LIVING IN THE WORLD LIKE A LOTUS FLOWER　　　　

如莲花似地生活在世间

 

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi 菩提比丘

 

Closing Talk at the 2013 BAUS Summer Camp

 

2013年美国佛教会夏令营闭营典礼开示

 

The BAUS summer camp of 2013 is coming to an end. But even though you’ll soon be going home, you should not think you are leaving the monastery. Rather, you should take the monastery with you: take it with you in your heart. And at home, you should try to apply the principles that you learned at the monastery to your everyday life, for the Buddha Dharma does not only flourish in a monastery. It flourishes best in the human heart, and we help it to flourish by putting the Dharma into practice in our daily lives.

 

美国佛教会2013年佛学夏令营已经接近尾声。虽然你们很快就要回家了，但你们不应该认为你们是在离开庄严寺。反而，你们应该把庄严寺带着一起走：带在心里一起走。在家里，你们应该试着把在庄严寺学到的一些原则应用在每天的生活当中，因为佛法不只是在寺庙里才兴盛，在人类的心中会是最兴盛的，当我们在日常生活当中实践法的时候，我们就会帮助佛法兴盛。

 

In Buddhism, we often use the simile of the lotus flower to illustrate how purification occurs in the midst of turmoil and trouble. The lotus flower grows up in the mud at the bottom of the lake, but it rises through the muddy water and emerges on the surface of the lake. Here it blossoms in the light of the sun and displays its beauty, giving delight to everyone who looks at it! So, you should make your heart like the lotus flower. Let it blossom amidst all the turmoil of your daily life.

 

在佛教里，我们经常使用莲花当比喻，说明在动乱和麻烦当中，净化是如何发生的。莲花成长在湖底的泥巴，但它穿出污水而浮现在湖面上。它在太阳光下开花并展示它的美好，让欣赏者心喜。

 

In your daily life, there will be problems in the family, problems at school, problems with friends and neighbors, problems at work. All these problems are like the mud in the lake. As followers of the Buddha you should apply the Dharma to purify your heart, make your heart rise up through the mud and dirt of worldly affairs and let it blossom, showing its sublime beauty.

 

在你们每天的生活里，问题都会发生在家庭里、在学校里，和朋友、邻居产生麻烦，或在工作中发生问题。这些所有的问题就像湖底的泥巴一样。做为佛陀的追随者，你们应该应用佛法来净化你们的心，让你们的心从日常俗事的污泥中穿透出来，同时让它开花来展示它崇高的美！

 

The sublime beauty of the human heart is manifest in three qualities:

 

人心的崇高之美，可以用三个性质来表明：

 

One is purity of  conduct which means that you should try to live by the Five Precepts, which enjoin: not taking life, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not speaking deliberate lies, and not using intoxicating substances that cloud the mind. By following the precepts, you will be sure that you are not harming any other living beings.

 

第一是净行，那就是你们应该尽量实行五戒，它包括：不杀生、不偷盗、不邪淫、不妄语以及不食用会蔽心的酒药等。遵守戒律，你们一定不会伤害到其他生命的。

 

The second quality is wisdom. Wisdom isn’t just a spark of illumination that comes through deep meditation. Wisdom is a  practical capacity that you can apply in everyday life. In this context, wisdom means knowing how to distinguish what is good and what is bad, what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, what is beneficial to oneself and what is beneficial to others. Wisdom means knowing how to make the right distinctions and how to make the right choices.

 

第二个性质是智慧。智能不是只有来自深度禅定的一个火花，智能也是你们能够应用在日常生活当中的实际容量。换句话说，智慧就是知道如何去区分什么是好、什么是坏、什么是健康的、什么是不健康的、什么对自己有好处和什么对别人有好处。智慧就是知道如何去做正确的区别和如何去做对的选择。

 

The third quality, the third ring of petals in the lotus flower, is compassion. Compassion is the quality that causes one’s heart to be moved by the suffering of others. A compassionate person feels the suffering of others as one’s own. But just feeling the suffering of others is not enough. A compassionate person is ready to act, to help alleviate the suffering of others. And this is the quality that we need most in the world today!

 

第三个性质，也是莲花的第三环花瓣是慈悲。慈悲是一种因别人的痛苦而使一个人的心，会受到触动的性质。一个富有同情心的人，感到别人的苦难就像是自己的一样。但只是感触到别人的痛苦是不够的。一个富有同情心的人，随时都准备好去行动，去帮助、减轻别人的烦忧的。这是当今我们这个世界所最需要的一个性质！

 

So, to sum up, to live like a lotus flower in daily life we need three qualities. First, we need the morality of the precepts as a guide

to right conduct.

 

Second, we need wisdom to distinguish what is good and what is bad and to choose the good rather than the bad.

 

And third, we need compassion to make us responsive to the sufferings of others and to help reduce the suffering in the world.

 

因此，如果我们每天要活得像莲花，我们便需要有三个性质：

 

第一，我们需要有道德的戒律，以做为我们正当行为的准则。

 

第二，我们需要智慧去区别什么是好、什么是坏，以择善去恶。

 

第三，我们需要慈悲，以使我们能够照顾别人的各种困扰，并帮助减缓这世界上的诸多灾难。

 

If you live in accordance with the Buddha Dharma, you’ll find that your life is truly beneficial, truly worthwhile for yourself, and truly beneficial for others—for your family, your school, your neighborhood, the country and the whole world. Your heart will be as beautiful as the most splendid lotus flower.

 

如果你们按照佛法过日子，你们将会发现到你们的生命是真正地对自己有益和有价值，同时对别人也是真正地有益－对你们的家人、学校、邻居、国家以及全世界！你们的心将会像最灿烂的莲花那样美丽！

 

May you all have many blessings in the years ahead, and we hope to see back in the year of 2014!

 

Thank you very much!

 

愿你们将来福报多多！同时希望2014年再见！非常谢谢！