The Buddhist Way of Life for Householders

佛教徒的家庭生活

The Buddha considered economic welfare as a requisite for human happiness, but moral and spiritual development for a happy, peaceful and contented life.

佛陀认为经济利益是人类幸福的泉源。但是，只有道德和心灵的发展，能让人活得更快乐、安祥和美满。

A man named Dighajanu once visited the Buddha and said, 'Venerable Sir, we are ordinary laymen, leading a family life with wife and children. Would the Blessed One teach us some doctrines which will be conducive to our happiness in this world and hereafter?

有一回，一位名叫迪噶伽努(Dghajanu)的人，问佛陀：「尊敬的佛陀！我是一位拥有妻子儿女的普通人，请您指示我如何使我现在的生活过得更有意义、更快乐，及如何获得未来的幸福。」

The Buddha told him that there are four things which are conducive to a man's happiness in this world. First: he should be skilled, efficient, earnest, and energetic in whatever profession he is engaged, and he should know it well (utthana-sampada); second: he should protect his income, which he has thus earned righteously, with the sweat of his brow (arakkha-sampada); third: he should have good friends (kalyana-mitta) who are faithful, learned, virtuous, liberal and intelligent, who will help him along the right path away from evil; fourth: he should spend reasonably, in proportion to his income, neither too much nor too little, i. e., he should not hoard wealth avariciously nor should he be extravagant? in other words he should live within his means (sama-jivikata).

佛陀告诉他，在这世间有四种方法，能使人活得更幸福。

一、要有一技之长，工作要有效率、有热诚、有干劲，对自己从事的事业要有认识和内行。

二、要辛勤的劳动，以正确的方法赚取及保护自己的收入。

三、要结交耿直、有智慧、有道德，能够协助自己弃除恶习，辅佐自己走正道的良师益友。

四、理智的处理自己的收入，不奢侈也不吝啬，要布施，不要浪费，要适当的节制自己。

Then the Buddha expounds the four virtues conducive to a layman's happiness hereafter: (1) Saddha: he should have faith and confidence in moral, spiritual and intellectual values; (2) Sila: he should abstain from destroying and harming life, from stealing and cheating, from adultery, from falsehood, and from intoxicating drinks;

(3) Caga: he should practise charity, generosity, without attachment and craving for his wealth;(4) Panna: he should develop wisdom which leads to the complete destruction of suffering, to the realization of Nibbana.

佛陀也推荐了四种有益于在家人未来幸福的修行方法：

一、信心(Saddha)：一个信徒应该对道德、心灵和智慧的价值，具有一定的信心。

二、戒行(Sila)：信徒应该持戒，不杀害生命、不偷盗、不邪淫、不妄语、不喝酒。

三、布施(Càga)：信徒应该学习如何仁爱、慷慨、不执着也不挥霍自己的财富。

四、智慧(Pa¤¤a)：信徒应该发展智慧，通过智慧的发展，进入无苦、无烦恼的清净涅槃。

Sometimes the Buddha even went into details about saving money and spending it, as, for instance, when he told the young man Sigala that he should spend on fourth of his income on his daily expenses, invest half in his business and put aside one fourth for any emergency.

有时，佛陀也开示了有关节省和消费方面的问题。有一回，佛陀对一位年青人夏嘎拉(Sagala)说：「应该把收入分为四份，一份做为家庭的正常开支，一份发展自己的生意，一份做为应急之用，一份用来布施。」

Once the Buddha told Anathapindika, the great banker, one of His most devoted lay disciples who founded for Him the celebrated Jetavana monastery at Savatthi, that a layman who leads an ordinary family life has four kinds of happiness. The first happiness is to enjoy economic security or sufficient wealth acquired by just and righteous means (atthi-sukha); the second is spending that wealth liberally on himself, his family, his friends and relatives, and on meritorious deeds (bhogo-sukha); the third to be free from debts (anana-sukha); the fourth happiness is to live a faultless, and a pure life without committing evil in thought, word or deed (anavajja-sukha).

有一回，佛陀对给孤独长者(Anàthapiõóika，一位富翁，佛陀忠实的在家弟子，祇园精舍的创建者)说，有四种幸福等待人们去发掘。

一、享用以正当手段赚取的财富。

二、以宽容的心对待自己、家人、朋友和眷属。

三、不举债度日。

四、不要犯身、语、意三业，过着清净无瑕的生活。

It must be noted here that first three are economic and material happiness which is 'not worth part' of the spiritual happiness arising out of a faultless and good life.

请注意，这四点中的前三点，都是物质或金钱带来的快乐，这些都不是提升精神生活，以臻完美境界有价值的部分。

From the few examples given above, one can see that the Buddha considered economic welfare as a requisite for human happiness, but that He did not recognize progress as real and true if it was only material, devoid of a spiritual and moral foundation. While encouraging material progress, Buddhism always lays great stress on the development of the moral and spiritual character for a happy, peaceful and contented society.

从以上的举例中，我们不难发现，佛陀认为经济利益是人类幸福的泉源。但是，佛陀也认为，只有通过道德和心灵的发展，才能让人们活的更快乐、更安祥和更美满。假如只有物质的享受，缺乏心灵和道德的基础，就无法了解真正生活的意义。在鼓励物质生活的同时，佛陀为了社会的安宁与幸福，把大部分的精力放在促进人类精神的文明与道德的发展。

Many people think that to be a good Buddhist one must have absolutely nothing to do with the materialistic life. This is not correct. What the Buddha teaches is that while we can enjoy material comforts without going to extremes, we must also conscientiously develop the spiritual aspects of our lives. While we can enjoy sensual pleasures as laymen, we should never be unduly attached to them to the extent that they hinder our spiritual progress. Buddhism emphasizes the need for a man to follow the Middle Path.

有些人认为，要成为一位真正的佛教徒，就必须放弃一切物质的需求，这是不正确的观念。佛陀认为我们可以享有物质带来的快乐，但是不要过于执着。在享受物质带来快乐的同时，我们不要忘记心灵的发展。唯有心灵充分发展的人，才是真正的佛教徒。佛教徒不偏执于物质或心灵，这就是中道，也就是八圣道。