归依

　　[作者]坦尼沙罗尊者

　　[中译]良稹

　　Going for Refuge

　　by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

　　The act of going for refuge marks the point where one commits oneself to taking the Dhamma, or the Buddha”s teaching, as the primary guide to one”s life. To understand why this commitment is called a "refuge," it”s helpful to look at the history of the custom. 归依之举，标志着一个人作出承诺，把佛法或者说佛陀的教导作为自己生活的主要指南。为了理解这项承诺何以被称为”归依”，审视该传统的历史渊源是有益的。

　　In pre-Buddhist India, going for refuge meant proclaiming one”s allegiance to a patron — a powerful person or god — submitting to the patron”s directives in hopes of receiving protection from danger in return. In the early years of the Buddha”s teaching career, his new followers adopted this custom to express their allegiance to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, but in the Buddhist context this custom took on a new meaning. 在佛教出现之前的印度， “归依”意味着对某位保护者——当权者或者神明——宣示忠诚，服从该保护者的指示，以期换得远离危险的安稳庇护。在佛陀传法生涯的早期，他的新弟子们沿袭了这个传统，以表达自己对佛、法、僧的忠诚，不过在佛教语境之中，该传统有其新意。

　　Buddhism is not a theistic religion — the Buddha is not a god — and so a person taking refuge in the Buddhist sense is not asking for the Buddha personally to intervene to provide protection. Still, one of the Buddha”s central teachings is that human life is fraught with dangers — from greed, anger, and delusion — and so the concept of refuge is central to the path of practice, in that the practice is aimed at gaining release from those dangers. Because the mind is the source both of the dangers and of release, there is a need for two levels of refuge: external refuges, which provide models and guidelines so that we can identify which qualities in the mind lead to danger and which to release; and internal refuges, i.e., the qualities leading to release that we develop in our own mind in imitation of our external models. The internal level is where true refuge is found. 佛教不是一个奉神的宗教——佛陀不是一位神祗——因此一个人归依，在佛教意义上，并非是请求佛陀亲自介入，提供庇护。虽如此，佛陀的一条核心教导是，人生布满了危险——指来自贪、嗔、痴的危险——故此，归依的概念对修证之道具有根本的重要性，因为修持的目的正是为了脱离这些危险。由于心既是危险的来源，又是解脱的来源，我们需要在两个层次上归依: 外在层次的归依为我们提供榜样与指南，我们得以认清心的哪些素质引生危险，哪些素质引生解脱; 内在层次的归依，则是效仿我们的外在榜样，在自己内心培育起来的趋向解脱的素质。这个内在层次才是归依的真正实现处。

　　Although the tradition of going to refuge is an ancient practice, it is still relevant for our own practice today, for we are faced with the same internal dangers that faced people in the Buddha”s time. We still need the same protection as they. When a Buddhist takes refuge, it is essentially an act of taking refuge in the doctrine of karma: It”s an act of submission in that one is committed to living in line with the principle that actions based on skillful intentions lead to happiness, while actions based on unskillful intentions lead to suffering; it”s an act of claiming protection in that, by following the teaching, one hopes to avoid the misfortunes that bad karma engenders. To take refuge in this way ultimately means to take refuge in the quality of our own intentions, for that”s where the essence of karma lies. 尽管归依的传统古已有之，今日它对我们自己的修行仍具相关性，因为我们面临着与佛陀时代的人们同样的内在危险。我们仍然需要同样的庇护。当一位佛教徒归依时，基本上这是对业力法则的一种归依: 之所以为遵奉，因为他承诺在人生中遵奉善业[以善巧动机为基础的行为]趋向幸福，不善业趋向苦痛的原则。之所以为庇护，因为借着服从教导，他希望避开恶业招致的不幸。以这种方式作归依，终究意味着归依我们自己的动机的质量，因为那就是业的精髓。

　　The refuges in Buddhism — both on the internal and on the external levels — are the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, also known as the Triple Gem. They are called gems both because they are valuable and because, in ancient times, gems were believed to have protective powers. The Triple Gem outdoes other gems in this respect because its protective powers can be put to the test and can lead further than those of any physical gem, all the way to absolute freedom from the uncertainties of the realm of aging, illness, and death. 佛教的归依——内在、外在两个层次上——都是指佛、法、僧，亦称三宝。之所以被称为宝，既因为它们有价值，也因为在古代，人们相信宝石具有种种护佑力量。三宝于此处胜于诸宝，因其保护力可被验证，并且功效之远为矿物宝石所不及…

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