..续本文上一页或社会福利的一种贡献。

　　When the Buddha gained Enlightenment as a result of His own efforts, He did not selfishly keep this knowledge to Himself. Rather, He spent no less than forty five years imparting His knowledge not only to men and women but even to the devas. This is Buddhism”s supreme example of selflessness and concern for the well-being of all living things.

　　当佛陀证悟后，他毫无保留于他的智慧，他花了四十五年的时间，传授他的智慧，不仅传授给人类，也传授给天人。这是佛教不自私的例子，佛教关心一切众生的利益。

　　It is often said that the Buddha helped devotees who were in trouble not through the performance of miracles such as restoring the dead to life and so on, but through His acts of wisdom and compassion.

　　有人说，佛陀不帮助那些有困难的虔诚信徒。的确，在佛教历史中，并没有记载以神通治病或令死人复活的案例。佛陀仅以他的大悲心和智慧教导佛法。

　　In one instance, a woman named Kisa Gotami went to seek the help of the Buddha in restoring her dead child to life. Knowing that He could not reason with her as she was so distressed and overwhelmed with grief, the Buddha told her that she should first obtain a handful of mustard seeds from a person who had never lost a dear one through death. The distracted woman ran from house to house and while everyone was only too willing to give her the mustard seeds, no one could honestly say that he or she had not lost a dear one through death. Slowly, Kisa Gotami came to the realization that death is a natural occurrence to be experienced by any being that is born. Filled with this realization she returned to the Buddha and thanked Him for showing her the truth about death.

　　有一回，一名叫做齐撒.乔达弥(Qisa Gotam)的妇女，恳求佛陀令他死去的孩子复活。佛陀知道在她的悲恸的打击下，精神受到很大的伤害，无法理智的说服她。佛陀要那名妇女到一家没有死过人的家庭，要一把芥子。每个人都愿意送给那名妇女芥子，可是每个家庭都曾经死过人。妇女这时觉悟到死亡是一种自然的规律，有生必定有死。她回到佛陀那里，感谢佛陀对她开示有关死亡的真正意义。

　　Now, the point here is that the Buddha was more concerned with the woman”s understanding about the nature of life than giving her temporary relief by restoring her child to life; the child would have grown old and still have died. With her greater realization Kisa Gotami was able not only to come to terms with the phenomenon of death but also to learn about the cause of sorrow through attachment. She was able to realize that attachment causes sorrow, that when attachment is destroyed, then sorrow is also destroyed.

　　这里要指出的重点是，佛陀关心那名妇女，并协助她了解生命的本质，更甚于令她得到暂时的慰藉或开解。就算把孩子救活，孩子长大后，将来还是一样要面对死亡。那名妇女的体验，不但令他理解了死亡的真相，也理解到「执着」是一切烦恼之因。一但「执着」消失后，一切烦恼也跟着消失了。

　　Therefore in Buddhism, a person can seek the help of external agencies (like devas) in the pursuit of temporal happiness, but in the later stages of development when attachment to the worldly conditions ceases, there begins the path towards renunciation and enlightenment for which one must stand alone. When a man seeks to gain liberation, to break away from the endless cycle of birth and death, to gain realization and enlightenment, he can only do this by his own efforts, by his own concentrated will power.

　　佛教不排除可以藉外在力量(天神)的帮助而获得短暂的快乐。但是，到了放弃世间一切因缘和执着，突破生死轮回，寻求自我解脱时，唯有靠自己的努力精进、专注和坚韧不拔的意志力。

　　Buddhism gives great dignity to man. It is the only religion which states that a human being has the power to help and free himself. In the later stages of his development, he is not at the mercy of any external force or agency which he must constantly please by worshipping or offering sacrifices.

　　佛教给人很大的尊严，它是唯一主张人类有潜在的力量来获得自我拯救的宗教。在人类发展精神领域的最后阶段，不必透过各种牺牲祭祀、祷告、祈求于外在的力量或「代理」来获得他们的恩惠或施舍。

《自我拯救 How to Save Yourself》全文阅读结束。