五欲与苦

　　The Five Desires and Suffering

　　顺古 文

　　by Shun Gu

　　The five desires have us in a powerful hold, but actually they are just ersatz pleasures, shoddy substitutes for real happiness. When we don”t know how to live, how to be a person, or how to use our human life, we tend to believe that gratification of the senses and pursuit of pleasure can guarantee us some happiness. And so we let our inherent wisdom get clouded over by greedy desires. Mindlessly we drift along in the river of love, following the crowd, taking our cures from the TV, newspapers, and magazines, joining (correcting “joinging”) the same superficial pursuits we see everybody else involved in. Why do we do this

　　 Simply because it hasn”t occurred to us that there might be anything more to life.

　　五欲将我们紧紧攫住，

　　但事实上，五欲带给我们的不过是一些假的快乐。

　　我们不知道怎么活？怎么做人？怎么善用我们的一生时？

　　我们就以为感官享受及追求享乐会使我们快乐，

　　因此将我们本有的智慧让贪欲给遮盖了。

　　愚蠢地同流合污，在爱欲之海中浮沉，

　　模仿电视、报章、杂志，盲从他人，随波逐流。

　　为什么有这种现象呢？

　　很简单！就因为我们的无知––不知道生命还有其他的意义在内。

　　In Buddhism, suffering is analyzed in many different ways. There are the three sufferings, the eight sufferings, and the limitless sufferings. Not obtaining what one desires is one of the eight sufferings, and all people are familiar with this experience. But while not obtaining one”s desires is an obvious form of suffering, does it follow, then, that being able to gratify one”s desires is a source of happiness

　　 Many people, deluded by consumerism and materialism, might think so, since this is what our environment, the media, and the advertising world constantly tell us. But our predicament isn”t that simple.

　　在佛教中将苦分为多类：有三、八苦、无量苦。八苦中有求不得苦，相信大家对这一种苦，一定很熟悉。这个「求不 得」很明显地是一种苦；但是「求得」，是不是一定会带来快乐呢？许多惑于消费主义和唯物主义的人，或许会这样想；或者会认为「求得」是一种乐。因为我们所 生活的环境，大众传播媒体，广告界等都一再强调这是一种乐，但是我们的处境不是那么简单。

　　Unfufilled desires cause frustration, which easily leads to anger. Not being able to obtain the objects of the five desires—wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—we give rise to anger and hatred. But even if we do obtain these, our desires still cause us suffering. By giving in to greedy desires one simply reinforces these desires. Since greed can never be satisfied, one might say that human desires by definition are unquenchable. When one desire is satisfied, at least momentarily, the mind soon gives rise to ever increasing, more sophisticated desires. We thought the object we were grasping at would bring us satisfaction, but once it is ours, we tend to become jaded and bored with it soon. No matter what the coveted object may be—clothes, jewelry, a car, a house, a promotion, a boyfriend or a girlfriend—we tire of it soon and start looking for new, more exciting things to possess and enjoy. This never-ending multiplication of desires is our basic problem.

　　求不得会引起人的挫折感，进而转变成瞋怒。我们对五欲––财、色、名、食、睡得不到满足，就会生起瞋恨心。但 是假如我们的五欲得到满足了，这些五欲仍然会引起我们的痛苦。贪欲只是增强了人的这些欲望，因为我们的贪心永远都不会得到满足的。人类的欲望，根本上可以 说是永远都不会熄灭的。这个欲望暂时得到满足了，在心里又会生起其他更多更大的渴求。我们以为我们所追求的东西，只要到手我们就会满足了。但是一但追求到 手了，很快又会觉得厌倦了。不管是什么值得我们羡慕的好东西––衣服、珠宝、汽车、洋房、职位升迁、男、女朋友等等，只要到手之后又会有厌倦感，然后又想 追求更新的、更有刺激性的东西来占有和享受，这种永无止境的贪心确是我们最根本的问题。

　　As long as we let greed dictate our actions, we reap nothing but suffering. Unsatisfied desires are painful, and satisfied desires, besides feeding our greed, are inevitably undermined by the suffering of change or process. Thus anticipated happiness turns into accumulated suffering. A person attached to his desires and pleasures can never be truly happy, since the slightest change of circumstances can frustrate his desires. If fine food is your attachment, you”ll be disappointed with anything less than the best—and so you end up being dissatisfied most of the time. The same goes for fashionable clothes, fast cars, and even intellectual and artistic pursuits. It is difficult for a person of fastidious tastes to be truly happy or content, since nothing is ever quit…

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