The Buddha's Service

佛陀的奉献

The Buddha was born to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to show to the world how to be free from suffering.

佛陀的出现驱走了黑暗，也指示了如何从痛苦中解脱的道路。

The Buddha was the embodiment of all the virtues that He preached. During His successful and eventful ministry of 45 years, He translated all His words into actions. At no time did He ever show any human frailty or any base passion. The Buddha's moral code is the most perfect the world has ever known.

佛陀所传授的教义，是他所有德行的再度体现，他在四十五年多姿多彩的弘法生涯中，他将所有的教义以行动表现出来，从来也没有显现过人类脆弱和不纯的情欲。佛陀的道德规范是这世间最完美的。

For more than 25 centuries, millions of people have found inspiration and solace in His Teaching. His greatness still shine today like a sun that outshines the glow of lesser lights. His Teachings still beckon the weary pilgrim to the security and peace of Nibbana. No other person has sacrificed so much of his worldly comfort for the sake of suffering humanity.

二十五个世纪以来，数千万的人们，从佛陀的教义中得到鼓舞和慰藉。他的伟大仍然像太阳一样散发出万丈光芒，一点也不减当年。他的教义仍然在指引那些修行者迈向寂静的涅槃。这世间没有一人像佛陀一样，为了全人类作出这么重大的贡献。

The Buddha, was the first religious leader in human history to admonish against animal sacrifice for any reason and to appeal to people not to harm any living creature.

佛陀是历史第一位宗教领袖，他告诫人类不要伤害任何生命，不要以牲畜祭祀鬼神。

To the Buddha, religion was not a bargain but a way to enlightenment. He did not want followers with blind faith, He wanted followers who could think freely and wisely.

对佛陀来说，宗教不是交易而是走向觉悟的道路。他不要信徒迷信，他要信徒能自由的、智慧的思考一切。

The entire human race has been blessed with His presence.

佛陀的出世，让所有痛苦的人类都得到他的祝福。

There was never an occasion when the Buddha expressed any unfriendliness towards a single person. Not even to His opponents and worst enemies did the Buddha express any unfriendliness. There were a few prejudiced minds who turned against the Buddha and who tried to kill him, yet the Buddha never treated them as enemies. The Buddha once said, 'As an elephant in the battle-field endures the arrows that are shot into him, so will I endure the abuse and unfriendly expressions of others.(Dhammapada. 320)

佛陀从来不会对人不友善，甚至连他的敌人在内。一些对佛陀有成见，企图杀害佛陀的人，佛陀并不把他们当作敌人。佛陀说过：就像战象在沙场，要忍受弓箭的伤害，我也一样要忍受毁谤，因为有很多邪恶的人的。《法句经》

In the annals of history, no man is recorded as having so consecrated himself to the welfare of all living beings as did the Buddha. From the hour of His Enlightenment to the end of His Life, he strove tirelessly to elevate mankind. He slept only two hours a day. Though 25 centuries have gone since the passing away of this great Teacher, His message of love and wisdom still exists in its pristine purity. This message is still decisively influencing the destinies of humanity. He was the most Compassionate One who illuminated this world with loving-kindness.

在历史记载中，没有一个人像佛陀一样伟大，他奉献自己的一生为人类谋求福利。从他觉悟开始一直到他涅槃，他为提升人类的素质而努力，从不懈怠，他一天只睡两个小时。这伟大的导师已经告别我们二十五个世纪了，但他那仁爱与智慧的教义，仍然存在于他那清净的纯朴中。他的教义一直在影响人类的命运。他是最慈悲的，他以大慈悲心照亮了这整个世界。

After attaining Nibbana, the Buddha left a deathless message that is still with us. Today we are confronted by the terrible threat to world peace. At no time in the history of the world is His message more needed than it is now.

佛陀涅槃后，他所留下的不朽教义与我们并存，今天，世界的和平受到严重的威胁，在整个人类的历史中，再也没有比这个时候更需要佛陀的教义了。

The Buddha was born to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to show the world how to get rid of suffering and disease, decay and death and all the worries and miseries of living beings.

佛陀的出现，消除了人类的愚痴和黑暗，他指引人类如何从老、病及悲伤、痛苦中解脱。

According to some beliefs, a certain god will appear in this world from time to time to destroy wicked people and to protect the good one. Buddha did not appear in this world to destroy wicked people but to show them the correct path.

某些宗教信仰认为，当神祇来到这世间时，总会惩罚那些邪恶的人和保护那些善良的人，可是，佛陀出现后并没有那么做，他只指引了人类应该走的正确的道路。

In the history of the world until the Buddha's time, did we ever hear of any religious teacher who was so filled with such all-absorbing sympathy and love for suffering humanity as was the Buddha? At about the same time as the Buddha, we heard of some wise men in Greece: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and many others. But they were only philosophers and thinkers and seekers after truth; they lacked any inspiring love for the suffering multitudes.

从人类有历史以来，乃至佛陀时代，我们可曾听过有哪一位宗教导师有如佛陀一样，为了苦难的众生具备如此宽广、包容的大慈悲心呢？当佛陀寂灭后的数百年，我们知道希腊出了些哲人，如：苏格拉底、柏拉图、亚里斯多德，但是，他们只是哲学家、思想家或寻求真理者，他们缺乏了佛陀那种胸怀，那种解救众生于苦难的胸怀。

The Buddha's way of saving mankind was to teach them how to find salvation. He was not interested in alleviating a few chance cases of physical or mental distress. He was more concerned with revealing a Path that all people could follow.

佛陀救度众生的方法是教导他们如何自我寻求解脱苦难，他不致力于减轻众生身心的痛苦，他认为最重要的是如何启发人类，自我修学迈向解脱的八圣道。

Let us take all the great philosophers, psychologists, great thinkers, scientists, rationalists, social workers, reformers and other religious teachers and compare, with an unbiased mind, their greatness, virtues, services and wisdom with the Buddha's virtues, compassion and Enlightenment. One can understand where the Buddha stands amongst all those great people.

让我们举出所有的大哲学家、大心理学家、大思想家、大科学家、大理论家、大革命家、大社会工作者和其他的宗教导师来做一个比较，以没有偏袒的态度比较他们的伟大、德行、教化和智慧。如果与佛陀的德行、慈悲心、觉相比较，我们就不难发现，为什么佛陀在这些大人物中有这么突出的地位了。