論會，並且遇到了幾位令人贊歎的女性，其中一位就是昭慧法師。
Venerable Chao Hwei is professor of Religion and director of the Research Center of Applied Ethics at Hsuan Chuang University, a Buddhist university in Taiwan. She studied under Venerable Master Yin Shun, author of The Way to Buddhahood, and is a prolific scholar and author. She writes for newspapers to share the Buddhist perspective on issues as wide-ranging as animal rights and the legalization of gambling in Taiwan.
昭慧法師是臺灣玄奘大學宗教研究所的教授，並且也是該校應用倫理中心的主任，這是一所由佛教籌辦的大學。法師曾受教于《成佛之道》的作者印順導師，是位著述非常豐富的學者及作家。她時常在報章雜志上，以佛法的觀點解讀各種具爭議性的社會議題，例如動物權的議題、賭博合法化的議題等等。
On the first day of the retreat, Venerable Chao Hwei brought up the issue of compassion and justice, arguing that there is no true compassion if we do not face the issue of justice.
I was intrigued by her lucid and forceful argument; this was the first time I had seen a Chinese bhikshuni articulate her moral and intellectual position in such a forthright manner. I was fascinated also because we were discussing compassion, a topic that usually evokes an image of gentle, smiling people helping each other and getting along. This is hardly what comes to mind in debates over issues of injustice, such as the unequal treatment of men and women.
論壇的第一天，法師就引發了關于“慈悲與正義”這個議題的討論，她認爲我們如果回避正義的課題，就不會有真正的慈悲。這是我第一次看到一位比丘尼，用如此直接的方式，铿锵有力的表現她的智慧與道德，見識到她清晰有力的論辯。但是我也覺得疑惑，因爲我們討論的主題是“慈悲”，關于慈悲，立刻浮現在腦海的，不應該是面帶微笑、有禮貌的一群人，彼此互相幫助扶持嗎？很難理解爲什麼要提出諸如男女不平等之類的“不正義”議題來論辯呢？
In the open discussion and the subsequent conversations I had with her, Venerable Chao Hwei shared her experience advocating the abolition of the “eight deferential practices,” a set of additional precepts taken by fully ordained bhikshunis prescribing deferential manners to be used by bhikshunis (nuns) when interacting with bhikshus (monks). One such precept requires a bhikshuni, even though she is fully ordained with seniority, to bow deferentially to a novice monk. Within the monastic sangha of Dharma Drum Mountain, I was told, while these eight precepts are included in the full precepts taken by bhikshunis, Master Sheng Yen does not require that bhikshunis follow them in their interactions with bhikshus.
在開場的討論會及之後的幾次交談中，昭慧法師跟我分享了她推行“廢除八敬法運動”的經驗。“八敬法”是專門爲比丘尼製定的戒法，規範了八種比丘尼應禮敬比丘的方式，例如其中一條說：“即使是年長比丘尼，都必須向新受戒比丘頂禮。”據我所知，法鼓山的僧團裏，雖然比丘尼的戒律中涵蓋了“八敬法”，但是聖嚴法師並未要求法鼓山的比丘尼，與比丘互動時必須遵守八敬法。
However, in many instances, according to Venerable Chao Hwei, the existence of these eight precepts continues to damage the monastic sangha both by instilling a sense of pride, entitlement and superiority in some bhikshus, and a sense of inferiority, shame and a lack of confidence in some bhikshunis. These eight precepts perpetuate the inequality of men and women. In this system, everyone loses. Those in subordinate positions suffer from unfair treatment, while those in dominant positions give rise to pride and arrogance. Venerable Chao Hwei argued that allowing this injustice to continue is uncompassionate as we are not doing anything to help these beings alleviate their suffering.
但是在昭慧法師舉的幾個例子裏，看到一些比丘因爲八敬法，逐漸變得自大與自尊，而比丘尼卻變得自卑與缺乏自信，可知八敬法的存在是如何的傷害僧團，並且使得男女不平等的問題永遠存在。在八敬法的緊箍咒下，大家都是輸家，因爲處于受支配地位者…
《慈悲與正義－－與昭慧法師晤談》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…