PART ONE

Life and Nature of the Buddha

Chapter 1 Gautama, the Buddha

第一篇 佛陀的言教与生平

第一章 佛陀的本怀与生平

苟答马佛陀

The Founder of Buddhism

佛教的创始者是苟答马佛陀。

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.

苟答马佛陀(Gotama，古译：乔达摩、瞿昙佛)，这位佛教的创始者，于公元前六世纪生于北印度。他的原名是悉达多，苟答马是他的家族姓氏。佛陀是他在证得正自觉后给予的尊称。佛陀的意思就是醒悟者或觉者。他称呼自己为如来(Tathāgatassa)，他的追随者则称呼他为世尊(Bhagavatā，古译：薄伽梵)。苟答马佛陀或释迦牟尼佛也是他的称号。

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，就是一位拥有一切的王子。他住在一座金碧辉煌的王宫里，受到无微不至的照顾和过着奢侈的生活。当他十六岁那年，和亚寿塔拉(Yasodharà)结婚。婚后生了一个儿子叫拉胡喇(Ràhula)。他的妻子是一位充满正义感，整天笑脸迎人，尊贵又漂亮的女人。

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.

王子对于这一切并不感到满意，他觉得自己好像一只小鸟，生活在黄金打造的鸟笼里。有一天，当他到城里巡游时，他发现了「四种现象」，那就是一个老人，一个病人，一个死人和一位修行者。当他逐一的看见这些现象后，他寻思道：「生命离不开年老和死亡。」他问自己：「有什么办法能解脱生死？」这时候，那放弃欲望和物质生活的修行者，平静的相貌浮现在他眼前，使他萌起了出家和寻求真理的念头。

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.

为了寻求如何脱离世间一切苦的道路，他毅然决定出家。他不是为了自己，而是为了全人类。在他二十九岁那年的一个晚上，他站在寝室门外，注视着熟睡中的妻子和儿子后，静悄悄的骑上心爱的白马，离开王宫向树林飞驰而去。

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.

他的出家是一件不寻常的事。当时他正当年轻有为，从尊贵到平凡，从充满物质的生活到一无所有，从拥有极高权力和财富的王储成为一位修行者，在山洞或树林里过着日晒雨淋的生活。他披上袈裟，只为了遮挡强烈的阳光和风雨。他舍弃了他将来的王位、财富和权力，以大慈大悲的心，寻求前人从未发现的真理。

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.

在漫长的六年里，他努力寻求真理从不懈怠。他向著名的老师参学，他向所有的宗教导师学习。但他发现找不到他所追求的，他参与了苦行修士的训练，想通过折磨身体来证悟真理，当时他相信通过这样的锻炼会寻获真理。他以无比的坚强意志实践苦行修士的教导。他禁食，每天以一点点食物充飢，结果瘦得剩下皮包骨，肚皮也贴上脊椎骨了，他的苦行已到达人类能够忍受的极限。最后，他觉察到这种自我折磨的苦行方式是枉费心机的，他终于放弃了苦行，转而实践中道。

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)的月圆之夜，在迦耶(Buddhagayā，现在的布德嘎亚)，他坐在一棵菩提树下，进入禅定。就在这时候，他证悟了正自觉。当时他三十五岁，从一个平常人成为佛陀 —— 一位觉者。

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.

将近半个世纪，佛陀步行在印度泥泞的道路，弘扬他所觉悟的法。那些实践他所教导者，都能获得解脱。他成立了比库僧团和比库尼僧团。他向传统挑战，提升妇女的地位，让她们通过宗教而获得自由和平等。他敞开了佛教大门，解放了所有阶层的人，无论是高尚或低下的，圣人或罪恶者。度化了杀人无数、罪恶滔天的安古里玛拉(Angulmala，古译：指魔、央掘摩罗)，和妓女安巴帕丽(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.

他浸濡于寻求知识和智慧中，所有的问题都被他一一的解决了。一切物体都由四种元素组成，一切都是四大(元素)的假合。没有人能在辩论中把他驳倒。一位无可比拟的教师，他的学术和理论一直影响到今天。他是历史的第一个人，他给予人类思想的动力，突出了人性，指示人类只要肯努力，就能获得无上的知识和达到殊胜的觉悟境界。

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，他从来没有离开那简陋的村庄。他视名利、地位为无物。他无私的帮助一切众生，在他眼中没有谁是渺小或低下的。经常有外来的穷人或残废者来寻求他的协助，他令他们的自尊重新获得确认，使他们从鄙贱的生命中提升为尊贵的人类。

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.

佛陀的内心充满了慈悲和智慧，他根据每个人不同的层次和能力教导他们。他经常到很远的地方去，只为帮助某一个人。

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.

他亲切地关怀和爱护他的弟子，经常问起他们的起居和修行的进展。当居住在寺院的时候，他每天都去探访病院里的病人，他的慈悲心从这里展露无疑。他说道：「谁照顾病人，就是在照顾我。」他提倡秩序和纪律，使大家互相尊敬。巴谢那地王(Pasenadi，古译：波斯匿)不能理解佛陀如何维持一个那么庞大僧团的纪律？以他身为一个拥有惩罚权力的国王和他的法院都无法做到这一点。

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.

佛陀拥有大神通，可是他并不重视它。对他来说，最大的神通就是弘扬真理和让人们理解真理。这位拥有大慈悲心的导师，他使人类脱离困苦，以真理解除人类的镣铐，使人类获得自由，指引人类正确的生活道路。

佛陀并不认为这世间的一切现象，或被称为达摩(Dhamma)的世间法，是被「创造」的。他认为从无始以来，法已和世界并存，他绝对的认为，这世间没有所谓的造物者。世间一切的现象都是「法」的运作。佛陀就如过去所有古佛一样，倡导绝对的真理和让人类理解什么是绝对的真理。在发现真理的同时，他找到了终止那邪恶和令人困扰的生死轮回的解脱之道。

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，在他八十岁那年，于古西那拉(Kusinàra)，在数千名信徒、比库、比库尼的见证下，离开人间。佛陀珍贵的教导遗爱人间，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.威尔的着作《历史的三大巨人》中，对佛陀评论道：「在佛陀的身上，让你看到一位光明磊落的人，他纯朴、孤独、追求光明，和散发出强烈的人性尊严，这些都不是神话。他也将这些信息传达给全人类。到今天为止，很多先进的理论和思想都和他的吻合。他教导人类以布施来克服吝啬和不满。一个人必须先停止感官的欲望，才能得到平静安祥，才能获得伟大的人性。佛陀在公元五百多年前，就以不同的语言教导人类放弃对「我」的执着。他非常接近我们，我们也非常的需要他。他比基督更清楚的解决个人的重要问题，从不含糊也不模棱两可。」