PART ONE
Life and Nature of the Buddha
Chapter 1 Gautama, the Buddha
第一篇 佛陀的言教与生平
第一章 佛陀的本怀与生平
苟答马佛陀
The Founder of Buddhism
佛教的创始者是苟答马佛陀。
Gautama Buddha, the founder of what came to be known as Buddhism, lived in Northern India in the 6th century B. C. His personal name was Siddhartha, and family name Gotama. The name ”Buddha” was given to Him after He attained Enlightenment and realized the Truth. It means the ”Awakened” or the ”Enlightened One”. He generally called Himself the Tathagata, while His followers called Him Bhagava, the Blessed One. Others spoke of Him as Gotama or Sakyamuni.
苟答马佛陀(Gotama，古译：乔达摩、瞿昙佛)，这位佛教的创始者，于公元前六世纪生于北印度。他的原名是悉达多，苟答马是他的家族姓氏。佛陀是他在证得正自觉后给予的尊称。佛陀的意思就是醒悟者或觉者。他称呼自己为如来(Tathāgatassa)，他的追随者则称呼他为世尊(Bhagavatā，古译：薄伽梵)。苟答马佛陀或释迦牟尼佛也是他的称号。
He was born a prince who seemed to have everything. He had a luxurious upbringing and His family was of pure descent on both sides. He was the heir to the throne, extremely handsome, inspiring trust, stately and gifted with great beauty of complexion and fine presence. At sixteen He married His cousin named Yasodhara who bore Him a son whom they called Rahula. His wife was majestic, cheerful day and night, and full of dignity and grace.
他一出世，就是一位拥有一切的王子。他住在一座金碧辉煌的王宫里，受到无微不至的照顾和过着奢侈的生活。当他十六岁那年，和亚寿塔拉(Yasodharà)结婚。婚后生了一个儿子叫拉胡喇(Ràhula)。他的妻子是一位充满正义感，整天笑脸迎人，尊贵又漂亮的女人。
Despite all this, He felt trapped amidst the luxury like a bird in a golden cage. During a visit to the city one day, He saw what is known as the ”Four Sights”, that is , an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy recluse. When He saw the sights, one after another, the realization came to Him that, ”it is subject to age and death”. He asked, ”Where is the realm of life in which there is neither age nor death
” The sight of the recluse, who was calm for having given up the craving for material life, gave him the clue that the first step in His search for Truth was Renunciation.
王子对于这一切并不感到满意，他觉得自己好像一只小鸟，生活在黄金打造的鸟笼里。有一天，当他到城里巡游时，他发现了「四种现象」，那就是一个老人，一个病人，一个死人和一位修行者。当他逐一的看见这些现象后，他寻思道：「生命离不开年老和死亡。」他问自己：「有什么办法能解脱生死？」这时候，那放弃欲望和物质生活的修行者，平静的相貌浮现在他眼前，使他萌起了出家和寻求真理的念头。
Determined to find the way out of these universal sufferings, He decided to leave home to find the cure not for Himself only, but for all mankind. One night in His twenty-ninth year, He bade His sleeping wife and son a silent farewell, saddled His great white horse, and rode off toward the forest.
为了寻求如何脱离世间一切苦的道路，他毅然决定出家。他不是为了自己，而是为了全人类。在他二十九岁那年的一个晚上，他站在寝室门外，注视着熟睡中的妻子和儿子后，静悄悄的骑上心爱的白马，离开王宫向树林飞驰而去。
His renunciation is unprecedented in history. He left at the height of youth, from pleasures to difficulties, from certainty of material security to uncertainty, from a position of wealth and power to that of a wandering ascetic who took shelter in the cave and forest, with His ragged robe as the only protection against the blazing sun, rain and winter winds. He renounced His position, wealth, promise of prestige and power, and a life filled with love and hope in exchange for the search for Truth which no one had found.
他的出家是一件不寻常的事。当时他正当年轻有为，从尊贵到平凡，从充满物质的生活到一无所有，从拥有极高权力和财富的王储成为一位修行者，在山洞或树林里过着日晒雨淋的生活。他披上袈裟，只为了遮挡强烈的阳光和风雨。他舍弃了他将来的王位、财富和权力，以大慈大悲的心，寻求前人从未发现的真理。
For six long years, He labored to find the Truth. He studied under the foremost masters of the day, and learned all these religious teachers could teach Him. When He could not find what He was looking for, He joined a band of ascetics and tortured His body so as to break its power and crush its interference, since it was believed that Truth could be found this way. A man of enormous energy and will power, He outdid other ascetics in every austerity they proposed. While fasting, He ate so little that when He took hold of the skin of His stomach, He actually touched His spine. He pushed H…
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