第一章 佛陀的本懷與生平 Chapter 1 Gautama, the Buddha
PART ONE
Life and Nature of the Buddha
Chapter 1 Gautama, the Buddha
第一篇 佛陀的言教與生平
第一章 佛陀的本懷與生平
苟答馬佛陀
The Founder of Buddhism
佛教的創始者是苟答馬佛陀。
Gautama Buddha, the founder of what came to be known as Buddhism, lived in Northern India in the 6th century B. C. His personal name was Siddhartha, and family name Gotama. The name ‘Buddha’ was given to Him after He attained Enlightenment and realized the Truth. It means the ‘Awakened’ or the ‘Enlightened One’. He generally called Himself the Tathagata, while His followers called Him Bhagava, the Blessed One. Others spoke of Him as Gotama or Sakyamuni.
苟答馬佛陀(Gotama，古譯：喬達摩、瞿曇佛)，這位佛教的創始者，于公元前六世紀生于北印度。他的原名是悉達多，苟答馬是他的家族姓氏。佛陀是他在證得正自覺後給予的尊稱。佛陀的意思就是醒悟者或覺者。他稱呼自己為如來(Tathāgatassa)，他的追隨者則稱呼他為世尊(Bhagavatā，古譯：薄伽梵)。苟答馬佛陀或釋迦牟尼佛也是他的稱號。
He was born a prince who seemed to have everything. He had a luxurious upbringing and His family was of pure descent on both sides. He was the heir to the throne, extremely handsome, inspiring trust, stately and gifted with great beauty of complexion and fine presence. At sixteen He married His cousin named Yasodhara who bore Him a son whom they called Rahula. His wife was majestic, cheerful day and night, and full of dignity and grace.
他一出世，就是一位擁有一切的王子。他住在一座金碧輝煌的王宮里，受到無微不至的照顧和過著奢侈的生活。當他十六歲那年，和亞壽塔拉(Yasodharà)結婚。婚後生了一個兒子叫拉胡喇(Ràhula)。他的妻子是一位充滿正義感，整天笑臉迎人，尊貴又漂亮的女人。
Despite all this, He felt trapped amidst the luxury like a bird in a golden cage. During a visit to the city one day, He saw what is known as the ‘Four Sights’, that is , an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a holy recluse. When He saw the sights, one after another, the realization came to Him that, ‘it is subject to age and death’. He asked, ‘Where is the realm of life in which there is neither age nor death?’ The sight of the recluse, who was calm for having given up the craving for material life, gave him the clue that the first step in His search for Truth was Renunciation.
王子對于這一切並不感到滿意，他覺得自己好像一只小鳥，生活在黃金打造的鳥籠里。有一天，當他到城里巡游時，他發現了「四種現象」，那就是一個老人，一個病人，一個死人和一位修行者。當他逐一的看見這些現象後，他尋思道：「生命離不開年老和死亡。」他問自己：「有什麼辦法能解脫生死？」這時候，那放棄欲望和物質生活的修行者，平靜的相貌浮現在他眼前，使他萌起了出家和尋求真理的念頭。
Determined to find the way out of these universal sufferings, He decided to leave home to find the cure not for Himself only, but for all mankind. One night in His twenty-ninth year, He bade His sleeping wife and son a silent farewell, saddled His great white horse, and rode off toward the forest.
為了尋求如何脫離世間一切苦的道路，他毅然決定出家。他不是為了自己，而是為了全人類。在他二十九歲那年的一個晚上，他站在寢室門外，注視著熟睡中的妻子和兒子後，靜悄悄的騎上心愛的白馬，離開王宮向樹林飛馳而去。
His renunciation is unprecedented in history. He left at the height of youth, from pleasures to difficulties, from certainty of material security to uncertainty, from a position of wealth and power to that of a wandering ascetic who took shelter in the cave and forest, with His ragged robe as the only protection against the blazing sun, rain and winter winds. He renounced His position, wealth, promise of prestige and power, and a life filled with love and hope in exchange for the search for Truth which no one had found.
他的出家是一件不尋常的事。當時他正當年輕有為，從尊貴到平凡，從充滿物質的生活到一無所有，從擁有極高權力和財富的王儲成為一位修行者，在山洞或樹林里過著日曬雨淋的生活。他披上袈裟，只為了遮擋強烈的陽光和風雨。他舍棄了他將來的王位、財富和權力，以大慈大悲的心，尋求前人從未發現的真理。
For six long years, He labored to find the Truth. He studied under the foremost masters of the day, and learned all these religious teachers could teach Him. When He could not find what He was looking for, He joined a band of ascetics and tortured His body so as to break its power and crush its interference, since it was believed that Truth could be found this way. A man of enormous energy and will power, He outdid other ascetics in every austerity they proposed. While fasting, He ate so little that when He took hold of the skin of His stomach, He actually touched His spine. He pushed Himself to the extent that no man had done and yet lived. He, too, would have certainly died had He not realized the futility of self-mortification, and decided to practise moderation instead.
在漫長的六年里，他努力尋求真理從不懈怠。他向著名的老師參學，他向所有的宗教導師學習。但他發現找不到他所追求的，他參與了苦行修士的訓練，想通過折磨身體來證悟真理，當時他相信通過這樣的鍛鍊會尋獲真理。他以無比的堅強意志實踐苦行修士的教導。他禁食，每天以一點點食物充飢，結果瘦得剩下皮包骨，肚皮也貼上脊椎骨了，他的苦行已到達人類能夠忍受的極限。最後，他覺察到這種自我折磨的苦行方式是枉費心機的，他終于放棄了苦行，轉而實踐中道。
On the full moon night of the month of Vesakha, He sat under the Bodhi tree at Gaya, wrapped in deep meditation. It was then that His mind burst the bubble of the universe and realized the true nature of all life and all things. At the age of 35 years, He was transformed from an earnest truth seeker into the Buddha, the Enlightened One.
在七月(āsāḷha)的月圓之夜，在迦耶(Buddhagayā，現在的布德嘎亞)，他坐在一棵菩提樹下，進入禪定。就在這時候，他證悟了正自覺。當時他三十五歲，從一個平常人成為佛陀 —— 一位覺者。
For nearly half a century, the Buddha walked on the dusty paths of India Teaching the Dhamma so that those who heard and practised could be ennobled and free. He founded an order of monks and nuns, challenged the caste system, raised the status of women, taught religious freedom and free inquiry, opened the gates of deliverance to all, in every condition of life, high or low, saint or sinner, and ennobled the lives of criminals like Angulimala and courtesans like Ambapali.
將近半個世紀，佛陀步行在印度泥濘的道路，弘揚他所覺悟的法。那些實踐他所教導者，都能獲得解脫。他成立了比庫僧團和比庫尼僧團。他向傳統挑戰，提升婦女的地位，讓她們通過宗教而獲得自由和平等。他敞開了佛教大門，解放了所有階層的人，無論是高尚或低下的，聖人或罪惡者。度化了殺人無數、罪惡滔天的安古里瑪拉(Angulmala，古譯：指魔、央掘摩羅)，和妓女安巴帕麗(Ambapal)。
He was towering in wisdom and intellect. Every problem was analyzed in component parts and then reassembled in logical order with the meaning made clear. None could defeat Him in dialogue. An unequaled teacher, He still is the foremost analyst of the mind and phenomena even up to the present day. For the first time in history, He gave men the power to think for themselves, raised the worth of mankind, and showed that man can reach to the highest knowledge and supreme Enlightenment by his own efforts.
他浸濡于尋求知識和智慧中，所有的問題都被他一一的解決了。一切物體都由四種元素組成，一切都是四大(元素)的假合。沒有人能在辯論中把他駁倒。一位無可比擬的教師，他的學術和理論一直影響到今天。他是歷史的第一個人，他給予人類思想的動力，突出了人性，指示人類只要肯努力，就能獲得無上的知識和達到殊勝的覺悟境界。
Despite His peerless wisdom and royal lineage, He was never removed from the simple villager. Surface distinctions of class and caste meant little to Him. No one was too little or low for Him to help. Often when an outcast, or poor and dejected came to Him, his self-respect was restored and he turned from the ignoble life to that of a noble being.
除了弘法以外，他從來沒有離開那簡陋的村莊。他視名利、地位為無物。他無私的幫助一切眾生，在他眼中沒有誰是渺小或低下的。經常有外來的窮人或殘廢者來尋求他的協助，他令他們的自尊重新獲得確認，使他們從鄙賤的生命中提升為尊貴的人類。
The Buddha was full of compassion(karuna)and wisdom(panna), knowing how and what to teach each individual for his own benefit according to his level and capabilities. He was known to have walked long distances to help one single person.
佛陀的內心充滿了慈悲和智慧，他根據每個人不同的層次和能力教導他們。他經常到很遠的地方去，只為幫助某一個人。
He was affectionate and devoted to His disciples, always inquiring after their well-being and progress. When staying at the monastery, He paid daily visits to the sick wards. His compassion for the sick can be seen from His advice, ‘He who attends the sick, attends on me.’ The Buddha kept order and discipline on the basis of mutual respect. King Pasenadi could not understand how the Buddha maintained such order and discipline in the community of monks, when he as a king with the power to punish, could not maintain it as well in his court.
他親切地關懷和愛護他的弟子，經常問起他們的起居和修行的進展。當居住在寺院的時候，他每天都去探訪病院里的病人，他的慈悲心從這里展露無疑。他說道：「誰照顧病人，就是在照顧我。」他提倡秩序和紀律，使大家互相尊敬。巴謝那地王(Pasenadi，古譯：波斯匿)不能理解佛陀如何維持一個那麼龐大僧團的紀律？以他身為一個擁有懲罰權力的國王和他的法院都無法做到這一點。
The Buddha did not claim to have ‘created’ worldly conditions, universal phenomena, or the Universal Law which we call the ‘Dhamma’. Although described as lokavidu or ‘knower of the worlds’, He was not regarded as the sole custodian of the Universal Laws. He freely acknowledge that the Dhamma, together with the working of the cosmos, is timeless, it has no creator and is independent in the absolute sense. Every conditioned thing that exists in the cosmos is subject to the operation of Dhamma. What the Buddha did (like all the other Buddhas before Him) was to rediscover this infallible Truth and make it known to mankind. In discovering the Truth, He also found the means whereby one could ultimately free oneself from being subjected to the endless cycle of conditioning, with its attendant evils of unsatisfactoriness.
佛陀擁有大神通，可是他並不重視它。對他來說，最大的神通就是弘揚真理和讓人們理解真理。這位擁有大慈悲心的導師，他使人類脫離困苦，以真理解除人類的鐐銬，使人類獲得自由，指引人類正確的生活道路。
佛陀並不認為這世間的一切現象，或被稱為達摩(Dhamma)的世間法，是被「創造」的。他認為從無始以來，法已和世界並存，他絕對的認為，這世間沒有所謂的造物者。世間一切的現象都是「法」的運作。佛陀就如過去所有古佛一樣，倡導絕對的真理和讓人類理解什麼是絕對的真理。在發現真理的同時，他找到了終止那邪惡和令人困擾的生死輪迴的解脫之道。
After forty-five years of ministry, the Buddha passed away at the age of eighty at kusinara, leaving behind thousands of followers, monks and nuns, and a vast treasure store of Dhamma Teaching. The impact of His great love and dedication is still felt today.
佛陀弘法四十五年，在他八十歲那年，于古西那拉(Kusinàra)，在數千名信徒、比庫、比庫尼的見證下，離開人間。佛陀珍貴的教導遺愛人間，直到今天。
In the Three Greatest Men in History, H. G. Wells states, ’In the Buddha you see clearly a man, simple, devout, lonely, battling for light, a vivid universal in character. Many of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the miseries and discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness. Before a man can become serene he must cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he merges into a greater being. Buddhism in a different language called men to self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In some ways he was nearer to us and our needs. He was more lucid upon our individual importance in service than Christ and less ambiguous upon the question of personal immortality.
H.G.威爾的著作《歷史的三大巨人》中，對佛陀評論道：「在佛陀的身上，讓你看到一位光明磊落的人，他純樸、孤獨、追求光明，和散發出強烈的人性尊嚴，這些都不是神話。他也將這些信息傳達給全人類。到今天為止，很多先進的理論和思想都和他的吻合。他教導人類以布施來克服吝嗇和不滿。一個人必須先停止感官的欲望，才能得到平靜安祥，才能獲得偉大的人性。佛陀在公元五百多年前，就以不同的語言教導人類放棄對「我」的執著。他非常接近我們，我們也非常的需要他。他比基督更清楚的解決個人的重要問題，從不含糊也不模稜兩可。」