Compassion and Justice—Meeting Venerable Chao Hwei
慈悲与正义－－与昭慧法师晤谈
By Rebecca Li
美国纽泽西大学社会学副教授
陈悦萱 中译
July 2, 2006
Recently, it was my privilege to participate in the Women Faith Leaders Retreat held at Dharma Drum Mountain, Taiwan, on June 20-22. The theme of the retreat was “Compassionate Mind, Compassionate World.” I was there primarily to translate for Shifu in his closing address, but prior to that I had the good fortune to participate in the discussion and meet some amazing women, one of whom was Venerable Chao Hwei.
今年6月20日到22日，我非常荣幸参与了法鼓山举办的“全球女性慈悲论坛”，论坛的主题是“慈悲的心灵，慈悲的世界”，主要是为惜福会的闭幕致词翻译，正好有机会参加论坛的讨论会，并且遇到了几位令人赞叹的女性，其中一位就是昭慧法师。
Venerable Chao Hwei is professor of Religion and director of the Research Center of Applied Ethics at Hsuan Chuang University, a Buddhist university in Taiwan. She studied under Venerable Master Yin Shun, author of The Way to Buddhahood, and is a prolific scholar and author. She writes for newspapers to share the Buddhist perspective on issues as wide-ranging as animal rights and the legalization of gambling in Taiwan.
昭慧法师是台湾玄奘大学宗教研究所的教授，并且也是该校应用伦理中心的主任，这是一所由佛教筹办的大学。法师曾受教于《成佛之道》的作者印顺导师，是位著述非常丰富的学者及作家。她时常在报章杂志上，以佛法的观点解读各种具争议性的社会议题，例如动物权的议题、赌博合法化的议题等等。
On the first day of the retreat, Venerable Chao Hwei brought up the issue of compassion and justice, arguing that there is no true compassion if we do not face the issue of justice.
I was intrigued by her lucid and forceful argument; this was the first time I had seen a Chinese bhikshuni articulate her moral and intellectual position in such a forthright manner. I was fascinated also because we were discussing compassion, a topic that usually evokes an image of gentle, smiling people helping each other and getting along. This is hardly what comes to mind in debates over issues of injustice, such as the unequal treatment of men and women.
论坛的第一天，法师就引发了关于“慈悲与正义”这个议题的讨论，她认为我们如果回避正义的课题，就不会有真正的慈悲。这是我第一次看到一位比丘尼，用如此直接的方式，铿锵有力的表现她的智慧与道德，见识到她清晰有力的论辩。但是我也觉得疑惑，因为我们讨论的主题是“慈悲”，关于慈悲，立刻浮现在脑海的，不应该是面带微笑、有礼貌的一群人，彼此互相帮助扶持吗？很难理解为什么要提出诸如男女不平等之类的“不正义”议题来论辩呢？
In the open discussion and the subsequent conversations I had with her, Venerable Chao Hwei shared her experience advocating the abolition of the “eight deferential practices,” a set of additional precepts taken by fully ordained bhikshunis prescribing deferential manners to be used by bhikshunis (nuns) when interacting with bhikshus (monks). One such precept requires a bhikshuni, even though she is fully ordained with seniority, to bow deferentially to a novice monk. Within the monastic sangha of Dharma Drum Mountain, I was told, while these eight precepts are included in the full precepts taken by bhikshunis, Master Sheng Yen does not require that bhikshunis follow them in their interactions with bhikshus.
在开场的讨论会及之后的几次交谈中，昭慧法师跟我分享了她推行“废除八敬法运动”的经验。“八敬法”是专门为比丘尼制定的戒法，规范了八种比丘尼应礼敬比丘的方式，例如其中一条说：“即使是年长比丘尼，都必须向新受戒比丘顶礼。”据我所知，法鼓山的僧团里，虽然比丘尼的戒律中涵盖了“八敬法”，但是圣严法师并未要求法鼓山的比丘尼，与比丘互动时必须遵守八敬法。
However, in many instances, according to Venerable Chao Hwei, the existence of these eight precepts continues to damage the monastic sangha both by instilling a sense of pride, entitlement and superiority in some bhikshus, and a sense of inferiority, shame and a lack of confidence in some bhikshunis. These eight precepts perpetuate the inequality of men and women. In this system, everyone loses. Those in subordinate positions suffer from unfair treatment, while those in dominant positions give rise to pride and arrogance. Venerable Chao Hwei argued that allowing this injustice to continue is uncompassionate as we are not doing anything to help these beings alleviate their suffering.
但是在昭慧法师举的几个例子里，看到一些比丘因为八敬法，逐渐变得自大与自尊，而比丘尼却变得自卑与缺乏自信，可知八敬法的存在是如何的伤害僧团，并且使得男女不平等的问题永远存在。在八敬法的紧箍咒下，大家都是输家，因为处于受支配地位者…
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