修女

　　Missionary Nun

　　看到这个题目，也许有些人会感到不解。作为一名佛教徒，怎么忽然间对外道感起兴趣来了呢？但今天我要赞美的这位修女，决不能用单纯的宗教来界定她的信仰。在我的心目中，她就是活生生的佛菩萨。她，就是驰名全球的修女——特蕾萨。

　　Upon seeing this title, some of you may wonder: As a Buddhist, why am I suddenly interested in affairs of non-Buddhists

　　 But the object of my admiration and respect today, a Catholic nun, is beyond the simple definition of religious faith. In my heart, she is the living Buddha or a Bodhisattva. This person, incidentally, is none other than the renowned missionary nun—Mother Teresa.

　　她出身于一个具有良好教养的南斯拉夫家庭，从小受到天主教的教育，18岁前往印度的加尔各答，在一所拥有漂亮花园的修道院内，过着安定而舒适的欧洲式生活。

　　Mother Teresa was born into a well-educated family from Yugoslavia and had attended Catholic schools since childhood. At the age of 18, she went to Calcutta, India, where she initially enjoyed an easy and comfortable European lifestyle in a monastery complete with beautiful gardens.

　　当她有一天发现修道院高墙之外人们的凄惨遭遇时，她再也不愿安于往日平静的生活，面对一双双渴望关怀的眼睛却熟视无睹了。一种强烈的使命感驱使着她，使她不顾周围人的极力反对，单枪匹马地走入贫民窟，勇敢地将世人的悲惨背在自己身上。用一双柔弱的双肩，挑起了拯救贫民的重任。

　　One day, she discovered the utter misery of people living outside the tall walls of the monastery, and she could no longer live her peaceful daily life. When faced with scores of eyes desperately in want of care, she could no longer shut her own eyes. Driven by a strong sense of purpose and against the strong opposition of people around her, she ventured into the slum all alone. Bravely, she carried on her back the pains and sorrows of beings in the world; with her frail shoulders, she assumed the heavy burden of rescuing the destitute from the slums.

　　当一个从没有人关心过，没有人知道他死活的老人，孤寂地躺在床上等待着死神造访的时候，特蕾萨走进了他的房间；当一个被人殴伤的酗酒者醉卧街头、无人问津的时候，特蕾萨挺身而出将他救起，并送到她所创办的怜悯之家；当浑身蛆虫的伤者遭到路人的厌恶和唾弃的时候，特蕾萨精心地为他包扎伤口，并用温暖的怀抱去迎接那颗濒临绝望的心……她的足迹穿越了大半个地球，加尔各答、也门、伦敦、墨尔本、纽约，甚至包括中国。她先后成立了一百多个替穷人服务的处所，在仅仅6年的时间里，就收留了61273个弃婴。

　　An utterly lonely old man was lying on a bed. No one had ever cared for him, nor did anyone ever heed whether he was still breathing. When the only visitor he could ever expect was the Lord of Death, Mother Teresa walked into his room. A drunk stretched out on the street, brutally beaten, and severely injured. When he could await nothing but indifference, Mother Teresa appeared and helped him up, escorting him to the “House of the Pure Heart” she had established. A tramp curved up on the roadside, his body covered with oozing sores and maggots. When he was receiving nothing but spiteful looks and revulsion from passersby, Mother Teresa came and bound up his wounds tenderly; she embraced his heart of total despair and gave it warmth…. Her footprints covered more than half of the earth—Calcutta, Yemen, London, Melbourne, New York, even China. She founded more than a hundred charity agencies to serve the lowly poor. She took in 61,273 abandoned babies in a period of merely six years.

　　她的不懈努力终于得到了世人的认同。1979年，她获得了举世瞩目的“诺贝尔和平奖”，也使她在一夜之间成为了家喻户晓的人物。她除了将所有的奖金都用于慈善事业以外，还特别请求诺贝尔委员会，取消例行的授奖宴会。委员会为她的精神所感动，将准备用于开支宴席费用的7100美元，赠送给了她所创办的“仁爱传教修女会”。

　　Her untiring efforts finally gained the recognition of the world. In 1979, she was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Overnight she became a household name. But she donated all her prize money to charity. In addition, she specifically requested the Nobel Committee to forgo the traditional banquet in honor of the Peace Prize winner. The committee was impressed by her spirit and contributed the $7,100 that would otherwise have been spent on the banquet to the Missionary of Charity that she founded.

　　尽管她已成为名人，却仍然过着拮据寒碜的生活。她只有三套衣服，不穿袜子，只穿凉鞋。在电脑等先进电器极为普遍的时代，她的住处除了电灯以外，唯一的电器用具就是一部电话。她将教皇赠送给她的一部林肯轿车拍卖，并用所得款项开办了一家麻风病院。

　　Although she had become a celebrity, she still maintained an extremely frugal and sparing life. She owned only three sets of clothes; she wore no socks, only sandals. In an age of advanced electronics pervaded with co…

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