亲近智者
[中译]良稹
Association with the Wise
by Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Maha-mangala Sutta, the Great Discourse on Blessings, is one of the most popular Buddhist suttas, included in all the standard repertories of Pali devotional chants. The sutta begins when a deity of stunning beauty, having descended to earth in the stillness of the night, approaches the Blessed One in the Jeta Grove and asks about the way to the highest blessings. In the very first stanza of his reply the Buddha states that the highest blessing comes from avoiding fools and associating with the wise (asevana ca balanam, panditanan ca sevana). Since the rest of the sutta goes on to sketch all the different aspects of human felicity, both mundane and spiritual, the assignment of association with the wise to the opening stanza serves to emphasize a key point: that progress along the path of the Dhamma hinges on making the right choices in our friendships. 《大吉祥经》 (Maha-Mangala Sutta) 是一部最常为人们持诵、被收录于所有规范巴利课诵本内的佛教经文。在经文开端，一位美丽耀眼的天女于静夜降临大地，近诣柢树园中的薄伽梵，请为说至高的吉祥。佛陀在应答初偈中宣称，至高的吉祥来自远离愚人、亲近智者(asevana ca balanam，panditanan ca sevana )。由于余下经文叙述的，是包括世间与灵性诸侧面在内的一切人类福佑，亲近智者被置于经偈之首，意在强调一个关键点: 佛法之道的进步有赖于正确选择我们的友伴。
Contrary to certain psychological theories, the human mind is not a hermetically sealed chamber enclosing a personality unalterably shaped by biology and infantile experience. Rather, throughout life it remains a highly malleable entity continually remolding itself in response to its social interactions. Far from coming to our personal relationships with a fixed and immutable character, our regular and repeated social contacts implicate us in a constant process of psychological osmosis that offers precious opportunities for growth and transformation. Like living cells engaged in a chemical dialogue with their colleagues, our minds transmit and receive a steady barrage of messages and suggestions that may work profound changes even at levels below the threshold of awareness. 与某些心理学理论相反，人类的心灵并非是一个密闭式的容器，在其中封存着由生物学规律与婴儿期体验所定型的性格。反之，个体在整个一生当中始终高度可塑，不断地回应其社会互动而自我再造。我们决非是以固有不变的心性踏入个人的交往圈子，相反，那些定期与频繁的社会接触，把我们置于一个心理濡染的连续过程，为我们提供成长与转化的宝贵机会。正如活细胞与周围同伴进行着化学对话，我们的心持续地发送与接受着讯息与提示，它们甚至有可能在潜意识的诸层次上，造就深刻的变化。
Particularly critical to our spiritual progress is our selection of friends and companions, who can have the most decisive impact upon our personal destiny. It is because he perceived how susceptible our minds can be to the influence of our companions that the Buddha repeatedly stressed the value of good friendship (kalyanamittata) in the spiritual life. The Buddha states that he sees no other thing that is so much responsible for the arising of unwholesome qualities in a person as bad friendship, nothing so helpful for the arising of wholesome qualities as good friendship (AN 1.vii,10; I.viii,1). Again, he says that he sees no other external factor that leads to so much harm as bad friendship, and no other external factor that leads to so much benefit as good friendship (AN 1.x,13,14). It is through the influence of a good friend that a disciple is led along the Noble Eightfold Path to release from all suffering (SN 45:2). 对于我们的灵性进步特别重要的，是朋友与同伴的选择，那些人对我们的个人命运能够起决定性的影响。佛陀之所以反复强调善友 [kalyanamittata,善知识]在精神生活中的价值，是因为他了解我们的心，何等易受友伴的左右。佛陀说，他不见任何其它事，对引生不善巧素质[恶法]，作用之大，如恶友伴者，他不见任何它事，对引生善巧素质[善法]，作用之大，如善友伴者 (AN 1. vii,10; I. viii,1)。他又说，他不见任何其它的外在因素，引生伤害之大，甚于恶友伴者，他不见任何其它的外在因素，引生利益之大，甚于善友伴者 (AN 1. x,13,14)。正是借着善友的熏陶与指点，一位弟子在灭尽诸苦的八圣道上才得以进步(SN 45:2)。
Good friendship, in Buddhism, means considerably more than associating with people that one finds amenable and who share one”s interests. It means in effect seeking out wise companions to whom one can look for guidance and instruction. The task of the noble friend is not only to provide companionship in the treading of the way. The …
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