..续本文上一页静点！」潘舍卡法师说：「不要再想你的伙伴，或你们一起走过的罪恶之路了！想想你自己的命运吧！喝下这些水，让我帮你包扎伤口，或许还可以保住你的命。」
"Calm down." Panthaka said. "Don”t think of your comrades, or of the evil road you have taken together. Think of your own fate and drink this water, and let me dress your wounds. Perhaps your life can still be saved."
这时摩诃都塔第一次仔细地看着潘舍卡法师：「您是昨天才被我打过的出家人！而现在你却来救我的命。您使我感到好惭愧！」他又喝了些水，就躺在那儿，望了一下身边的情形：「他们都跑了？这群忘恩负义的狗党！我教他们如何攻击和打斗，现在他们竟用同样的方法来袭击我！」
For the first time Mahaduta looked closely at Panthaka. "You are the monk to whom I gave a beating only yesterday! And now you have come to save my life. You shame me." He drank some more water and looked around him. "And the others have run off, the ungrateful hounds! I was the one who taught them to fight, and now they have turned on me."
「你教他们打斗。」潘舍卡法师说：「所以他们以打斗来回报你；你若教他们慈悲，他们也会以慈悲来回报你。你所收获的，正是自己所栽种的。」
"You taught them to fight," Panthaka said, "and they have repaid you by fighting. If you had taught them kindness, they would have repaid you with kindness. You have reaped the harvest that you planted yourself."
「您说的一点也不错，我以前就常常担心他们会对我如法炮制──呕！呕！」当潘舍卡法师试着扶起他的肩膀时，他痛得呻吟起来。
"What you say is true. I”ve often been afraid they would turn on me─ah! ah!" He groaned as Panthaka tried to lift him by the shoulder.
「我想您是救不了我了。如果能够的话，请您告诉我，我要怎样才能免受地狱的痛苦呢？我知道这是我一生恶贯满盈的果报。近来，我常常感觉到死期不远了，而对死后所要遭遇的恐惧感，就像是一块大石头压在胸口上，有时甚至让我透不过气来。」
"I don”t think you can save my life. But tell me, if you can, how I can be saved from the pains of the hells, which I know I deserve as payment for my evil life. Lately I have felt that my death cannot be far off, and the dread of what will come after has weighed like a heavy stone on my chest, so that sometimes I”ve hardly been able to breathe."
「诚心诚意地忏悔你的罪业并改过自新。」潘舍卡法师说：「把贪、瞋从自心中连根拔除，并且让心中充满对众生的慈悲。」
"Sincerely repent of your offenses and reform," Panthaka said. "Root out the greed and hatred from your heart, and fill it instead with thoughts of kindness for all beings."
「天啊！我根本就不懂什么叫慈悲。」摩诃都塔说：「我的一生是一篇坏事做尽，好事全无的故事。法师啊！我会堕落到地狱，永远不得出离，不能走向您所行的正道了！」
"Alas, I know nothing of kindness," Mahaduta said. "My life has been a story of much evil and no good. I will go to the hells and never escape along the noble Path that you have walked, Dharma Master!"
自私心起 蜘蛛丝断
A thought of selfishness
broke the spider”s thread.
「不要绝望！」潘舍卡法师回答：「也不要低估了忏悔和改过的力量。俗语说：
一念真心忏悔，
消得万劫罪业。
"Don”t despair," Panthaka answered, "and don”t underestimate the power of repentance and reform. It is said:
A single heartfelt thought of repentance
can wipe away ten thousand eons” worth of evil.
举个例子来说吧！你知道大盗甘德塔吗？他死时未忏悔，就堕入了无间地狱；在经历无数劫痛苦的折磨后，释迦牟尼佛出现于世，并在菩提树下成正觉了。
"For example, do you know of the great robber Kandata, who died unrepentant and fell into the Unintermittent Hells
After he had been suffering there for several eons, Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in the world and accomplished enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree.
当时佛的眉间放出光来，遍照整个地狱，使地狱的众生获得了新生命和新希望。甘德塔往上一看，看见了佛陀在菩提树下静坐，便喊道：『世尊！救救我！救救我啊！我因为往昔所造的恶业而在这儿受苦，不得出离。世尊，请带领我走向您走过的正道吧！』
"The rays of light that shone forth from between his brows at that moment penetrated all the way to the hells and inspired the beings there with new life and hope. Looking up, Kandata saw the Buddha seated in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, and he cried out, ”Save me, save me, World Honored One! I am suffering here for the evils I have done, and I cannot get out! Help me walk the Path you have walked, World Honored One!”
佛陀向下一看，见甘德塔在那儿。『一定要靠你自己善业的力量，我才能指引你出离。甘德塔！你在世为人时，曾做过什么好事吗？』
"The Buddha looked down and saw Kandata. ”I will guide you in your escape,” he said to the robber, ”but it must be with the help of your own good karma. What good did you do, Kandata, when you were in the world of men
”
甘德塔默然无语，因为他一向是个凶暴的人；然而世尊以佛眼观察甘德塔的过去，发现有一次甘德塔在森林里时，曾经避开脚步，以免踩到脚下的蜘蛛；当时他想：『这只蜘蛛并没有伤害任何人，我为什么要踩死牠呢？」
"…
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