..续本文上一页eless ones who have come to visit today, please consider this teaching. Ask yourselves, "Who am I

　　 Why am I here

　　" Ask yourselves, "Why was I born

　　" Some people don”t know. They want to be happy but the suffering never stops. Rich or poor, young or old, they suffer just the same. It”s all suffering. And why

　　 Because they have no wisdom. The poor are unhappy because they don”t have enough, and the rich are unhappy because they have too much to look after.

　　当我还是个年轻沙弥时，曾说过一个譬喻，是关于拥有财富与仆人的快乐——男仆与女仆各一百名，大象、乳牛与水牛各一百头，任何东西都是一百件。这在家人真的非常享受这一切，但你能想像照顾各一百头水牛、乳牛与各一百个男、女仆人的情形吗

　　你能想像必须照顾这一切吗

　　In the past, as a young novice, I gave a Dhamma discourse. I talked about the happiness of wealth and possessions, having servants and so on... A hundred male servants, a hundred female servants, a hundred elephants, a hundred cows, a hundred buffaloes...a hundred of everything! The laypeople really lapped it up. But can you imagine looking after a hundred buffaloes

　　 Or a hundred cows, a hundred male and female servants...can you imagine having to look after all of that

　　 Would that be fun

　　人们未考虑到事情的这一面，他们只想拥有上百的乳牛、水牛、仆人……。但我说五十头水牛可能就太多了，光为那些畜生绑上绳子就不得了了!但人们从未想到这点，只想到获得的快乐，而未想到涉入其中的麻烦。

　　People don”t consider this side of things. They have the desire to possess...to have the cows, the buffaloes, the servants... hundreds of them. But I say fifty buffaloes would be too much. Just twining the rope for all those brutes would be too much already! But people don”t consider this, they only think of the pleasure of acquiring. They don”t consider the trouble involved.

　　(想要是苦想不要也是苦)

　　若没有智慧，身边的每样事物都会成为痛苦的根源；若有智慧，这些事物则会带领我们脱离痛苦。眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意……你知道，眼睛不一定是好东西，当心情不好时，只是看到别人就能让你生气和失眠。你也可能在谈恋爱，若得不到想要的，爱情也是一种苦。因为贪欲，所以爱与恨都是痛苦。

　　If we don”t have wisdom everything round us will be a source of suffering. If we are wise these things will lead us out of suffering. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind...Eyes aren”t necessarily good things, you know. If you are in a bad mood just seeing other people can make you angry and make you lose sleep. Or you can fall in love with others. Love is suffering, too, if you don”t get what you want. Love and hate are both suffering, because of desire.

　　想要是苦，想不要也是苦，想要的东西即使得到后，仍然是苦，因为会害怕失去。一切是苦，你应如何和它相处呢

　　你可能有栋大豪宅，但若心不好，它就永远无法如你所愿。

　　Wanting is suffering, wanting not to have is suffering. Wanting to acquire things... even if you get them it”s still suffering because you”re afraid you”ll lose them. There”s only suffering. How are you going to live with that

　　 You may have a large, luxurious house, but if your heart isn”t good it never really works out as you expected.

　　你应看看自己。我们为何出生

　　这一生真的有得到什么东西吗

　　人们在乡下从小就开始种田，当长到十七、八岁时，便匆匆忙忙地结婚，唯恐没有足够的时间赚钱。他们从年轻时就开始工作，以为会变得有钱，直到七十、八十甚至九十岁都还在种田。我问他们：「你从出生就一直工作到现在，如今差不多要走了，你能带走什么呢

　　」除了「我不知道」之外，他们不晓得还能说些什么。

　　Therefore, you should all take a look at yourselves. Why were we born

　　 Do we ever really attain anything in this life

　　 In the countryside here people start planting rice right from childhood. When they reach seventeen or eighteen they rush off and get married, afraid they won”t have enough time to make their fortunes. They start working from an early age thinking they”ll get rich that way. They plant rice until they”re seventy or eighty or even ninety years old. I ask them. "From the day you were born you”ve been working. Now it”s almost time to go, what are you going to take with you

　　" They don”t know what to say.

　　关于这部分，我们有则谚语：「别沿途停下来采草莓，在你晓得以前，暮色早已降临。」他们进退两难，只能以一句「我不知道」来搪塞，坐在草莓园中狼吞虎咽：「我不知道，我不知道……」

　　All they can say is, "Beats me!" We have a saying in these parts, "Don”t tarry picking berries along the way ... before you know it, night falls." Just because of this "Beats me!" They”re neither here nor there, content with just a "beats me"... sitting among the branches of the berry tree, gorging themselves wi…

《为何我们生于此？Why Are We Here

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