What Buddha Taught(佛陀的启示)
Chapter VIII. What the Buddha Taught and the World Today
第八章 佛的教诫与今日世界
There are some who believe that Buddhism is so lofty and sublime a system that it cannot be practised by ordinary man and woman in this workaday world of ours, and that one has to retire from it to a monastery, or to some quiet place, if one desires to be a true Buddhist.
有些人相信，佛学体系极其崇高卓绝，非一般生活在碌碌尘世里的男女所能实践；假使他想做一个真正的佛教徒的话，必须要离世弃俗，住到寺院里或是其他僻静的处所去。
This is a sad misconception, due evidently to a lack of understanding of the teaching of the Buddha. People run to such hasty and wrong conclusions as a result of their hearing, or reading casually, something about Buddhism written by someone, who, as he has not understood the subject in all its aspects, gives only a partial and lopsided view of it. The Buddha”s teaching is meant not only for monks in monasteries, but also for ordinary men and women living at home with their families. The Noble Eightfold Path, which is the Buddhist way of life, is meant of all, without distinction of any kind.
这是一个可悲的错误观念，显然是对佛的教诫缺乏了解所致。达到这种轻率而错误结论的人，都因为只是偶然听到或读到某些佛教的读物，而这些读物的著者本身对佛教的面面观并没有充分了解，因此他所发表的见地也是片面而偏差的。佛的教诫，不仅是为了寺院中的僧众而设，也是为了住在家庭中的普通男女。代表佛教生活方式的八正道，是为了一切的人而设，没有任何分野。
The vast majority of people in the world cannot turn monk, or retire into caves or forests. However, noble and pure Buddhism may be, it would be useless to the masses of mankind if they could not follow it in their daily life in the world of today. But if you understand the spirit of Buddhism correctly (and not only its letter), you can surely follow and practice it while living the life of an ordinary man.
这世间绝大多数的人，不能出家做和尚，或住到山林洞窟中去。不论佛教是多么纯净而高尚，如果广大的群众不能在今日世界的日常生活里受持奉行它，它就将一无用处。可是，如果你能正确的了解佛教的精神(而不囿于它的文字)，你自能一面过著普通人的生活，一面遵行其教诫。
There may be some who find it easier and more convenient to accept Buddhism, if they do live in a remote place, cut off from the society of others. Others may find that that kind if retirement dulls and depresses their whole being both physically and mentally, and that it may not therefore be conducive to the development of their spiritual and intellectual life.
也许有若干人会觉得住在边远之处与世隔绝，比较易于接受佛法。但也有些人也许会觉得这种离世的生活，会使得他们整个身心都变得沈郁滞钝，不利于发展他们的精神与理智的生活。
True renunciation does not mean running away physically from the world. Sāriputta, the chief disciple of the Buddha, said that one man might live in a forest devoting himself to ascetic practices, but might be full of impure thoughts and ”defilements”; another might live in a village or a town, practising no ascetic discipline, but his mind might be pure, and free from ”defilements”. Of these two, said Sāriputta, the one who lives a pure life in the village or town is definitely far superior to, and greater than, the one who lives in the forest. [1]
真正的出离，并不就是将此身离开尘世。佛的大弟子舍利弗就说过：一个人可以住在林间修苦行，心中仍然充满了染污不净的思想。另一个人住在乡镇里，也不修苦行，可是他心境澄朗，了无微瑕。两者之中，舍利弗说，在乡镇中过清净生活的人，远胜于住在林间的人，也要比后者为伟大。［注一］
The common belief that to follow the Buddha”s teaching one has to retire from life is a misconception. It is really an unconscious defence against practising it. There are numerous references in Buddhist literature to men and women living ordinary, normal family lives who successfully practiced what the Buddha taught, and realized Nirvāna. Vacchagotta the Wanderer, (whom we met earlier in the chapter on Anatta), once asked the Buddha straight-forwardly whether there were laymen and woman leading the family life, who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states. The Buddha categorically stated that there were not one or two, not a hundred or two hundred or five hundred, but many more laymen and women leading the family life who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states. [2]
一般相信遵奉佛教必须离世，是一项错误的观念。这实际上是为不愿实行佛教而作的一项下意识的辩护。在佛教…
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