佛陀的本怀
Nature of the Buddha Light of the World
佛陀是世界之光。
'Understood are the things to be understood,
Cultivated are the things to be cultivated,
Eradicated are the things to be eradicated,
Therefore Brahmin, I am the Buddha.'(Sutta Nipata)
「应该了解的都已了解，应该做的都已完成，应该弃除的(烦恼)都已弃除，梵志啊！所以我被称为佛陀。」《经集》
'As long, brethren, as the Moon and Sun have not arisen in the world, just as long is there no shining forth a great light of great radiance. There prevails gross darkness, the darkness of bewilderment. Night is not distinguishable from the day, nor the month, the half-moon and the seasons of the years from each other.
「兄弟们！如果这世界没有太阳和月亮升起，就没有光线，没有了光辉的照耀，世界将变得极其黑暗，黑暗令人恐慌。没有了白天和黑夜的分别，没有满月也没有半月，更没有一年四季之分。」
'But, brethren, when the Moon and Sun arise in the world then a great light of great radiance shines forth. Gross darkness, the darkness of bewilderment, is no more. Then are months and the half-moon and the seasons of years.'
'Just so, brethren, as long as a Buddha, who is an Arahant, a Buddha Supreme, arises not, there is no shining forth a great light of great radiance. But gross darkness, the darkness of bewilderment, prevails. There is no proclaiming, no teaching, no showing forth, no setting up, no opening up, no analysis, no making clear of the Four Noble Truths.
「然而，兄弟们！如果这世界有太阳和月亮升起，就有光线，也有了光辉的照耀，令人恐慌的黑暗也不存在了。有了白天和黑夜也有满月和半月，更有一年四季的存在。」「同样的，兄弟们！如果佛陀不出世，这世间就没有阿拉汉也没有佛。这世界没有光明，只有恐怖和黑暗。这世间如果没有佛陀所宣教的佛法，就无法发现错误，不懂得分析问题，也看不清四圣谛的存在。」
'What Four? The Noble Truth of Suffering, the Arising of Suffering, the ceasing of Suffering, and the approach to the ceasing of Suffering.
'Wherefore, brethren, do you exert yourselves to realize 'This is suffering; this is the arising of Suffering; this is the ceasing of Suffering; this is the approach to the ceasing of Suffering.'
「什么是灭苦的四圣谛？那就是苦(苦)、集(苦之因)、灭(灭苦)、道(灭苦之道)。」「因此，兄弟们！你们应该清楚的了解：这是造成苦的苦，这是苦的起因，苦的熄灭，这是灭苦之道。」
The above words give us a clear picture of the great value of the arising of the Buddha to the world. The Buddha arose at a time when Western Philosophy as inaugurated by the Greeks, was led by Heraclites who gave a new turn to the early religions of the Olympian gods. It was a time when Jeremiah was giving a new message among the Jews in Babylon.
以几句话，为佛陀来到世间，描述了一幅清晰的画面。佛陀在世的时候，是希腊正在开创西方哲学的时候，由奥林匹亚山诸神的神话故事转化为新的宗教。也是希伯来人的先知耶利米(Jeremah)为巴比伦的犹太人传教的时候。
It was a time when Pythagoras was introducing a doctrine of reincarnation in Italy. It was a time when Confucius was establishing the national life of China by his ethics of conduct.
It was a time when India's social fabric was heavily encrusted with priest craft, self-mortification, caste distinctions, corrupt feudalism, subjection of women and fear of Brahmancial dominance.
这时候，当毕达哥拉斯(Pythagoras)在意大利倡导轮回学说，也是孔夫子在中国提倡儒家思想的时候。当时的印度社会崇尚神权、天启和苦行的思想，阶级森严，腐败、封建、重男轻女。处于婆罗门阶层支配一切的恐怖时代。
It was at such time that the Buddha, the most fragrant flower of the human race, appeared in the land where saints and sages dedicated their lives in the search for truth.
就在这时候，一朵属于人类芬芳的花朵绽开了。佛陀出现在印度，出现在圣贤们奉献生命追求宇宙真理的国土。
He was a great man who wielded an extraordinary influences on others even during His lifetime. His personal magnetism, moral prestige and radiant confidence in His discovery, made Him a popular success. During His active life as a Teacher, the Buddha enlightened many who listened to Him. He attracted the high and low, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, men and women, householders and ascetics, nobles and peasants. He went in search for the vicious to teach, while the pure and virtuous came in search of Him to learn. To all, He gave the gift of the Truth that He had discovered. His disciples were kings and soldiers, merchants and millionaires, beggars and courtesans, religious as well as deluded people. When people were deluded, He enlightened them. When they were inflamed with rage and lust, He gave them the cooling water of Truth. When they were forsaken and wretched. He extended to them the infinite love of His compassionate heart.
他是一个伟大的人物，在他的一生中发挥了不寻常的影响力。他个人的魅力、道德、威望、自信以及他所证悟的真理，使他众望所归。他身为一位导师，很多人因为得到他的教诲而觉悟。他吸引了贵、贱、贫、富、知识份子、文盲，男或女、僧或俗、贵族或平民。在他寻找邪恶的根源时，纯净和德行也找他了。他将所发现的真理无私的奉献给所有的人。他的追随者中有国王、贵族、军人、商人、富翁、乞丐和娼妓，也有不少的宗教人士和迷惑者。当人们发生争执时，他出面为他们调解，当人们愚昧的时候，他为他们开导，当人们愤怒、欲火在燃烧时，他以真理的净水浇息他们的无明火。当他们悲伤和痛苦时，他以大慈悲心给予他们无限的爱和关怀。
He did not set out to remold the world. He was 'Lokavidu'? 'The knower of the world.' He knew the world too well to have any illusions about its nature, or to believe that its laws could be completely refashioned to suit the desires of man. He knew that the world does not exist for the pleasure of the man, He knew about the nature of worldly conditions. He realized the vicissitude of worldly life. He knew the futility of human imagination or day dreaming about the world.
He did not encourage wishful-thinking in terms of establishing a worldly Utopia. Rather, He told each one of the Way by which one could later conquer one's own world? the inner subjective world that is everyone's private domain. In simple languages, He told us that the whole world is within us and the world is led by the mind and that mind must be trained and cleansed properly.
佛陀无意再塑造另一个世界，他拥有「一切知智」，他对这世界太了解了，他不再对世间的本质有所幻想，他不相信人类的欲望可以获得满足，他了解这世间不是为了人类的喜乐而存在，他了解这世间的因果，他了解生命的无常，他了解人类对世间的理想或幻想是不实际的，他不鼓励乌托邦式的思想。他告诉所有的人，人类可以改变自己的世界──内在的世界，那是每一个人的私有领域。简要的说，佛陀告诉我们，世界就存在于我们的内心里，世界是以心为主导，而心需要经过适当的训练与净化。
His teaching was basically simple and meaningful: 'To put an end to evil; to fulfill all good; to purify the mind. This is the advice of all the Buddhas.' (Dhammapada, 183).
佛陀的教义简短但是意义深长。
「一切恶都不要做，一切善都应该赶快去执行，自我调整和净化自己的心意，这是所有佛陀所教导的。」《法句经》
He taught the people how to eradicate ignorance. He encouraged them to maintain freedom in the mind to think freely. Rigid rituals, rigid dogmas, blind faith and the caste system, all had no place in His way of life. All people were one in the eyes of the Buddha.
佛陀教导人们如何根除愚痴，他鼓励人们自由思想和自由思考。僵化的仪式、呆板的教条、盲目的信仰和种姓、阶级制度，在他的生命中不占有任何地位。在佛陀眼中，所有的人甚至一切众生都是平等的。
By every test of what He said, did and was, He demonstrated Himself to be the preeminent man in His day. He declared a faith of service, a ministry of sacrifice and achievement. He advised us to start our life from today onwards as if it is the beginning of our life, and to fulfill our endless responsibilities and duties of daily existence here and now without depending on others to do it for us.
无论从那一个角度来验证佛陀所言、所行，他确实是那个时代表现最杰出的人。他宣示了为信念服务、为弘法牺牲的观念。他告诫人们，生命从现在开始就要向前迈进，在人类生命的开始，就肩负无尽的责任和义务，而这一切都不能靠他人来替我们执行或完成。
He gave the world a new explanation of the universe. He gave a new vision of eternal Happiness, the achievement of perfection in Buddhahood. He pointed out the way to the permanent state beyond all impermanence, the Way to Nibbana, the final deliverance from the misery of existence.
佛陀给宇宙一个新的诠释，他提出了一个得到永恒的幸福，圆满成就佛道的新概念。他指出一条从有限而达到无限的道路──涅槃，从无边无际的痛苦世界达到最后的解脱。
His time was 2,500 years ago. Yet, even today this great Teacher is honored not only by the religious-minded people, He is also honored by atheists, historians, rationalists and intellectuals all over the world who have acknowledged Him as the Enlightened, most liberal minded and compassionate Teacher.
'Sukho Buddhanam Uppado.'
Happy is the birth of the Buddha. (Dhammapada 194).
佛陀生于二千五百多年以前，然而，直到今天，他那深广的教义，和他身为一个无神论者、历史学家和理性论者，不但受到佛教徒的敬重，也受到所有知识份子的称颂。他们都承认佛陀是一位觉悟者，是解脱心灵和具有大慈悲心的伟大导师。
「佛陀的出现令我们得到快乐。」《法句经》
Was Buddha an Incarnation of God?
Never had the Buddha claimed that He was the son or a messenger of God.
佛陀从来未曾宣称过他是神的化身，或是神的使者。
The Buddha was a unique human being who was self-Enlightened. He had no one whom He could regard as His teacher. Through His own efforts, He practised to perfection the ten supreme qualities of generosity, discipline, renunciation, wisdom, energy, endurance, truthfulness, determination, goodwill and equanimity. Through His mental purification, He opened the doors to all knowledge. He knew all things to be known, cultivated all things to be cultivated, and destroyed all things to be destroyed. Indeed, no other religious teacher was comparable to Him in terms of cultivation and attainment.
So special was He and so electrifying His message, that many people asked Him 'What(not so much as Who) He was'. Questions on 'Who He was' would be with respect to His name, origin, ancestry, etc., while 'What He was' referred to the order of beings to which He belonged. So 'godly and inspiring was He that even during His time, there were numerous attempts of others to turn Him into a god or a reincarnation of god. Never did He agree to be regarded as such. In the Anguttara Nikaya, He said: 'I am not indeed a deva, nor a gandharva, nor a yaksa, nor a manusya. Know ye that I am the Buddha.' After Enlightenment, the Buddha could no longer be classified even as a 'manusya' or an ordinary human being. He belonged to the Buddha Wangsa, special race or species of enlightened beings, all of whom are Buddhas.
佛陀是一个普通人，他透过自己的觉悟而证得正自觉大智慧，没有人可以宣称他是佛陀的导师。经过他自己不懈的努力，和获得十种殊胜的德行──布施、持戒、出离、智慧、精进、忍辱、坚定、真实、慈悲和平等。透过自身的净化，他敞开了知识的大门，他拥有通晓世间一切的智慧，他教化一切可以被教化的，销毁一切应该被销毁的。这一点，其他的宗教导师是无法和他相比拟的。佛陀的教义像闪电一样 的惊醒了大家，开始有人不屑的问道：「他是什么东西？」尊重他的教义的人，也开始在寻思道：「他是谁？」。佛陀是多么的神圣和超脱，佛陀从来未曾宣称过他是神或是神的使者，他不须要代表神。佛陀说过：「我不是天人、不是甘塔拔、不是亚卡(yakkha)，也不是人类(manusya)，我是佛陀。」 《增支部》
觉悟后的佛陀，确实不能将他归类于普通的人，他是佛陀，一位拥有正自觉大智慧的殊胜生类──佛陀。
Buddhas appear in this world from time to time. But some people have the mistaken idea that it is the same Buddha who is reincarnated or appears in the world over and over again. Actually, they are not the same person, otherwise there is no scope for others to attain Buddhahood. Buddhists believe that anyone can become a Buddha if he develops his qualities to perfection and is able to remove his ignorance completely through his own efforts. After Enlightenment, all Buddhas are similar in their attainment and experience of Nibbana.
佛陀在这世间一次又一次的出现，很多人误解以为是同一位佛陀。其实，他们并不相同，要不然就没有必要修学佛道了。佛教认为任何人都可以亲证涅槃，只要开发自己的智慧，断除邪见，精进努力，当证悟正自觉后，所有的佛陀都一样能到达清净的涅槃。
In India, the followers of many orthodox religious groups tried to condemn the Buddha because of His liberal teaching which revolutionized the Indian society. Many regarded Him as an enemy when increasing numbers of intellectuals as well as people from all ranks of society took up the religion. When they failed in their attempt to destroy Him, they adopted the reverse strategy of introducing Him as a reincarnation of one of their gods. This way they could absorb Buddhism into their religion. To a certain extent, this strategy worked in India since it had, through the centuries, contributed to the decay and the subsequent uprooting of Buddhism from the land of its origin.
在印度，有些外道责难佛陀，因为他那自由的教导改革了整个印度社会。很多人针对他，视他为敌，企图摧毁他。可是当越来越多人皈依佛教后，他们失败了。在他们失败后，开始接收了佛教的思想，并认为佛陀是他们所崇敬的神的化身。
Even today there are certain religionists who try to absorb the Buddha into their beliefs as a way of gaining converts among Buddhists. Their basis for doing so is by claiming that the Buddha Himself had predicted that another Buddha would appear in this world, and that the latest Buddha will become even more popular. One group named a religious teacher who lived 600 years after Gautama the Buddha as the latest Buddha. Another group said that the next Buddha had already arrived in Japan in the 13th century. Yet another group believed that their founder came from the lineage of great teachers (like Gautama and Jesus) and that founder was the latest Buddha. These groups advised Buddhists to give up their old Buddha and follow the so-called new Buddha. While it is good to see them giving the Buddha the same status as their own religious teachers, we feel that these attempts to absorb Buddhists into another faith by misrepresenting the truth are in extreme bad taste.
Those who claim that the new Buddha had already arrived are obviously misrepresenting what the Buddha had said. Although the Buddha predicted the coming of the next Buddha, He mentioned some conditions which had to be met before this can be possible. It is the nature of Buddhahood that the next Buddha will not appear as the dispensation of the current Buddha still exits. He will appear only when the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path have been completely forgotten. The people living then must be properly guided in order to understand the same Truth taught by the previous Buddhas. We are still living within the dispensation of Gautama the Buddha. Although the moral conduct of the people has, with very few exceptions, deteriorated, the future Buddha would only appear at some incalculable period when the Path to Nibbana is completely lost to mankind and when people are ready to receive Him. 佛陀是不是神的化身
即使在今天，某些宗教为了扩展势力，也将佛教归纳在他们宗教的范围内。他们甚至鼓吹佛陀曾经预言，另一位佛陀即将出世，他将比佛陀更伟大。有一个外道教派声称他们的导师活了六百岁，是佛陀以后的真佛。日本一个教派说，佛陀于十三世纪已经在日本降世了。某一教派认为他们的创始人与佛陀、基督是同一时代的人，是现任的佛陀，要佛教徒放弃原有的信仰追随他们。感谢他们将佛陀的身份给了他们的教主，汲取佛教教义为他们的信仰，可是这一切的背后都有不良的企图。
那些声称佛陀即将降世的人，是完全不尊重佛陀的言教，虽然佛陀曾经预言在将来的世界有佛陀降世，可是他也叙述了未来佛陀降世的种种条件，那是无数大劫以后的事了。
