透过教育弘扬佛法
PROPAGATION OF BUDDHISM THROUGH EDUCATION
法界佛教大学校长阿比纳博士讲于九月八日万佛城大殿
A talk by Dr. Snejzana Akpinar, President of Dharma Realm Buddhist University on September 8, 1998, in the Buddha Hall at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
戴岳子 中译 Chinese translation by Dai Yue Zi
晚安，希望大家能细心听我讲，因为我要讲的是我们该如何教人，和我们该如何弘扬佛法。
Good evening. I hope you will listen to my lecture carefully, because I will talk about how we should teach and how we should propagate the Dharma.
法即教育，或者说佛法的一面是教育；反之，教育也是法。所以，通过教育去弘扬佛法就几乎等于通过教育去推广教育。两者差不多是一个词。
Dharma is education, or one aspect of Dharma is education, and conversely, education is Dharma. So, to propagate the Dharma by education would almost mean to propagate education through education. They are almost the same word.
法的意思很多，但它主要的意思，从其梵文出处，以及在印度来说，是指「方法」和「系统」而言。我们可以问自己，什么是教育？思考这个问题的本身，也就是一个方法——一个将我们混乱的思想理出一个头绪来的方法。其目标总是一致的：即是帮助众生明白他们的真实自性，使他们向善向上。所以，佛法即是释迦牟尼佛及佛教化导众生的方法。
Dharma means a lot of things, but its primary meaning in Sanskrit, where the word comes from, and in India in general, is a "method" or "system." We can ask ourselves: What is education? That, too, is a method: a method for sorting things out in our confused minds. The goal is always the same: It is to help living beings become better by attaining some understanding of their true nature. So, the Buddhadharma is the method of education which Shakyamuni Buddha and Buddhism uses.
在梵文里还有一个词——「三那塔纳法」，意即恒常不变之教。此词并不包涵佛教、印度教或其他宗教的涵意在里面。它是一种永恒的东西。这也是释迦牟尼佛，及此世界许许多多的贤圣者所教的东西；不只是教，更在为这世界重兴这种修习之法。此教总是在那儿的，只是需要一再地取来用之，来适应某个时代的情况。
There is also something that is called the sanatana-dharma in Sanskrit, which means the perennial or eternal teaching, the teaching that is always constant and that never changes. And that teaching has no connotation of Buddhism or Hinduism or any other religion. It is that which is always there. And that is also what Shakyamuni Buddha, along with many sages of this world, was teaching—not only teaching, but reviving—as a practice for the world. It is a teaching that is always there, but it needs to be brought forth again and again in order to suit the conditions of a certain age.
在我们这个「现代世界」——现在应称「超现代世界」了——从本质上说，人们还是在一样的；像往常一样，我们还是非常地迷糊，我们也在寻求一种秩序，以我们能力内的最好方法，去将事情理出一个头绪。这需要艰苦的付出，严格的纪律，还有失望、不快乐，也就是在梵文或巴利文中所称的「不满」(dukkha 都卡)；即佛教徒称之为「苦」的。这是一种苦，但也有乐的一面。总而言之，教育或弘法的宗旨在于使人类找到一条离苦得乐的途径，在这个基础上再去帮助别人得到同样的安乐和远离执着。
In our modern—and what is now called postmodern—world, people are still attempting to do that same thing, in essence. As usual, we are still very confused, and are trying to help ourselves to find some kind of order, to sort things out the best way we can. That requires very hard work. It requires discipline, and of course it requires disappointment, unhappiness, or what in Sanskrit or in Pali is called dukkha—unsatisfactoriness, which we Buddhists like to call "suffering". It is a form of suffering, but it also involves some happiness. Above all, the whole point of education or Dharma, is to enable us human beings to find a way out of it all, to reach a point of equanimity, from where we can compassionately help others reach that same point—that point of equanimity or detachedness.
在这一整个过程，作为老师、教育工作者、母亲、父亲、作为工程师、医生或律师，我们应时时不忘慈悲或者说观音菩萨是我们的主要伴侣。那就是我们的救生索，能令我们于迷糊之海中得以生存，能令我们具足能力去帮助别人，使他们也具足能力再去帮助其他的人。否则，在这不完美的社会，我们会别的不成，而尽是满腔的沮丧，愤懑和怨恨。
Throughout this process, as teachers and educators, as mothers, as fathers, as engineers or doctors or lawyers, we should never forget that' our major companion has to be compassion or Guanyin. That will help us survive above the confusion and enable us to help others to do the same. Otherwise, we will very easily get frustrated in this imperfect world, and we will simply be angry and resentful, nothing else.
为何教育是不可少的呢？一个人如何去从事教育呢？教育人有许多方法，教育的种类也有许多，没有一个简单单一的答案。其中一个重要的因素是要了解学生的的需求、程度和他们所处的时代。我们不能闭眼不看学生的环境、不顾他们是谁、他们的教育程度在哪儿。深入地了解学生，大概是最困难的地方了。一个老师可能对他所授的课非常熟悉，但是他对学生的期望不切合实际。为什么呢？因为老师想把他最好的东西传授给学生。在这个过程中，很容易就忘记教的是什么样的学生，以及教育的总体目的及其真实宗旨之所在。
Why is education necessary, and how should one go about it? There are many ways of educating people and there are many kinds of education. There is not one single, simple answer. The important factor, however, is to be aware of your students—of their needs, their levels, and the age they live in. We cannot ignore where they are, who they are, and what their level of education is. That is probably the hardest part—to have an empathy for your student. A teacher may know his subject very, very well, but his expectations are sometimes unrealistic. Why is this so? It's because the teacher wants to impart the best that he can to his student. And in the process, it's very easy to forget who the student really is and what the whole, real purpose of that education is.
为什么会发生这种情况呢？我想全世界没有一个老师不想成为最优秀、最和善、最聪明完美的人。但是人是很容易沮丧退缩或生气的。这是因为要仔细看看老师所处的位置与学生所处的位置——这一实际情况是蛮险恶，很骇人的，因为有许多的迷惑、混乱、坑陷。想「教」与「学」两者均有所成功，还是需要「慈悲」，也可说是「观音菩萨」；「慈悲」犹如灵丹，又似润滑油，能使教育成功。作为老师，我们是绝对不能不看到这一点的。具此慈悲之心，是我们将自己所具的知识转成智慧之所在。
Why does that happen? I don't think there's a single teacher in this world that doesn't want to be the best, the kindest, the most intelligent and perfect person. And yet it is very easy to get frustrated and to give up or to become angry. This is because it is very threatening to see the actual truth—where you are as a teacher and where the student is. It's very scary to look at it clearly, because there are many confusions, many mistakes, and many pitfalls. In order for both the teacher and the student to attain some success in whatever they do, compassion again—Guanyin—is the sort of facilitator—the grease—that will make the mechanism of education work. That is something that we absolutely cannot ignore as teachers. It is what turns our knowledge—that which we know—into wisdom.
教学有三明，自知之明、所教之明、与知人之明，具此三明，会帮助老师作一个更好的老师，而不在于我们给学生灌输什么知识讯息。要帮助我们成为更好更慈悲的老师，我们需要遵循教师道德职业守则。这些守则能帮我们得具慈悲、恒持慈悲。
This kind of awareness of what the truth really is—who we are, what we need to teach, and who our students are—will help teachers to be better people. It does not necessarily rest on information that we have to impart. To help us become better and more compassionate human beings, we need to have a kind of moral code for being teachers. That is what will help us achieve and maintain an attitude of compassion.
教师犹如别的行会成员和职业成员一样。他们需要一种职业操守––一系列的行为规范，他们应该谨守的。在「美好的往昔」，正如人们喜欢那样形容的，任何一个职业或行会都有一部道德规则—一如「骑士道」。「骑士」源自于「马」和「骑手」，含有尊贵，比人优秀这一层意思。每一种行业都有它的骑士道—一不管是教师、补鞋匠、还是清道夫，都要宣誓遵守这些规范。同行业者形成一个同业公会。这些规范意在使公会成员言行更加高尚。
Teachers are like members of any other trade or profession. They all need to have a code, a set of rules that they have to abide by. In the "good old days"—as people like to think of them—any profession or trade had a moral code—a code of chivalry, as it's called. "Chivalry"comes from the word "horse," and a chevalier, or someone who has chivalry, is a horseman, which implies a noble person, someone who is superior to others. Any profession had its code of chivalry, and those who would enter the profession—be they teachers, cobblers, or even street-sweepers—had to swear that they would abide by this code. The people who were members of that profession would form a guild—a society or union. The codes that applied to a certain guild were meant to make the members of that guild more noble people.
另外一个形容尊贵者的词是「贵族」；「贵族」一词源于梵文「阿利亚」。所以，比如说尊贵之道又叫「阿利亚」道。「阿利亚」一词又与「空气」有关？是指轻扬之意。
Another word for "nobleman" is "Aristocrat" comes from the Sanskrit word arya. So the noble path, for example, is called the Aryan path. The word arya also has to do with air; it is something that is light and buoyant.
今天我们生活在现代和超现代的社会；那些骑士道、古老的传统以及道德规约对我们来说已经有些太僵化了，失去了其真实的意义，也可以说贵族的风仪和生活方式，已经从现代生活中被淘汰掉了。就这一方面而言，现今在我们所处这个时代，这些老方法，旧规约，已经土崩瓦解了，所剩下的只是一些片段残迹而已。
Today, we live in the modern and postmodern world, and these old habits of chivalry and traditions and moral codes have become a little bit too rigid for us. They lost their true meaning. The air and the life of the aristocracy or nobility was somehow sucked out of them, so to speak. At this point in our age, these old methods— these old codes—seem to be shattered, and we see bits and pieces of them flying around—that's all that's left.
在世界上许多地方，这些传统也已经撤底粉碎了，留下的也只不过是一些粉末尘埃；这种现象的存在已非常久了。作为佛教徒，我们知道这种情形还会不断地持连续下去。这种现象以前也发生过。现在是末法时代，我们应该去适应这个时代；要看清楚，现在对于整个世界，什么才是至为重要的。
In many parts of the world, they have completely shattered, and all we have is dust. This phenomena, though, in itself is very old, and it is a continuous process, as Buddhists know. This has happened before. It is the Dharma-ending age. That is why, at present, we must adapt ourselves to the conditions of this day and age, and see what is relevant and important for the whole world right now.
我们有点像考古学家，发现了一小块古柱石而自豪不已，将它珍藏在博物馆里。我们得一而忘整；忘记这块古柱石所可能代表的是地下的一整座古庙，那可远比这一块小石头来得重要得多；或者这座古庙曾经是一座古城的中心；而这座古城又曾是一个古国之中心等等。我们看得很重的这一小块古柱石，对于我们所要做的事而言，其实只不过是一件装饰品而已，没有多大的意义。
We're sort of like archaeologists, who find a little piece of a column and are very proud of it, and so they hold onto it and put it in a museum. But they tend to forget that there is a bigger picture, that this particular little piece of a column was probably holding something very important—a temple that was much more important than this little piece. Or that the temple was the center of a big city, or that the big city was at the center of a big country, and so on. We may look at that little piece and think that it's very important, but it is just a silly little piece of decoration which has very little consequence for what we are trying to do.
现在我讲一讲在我来这演讲之前所发生的一件事情，来说明这一点。今天下午我在想今晚要讲些什么时，我打在我的电脑里，心想：「打好后，我存在磁碟片里，然后送去办公室印出来；那样一来，我手上就有一份清楚的版本给翻译的人看，此事不难。」
Now I will illustrate this with a story that happened to me right now before I came to this lecture. This afternoon as I was thinking of what to say for this lecture, I wrote it on my little computer and thought, "Well, I'll just put it on a floppy disk and take it to the office and have it printed, so that I will have a cleaner example of what I'm going to say and I can give it to the translator. That is a simple enough thing to do."
别提一千年以前，就是几年以前，一个要上课的老师绝不会想到这些事情。这些事，不管怎么说，都是多余的事。凑巧的是我的磁碟片在办公室的电脑上打不开，计划因此失败。我心想：「算了。我还是在我自己的电脑上打开，再抄下来！」可是我电脑萤光幕上打出来的竟是希腊字母！因为我懂希腊字母，所以看得懂；但是文章是英文写的，字母却是希腊字母！简单的一篇讲稿，竟有如此多的混淆周章：我们现在生活的世界就是这样子的。
I'm sure that just a couple of years ago even, not to mention a thousand years ago, a teacher who was going to lecture wouldn't have thought of all these things. These are extras that are just coming from every which way and floating in the air. Well, it just so happened that my floppy disk didn't match with the office computer, so my plan failed. "Never mind,"I thought, "I can go back and read my file on the screen of my own computer and then just copy it down on paper." And so I took the floppy back and put it in my computer, and the file came on the screen, but— it was in Greek! I could understand it, since I can read the Greek alphabet, but it was English words written in the Greek alphabet. Can you imagine the confusion we have to go through just to do a very simple talk? That's the world we live in.
能意识到这是末法时代、古风不再的好老师就得去找一个能适应此时代的方法；若能如此，则他可以在教某一门课的具体知识时在学生的脑海里勾画出一幅更广阔的背景画。
A good teacher who is aware of the Dharma-ending Age and of all of these pieces floating all over has to find a way of adapting to the new age, so that he or she can impart to their students the bigger picture along with the specific knowledge of their subject.
那么学生究竟所得到的是什么呢？在万佛圣城，我们称之为道德。其实不只此处，现代社会的人已开始强调道德教育和道德风尚。给道德下定义不难，不过这不是我现在的话题。道德风尚，我说过，是人们应遵循的守则。「道德风尚」一词，在拉丁文里，即「已成风俗之尚」。所以，一个好的道德规范，即一个好风俗，人们知善而从，约定俗成，共同遵守。这些风俗有助人们恒住于道。它是一种雅尚规约。我们都知道还有超出这些规范的东西––那也就是我所要讲的。
But what is it exactly that the student gets from all of this? Here, in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, we can call it morality. Not only here, but in this modern world people are trying to stress moral education and morality. And we have no problem defining morality—that is not the issue. Morality, as I have said, is a code that we have to follow. "Moral" comes from a Latin word that means something that is custom. So, a moral code is a code of good customs, of things that have been proven to be good and that people have agreed to follow—something that helps them stay on the Path. It is a code of honor. But we all know that there is something that goes beyond the moral code, and that is what I would like to talk about.
稍微超出道德风尚概念的，我们就称之为伦理。什么是伦理？如何与道德风尚相关，有何区别？简单明了地说，道德风尚可成文，而伦理超越文字。风尚帮我们守德。伦理一词的词根是什么？我想把它与「乙太」相连，乙太即纯净的空气，无有污染物。此空气周遍虚空，进入我们身心性命的每一角落--它使我们更愉悦、清爽，更有朝气、更细致、更灵活；使我们身心有质的变化，乃至于能得无言之义。那样我们就有希望不以分别之心能观因果，能辨善恶。道德风尚是当遵之指南，伦理则更入道一层。身为老师，当唤起学生伦理之心。
That which goes a little bit beyond the concept of morality is called ethics. What is ethics, and how does ethics connect with morality, and what is the difference? A very quick and simple answer would be that morality can be spelled out and ethics is beyond words. Morality helps us to become ethical. What is the root of "ethics"? I like to connect it with the word "ether", or the pure air, which has no pollutants in it. It is something that can pervade and enter our whole being—our mind and our body—and make us more lighthearted, more buoyant, more alive, more subtle, and more capable of bending. It helps us transform ourselves and our minds so we can grasp concepts beyond words. We can hope to see then into the roots of cause and effect and know what is good and what is bad without having to think about it. Morality is a guide to hold onto; ethics is further down the path. And a teacher needs to awaken that sense of ethics in his students.
世界上有的语言，如中东的希伯莱文、古闪米语，以及现今的阿拉伯语中，伦理一词与创造性相连系的。好的创造性即是伦理。它亦与行善有关。所造之物若是恶的，即不配「生命」之这一冠称，是不合伦理的；不合伦理即差不多是死的--对世界那地方而言。
In some languages of this world, like the languages of the Middle East—Hebrew, the ancient Semitic languages, and Arabic of today--the word for ethics is associated with creativity. It is the creativity of the human being that is good that is called ethics. Ethics has to do with creating good things. Anything that is created that is bad is not worth the title of being a "creature"—something that is created; it is not ethical. And what is not ethical is almost not alive— for that part of the world.
在现代社会，我们知道有许多复杂的问题，这个世界很复杂。从事教育工作者需要知伦理，如不能行至少要知理。我们在座大部分人都清楚现代的世界是怎么一回事。从十八世纪起，大约两百多年前，这世界就是一个科学称霸的世界；样样都要讲科学，讲究事物的可量、可证、和可触性。如果哪件事你无法证明，那么就根本没有去想的价值。这种研究态度席卷全球，根深蒂固。这就是为什么时人不再学艺术、佛学、或是学我们称之为人文的东西；凡是难以证明的，即使某些人有些兴趣，家长们也都会泼冷水，因为人文学科赚不了什么钱。为人父母者很在意孩子的前程，学那些不可量、不可证、不可触的学科却鲜为人尊崇。那些最后去学人文学的人，还是得去「证明」，因而不得不将难以证明的概念转变成易懂的零碎片段，将复杂的思想过度简化后，放在一个个小小的盒子里。
In our modern world, we know that there are many, many complex issues. Our world is a very complicated one. Those who teach definitely need to understand ethics, at least in theory if not in practice. Most of us here are quite aware of what the modern world is about. It began, so to speak, in the eighteenth century, or roughly two hundred years ago. It is the world of science; everything needs to be scientific in this world. It has to be measurable, provable, and tangible. If you cannot prove something, then it is not even worth thinking about. This attitude has by now swept our whole world and taken hold of it. That is why people these days do not study the arts, Buddhism, or anything that would be called the humanities—anything that is hard to prove. And even if anyone has the interest, that interest is usually discouraged by his or her parents, because it doesn't make any money. Parents are worried about the well-being of their children, and there is very little prestige in studying something that is not measurable, provable, or tangible. Those who nevertheless do study the humanities must limit these hard-to-prove concepts into little, tangible bites-they have to be able to prove them anyway, so they have to oversimplify very complex ideas and put them in little boxes.
现在人耳边听的话都是说，去作工程师、科学家，去修商业管理、法律、医学，因为那样既受人尊敬，又能赚钱。我并不是说那是不好，因为每一门行业都有其方法，都有帮助人类的潜力；这点是可以肯定的，但是不幸的是当今社会不再强调以提升人的道德作为职业的目标了。事实上，科学业急功近利；科学方法如此速效风靡，于是世界上就产生了越来越时髦的学者所称的「后现代主义」。我们不再处于「现代」社会了；不再处于科学真理和实验的社会，而是处在「后现代」的社会了。
People today are encouraged to become engineers, scientists, business majors, lawyers, and doctors, mostly because those are respected and profitable professions. I'm not trying to say that this is a bad thing necessarily, because all of these profession have methods, and they have potentials of helping human beings. There's no question about this. But unfortunately, these days ethics is not emphasized as the goal of these professions. In fact, these scientific professions are only concerned with short-term usefulness and quick results. As a reaction to this scientific approach that is so efficient and quick, and is taking over, we now have something that is increasingly popular in this world, which the scholars call "postmodernism." We are not in the modern world anymore, in the world of scientific truth and experiments, but in the postmodern world.
现代科学世界十分僵化，样样都得讲证明；二加二总是等于四。人类对此的反应是什么呢？就是形成了「后现代」社会。
The modern world of science was very rigid. It always had to have proofs. Two and two was always four in the modern world. Now we have a reaction to this, and that is the postmodern world.
何为「后现代主义」呢？这指许多东西，是飘浮在空中的古文化的点点滴滴。但总体而言，这是对于僵化的科学规则的一种反叛。我们或许都还没有注意到，这是一场浩大的反科学革命。这里面有相当积极的因素在里面，有我认为对十足狭隘方法体系非常好的反弹。但也如同其他的事情一样，「后现代主义」也是很难谨遵循中道的。
What is postmodernism? It is a lot of things. It is the bits and pieces of ancient culture that are floating about the earth. But mostly, it is a rebellion against the rigid scientific approach to life. We might not be aware of this, but it is a very serious revolution against science. And there are elements in it that are quite positive, that I consider to be very good reaction to the very narrow approach. But, like everything else in this world, in postmodernism too, it is very hard to find and stick to the Middle Path.
「后现代主义」是很自由化的，鼓励人从僵化死板的传统形态中解放出来--这些形态经常是「现代主义」的产物。「现代主义」讲求正式，样样都要有一个逻辑在后面；而「后现代主义」则鼓励我们去解除束缚，争取自由；可是一但自由了，下一步又是什么呢？就没有下文了。这是一个世界自己丢出来的问题：「好啦，我们现在挣脱框框了！打破传统了！又该怎办呢？」这是一个很吓人的问题。
Postmodernism is very liberated, because it encourages people to free themselves from those rigid, petrified old traditions and their forms-forms that were very often created by modernism. Modernism was very formal; it had to have logic behind everything it did. Postmodernism encourages us to free ourselves from this. But, once we are free, then what? The answer is simply not there. And that is the question which the world is posing to itself today. "Alright, we broke all the forms, we broke all the traditions—now what?" It's a very scary question.
许多人，尤其是佛教徒，都认为这些新生事物都有其积极好的一面。尤其是喜欢修禅的人也许会说：「好啦，我们现在无有形态了，那又怎么样呢？」有很多人，包括佛教徒，都知道「物极必反」的潜在危害性。这对于「现代主义」、「科学方法」与「后现代主义」都一样的。所以我们佛教徒和从事教育的佛教徒，管他是「现代」或是「后现代」形式，都应当慈悲地为世人指出中道来。
Many of us, particularly Buddhists, can say that there is something positive and good in all of this. Particularly Buddhists who like the Chan practice may say, "Alright, so we don't have a form--so what?" But there are many other people, including Buddhists, who say there is danger lurking behind anything that goes on too far. Be it modernism and scientific methods, or be it postmodernism--if it's carried to its extreme, it's dangerous. So, it is for us--Buddhists and Buddhist educators--to point in a compassionate manner to the Middle Path-both in the postmodern form and in the modern form.
关于「后现代主义」有一样对我们很重要，我需要提一下。在我们打碎「现代主义」将样样分割开来研究的形规框架的过程中，我们也抛弃了权威思想和传统思想。那是因为我们都被那些残垣碎片——那些老旧僵硬的权威伤害过的关系。现在把这些东西砸碎了，这些「后现代」社会的个人，将无所依靠——没有「梵网」了。一睹眼前满目疮痍，由这种空，而心生恐惧，所以现在又极力地要将零零碎碎的旧东西拼凑在一起。什么旧东西？就是古文化、古哲学思想，以及现有的分崩离析中的一些东西。我们东拉一片，西扯一块胡乱地拼凑着。就这样，我们一手创出一个新的世界，一个新的结构。但每人所见有异，这人看到的是这些碎片；那人见着的是那些碎片。
There is one thing that I would like to say about the post-modern world that is very important for all of us. In this postmodern age, in the process of breaking all the formalities and rigidities of our modern world that were dividing everything up, people have thrown away the idea of authority, and also of tradition. That's because they have all been hurt by the debris—the leftovers, the broken piece--of our old, stiff authorities from the past. Now that these are all smashed, the postmodern individuals, out of having nothing for them to catch onto--no Brahma Net--and out of the fear and horror which comes from staring into this mess--this emptiness--they are trying to put the old back together frantically, by catching these bits and pieces of ancient cultures, philosophies, and what-have-you, of this old and disintegrating world. They (or we actually) catch these pieces and try to stick them together at random--a little bit from here, a little bit from there--as they see fit. So, they make a new world, a new construct for themselves, but for each individual it's a different thing and it comes from different, disconnected pieces.
在这种环境之下，每一个人都对其「自我」有一种恐惧感；现代人生活在这个「后现代的社会」的恐惧感与无力感是非常之深的。对于这些人和那个世界，需要一种新的更为对机的方法，这也正是我们需要观世音菩萨帮忙的地方。那也是我们唯一能从恐惧和混乱的深渊中拔出来的方法。作为老师，我们以悲悯之心去了解我们可怜的学生和我们同事的处境，以及为什么他们互不信任，也不信任这个世界。我们要从不同的角度去接近他们——从那个角度去帮他们，不是帮自己。我们都知道法门有许多，我们不应只找一个适合于我们自己的法门；如果我们力所能及，我们也应当帮他们找到他们各自的法门。
And in this kind of atmosphere, each person is afraid for his or for her own ego, for their selves. The level of fear and anquish of the modern human being living in a postmodern world is very, very high. There needs to be a new and more appropriate approach to these people and to this world. And here is where we all need the help of Guanyin. That is the only thing that can pull us out of this tremendous mess and fear that our world is in. As teachers, we must have empathy and see where our poor students and our poor colleagues are and why they are mistrustful of each other and of the world and approach them from a different angle—from the angle that we work for them, not necessarily for us, because we all know that there are many, many Dharma doors and so we should not only find one that works for us, but find their Dharma door if we can.
我的一个实际的建议是我们从小处着手，从一个受惊且无知的众生所能明白的东西着手；也就是从与他们生命有关的东西，不太令他们害怕，且又能让他们能做得到的东西开始。在一般人的标准来说，是使他们能这样说的东西：「喔！这很容易，我这样笨的人都能做得到。」然后从那个小地方着手，你可以使他们日日有所增益。要是你起点就非常高，又少关爱，又以威压；见到威压，他们就躲开了。我说这有点像训练小动物，但是作为教育工作者，得人心之道，在于从低处着手，并在我们讲话中解除对他的威胁。
My practical suggestion for this is to start out small, with something a frightened and an ignorant being can relate to, something that is relevant to their own life, that is not too scary and that is attainable for them. On the human level, that is something to which they can say, "Oh, this is easy. Even a stupid fool like me can do that." If they can start from that point, you can make better human beings out of them. But if you start from a point that is way, way too far, that is not personal, and that is authoritative—if they see authority—then they shy away. It is a little bit like training a wild animal, I would say. But the way to approach and win people's hearts for us as educators is to start very low and take the threat away from anything we say.
说到这里，我想你们有没有问题，或一些立场；有的请上来，我们一起讨论。或许关于教育你也有一些好东西可以说，或者关于我现所讲的话有问题，都可以上来。
At this point I would ask any of you who have any questions to come forth and we can discuss some of your questions and your attitudes and your problems or some good things that you have to say about education. Or any questions you want to ask me about my talk right now.
请不必怕。你知道在佛殿讲法应是我们每个人都应参与的，不是光我一个人唱独脚戏——尤其在「超现代」社会里，更不是「我」在此发号施令而「你们」在台下听号听命。这种做法不好，这样我成不了一个好老师的。
Don't be shy. You know a Dharma talk in the Buddha Hall should be something we can all participate in, and not just be me—the authority—in this postmodern world, telling you what to do. This is not a good practice. It won't make me a good teacher.
在「后现代」社会里我们人人都是老师，对每个人的权益我们都要尊重，现在人是具这种眼光的。也许到这里来的许多人有这种思想，我们应该注意这一点。所以着手处可以从鼓励他人发表意见开始；表达思想，提出问题，甚至如果不提问题，说说他们的所见也可以。
In the postmodern world we are all teachers and we all have to respect each other's authority. That's how people see themselves. Probably many of the people who come here have that attitude, and we have to be aware of that. One of the ways to start is to have the courage to speak up, to say what you think, and to ask the questions that are going through your mind, or not even ask questions, but just if you have an observation, say it.
问：世界各地不同文化的学生您都教过，您可不可以说说您的经验并作一些比较？
Question: You have taught extensively in different parts of the world to people of different cultures. Can you speak a little bit about your experience?
答：可以，但是这是很难讲的。因为我认为人都是一样的，无论你走到哪；衣着、眼睛、肤色会有不同，但其本质却都是一样的，甚至在对待宗教的角色的态度上人都基本上是一致的：人人都说自己的好，这是一种防御心理。
我可以跟你们讲讲一个经历，那是我在沙地阿拉伯一所妇女大学教书的时候。沙地阿拉伯是一个意识形态保守的国家，从那个角度上讲，它是一个「现代」国家，因为它固守一种形态。它自有一套体系，而且还蛮灵光的，它也不想变化那体系。我不是在这儿对那个体系评头论足的，那个体系有其善，亦有其不善，不管怎样那个体系却能使沙地人民凝和团结。我在那儿从事教授外语的工作。那里大部份的老师都是信基督教的，有一些学生也是基督徒；阿拉伯人一般是信基督教、回教、犹太教，这是那儿的三大宗教，但是最大的还是回教。
Answer: Well, it's hard to say, because I firmly believe that people are all the same wherever you go. They might wear different kinds of clothes and have different color eyes and hair, but in essence they are all the same, and even in how they approach the role of religion they are the same: They are defensive of it, and they think theirs is the best.I can tell you of an experience that was very touching and that happened to me when I was teaching at a women's college in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the conservative countries that stick to a form. In that sense we could say it is a modern country, because it sticks to its own form. It has a proven system that works, and they do not want that system to progress in any way. I'm not here to judge the system. It has its good and bad aspects, but somehow it does keep the people together. I was running a program for learning foreign languages there, and most of the teachers employed there were Christian. Some of the students were also Christian. Arabs are either Christian, Muslim, or Jewish. These are the three religions there, but the biggest one is definitely Islam. It was approaching Christmas, and a new law came down from the King that everyone has to come to school on Christmas Day—teachers and students. If you look at the principle of that law, it wasn't all that bad. It was their country, and they are for the most part not Christian, so why should they observe a holiday that is not their own, that is imposed on them by the Christians? After all, when they go out into the Christian world, the Christian world forces them to accept Christian holidays and the Muslim holidays are put on the backburner. So the government's policy was: This is a Muslim country, and Christmas is going to be a working day.
那次，快到耶诞节的时候，从国王那儿下了一道圣旨，设了一条新法律：耶诞节那天所有的人——老师和学生，都得来学上课。这条立法的精神，倒还不是那么坏，这是他们的国家，他们大都不信基督教，为什么要去庆祝一个不是他们的，而是基督徒加之于他们头上的节日呢？而一旦他们出去到一个基督教社会，基督教的社会力量就会使他们接受基督教节日而将回教节日往后摆。所以沙地政府的政策是：这是一个回教国家，耶诞日应该还是一个工作日。
Many of the teachers were quite upset, because they wanted to celebrate Christmas. The principals of the school, who were all Arabs, were also upset, and they were very embarrassed by this. This is the ethics that I'm talking about. These were ethical people, and they didn't know what to do. So, they said, "This is the law, and we will get into trouble if we don't follow the law, but we also know that you are good people who are teaching and not taking too much money and who try to help us and make friends with us. We apologize for our government, but we have to follow the law." I talked to the teachers and said, "Some of you are married to Arabs, so your husbands are Muslims. Those of you whose husbands are Muslims and those of you who really don't care whether you are home or not for Christmas, and those of you who can give of yourselves-since Christmas is a day when you should give--come, in order to help out the school. Those of you who don't want to come don't have to come, and we will somehow divide the classes among the ones who are left behind." And that is what happened. Some people came, and some didn't come.
当然这使得许多老师都很不痛快，因为他们想放假过个耶诞日。校长们都是阿拉伯人，也很难过，很难堪，这是我所说的道德问题。他们都是品德很好的人，他们也不知道该怎么办。所以他们说，这是法律，如果我们不遵守，我们就会有麻烦的；但是我们都知道你们是好人，教书又不拿多少钱，是帮助我们，和我们作朋友。我们为我们的政府向你们道歉，但是我们还是要遵守这个法律。所以我对那些教师们说：「你们中那些先生是回教徒的，那些不在乎耶诞节那天是不是回家的，那些能够布施的——因为耶诞节是布施的一天——都来学校吧！来帮助学校吧！那些不想来的不用勉强，那天学生我们会另外分班。」事情的经过是这样子的：一些人来了；一些人没有来。
I went to substitute for another teacher, and the minute I walked into the classroom, the students locked the door. I thought, "My goodness, what's going to happen now?"
Then from under their chadors--the black cloaks that the women wear came all kinds of sweets and delicacies that they had made for their teacher (not for me; I was just a substitute) because they knew that she was an American and a Christian and that she liked Christmas, and they wanted her to be happy.
我那天去代别的老师的课；我一走进教室，学生即刻把门一锁。我愣了一下，心想：「天哪！要出什么事了？」这时从那些妇女穿着的回教黑袍底下，她们拿出各式个样的甜点佳肴。她们专为老师做的——不是给我做的，我只是一个替课老师——因为她们知道她们的老师是美国人，基督徒，很喜欢过耶诞节的，她们想让她开心开心。
This was such a touching thing. In spite of the law of their country, they wanted to respect their teachers. And I took these things and brought them home to their teacher. It was really a very humbling experience for everybody.
此事感人之处在于：她们愿悖法而尊师。我把这些吃的包好回去带给她们的老师。这一经历足令每个人低首深思。
This story is a good example of what ethics is, because it is a case of going beyond the rule. The rule was one thing, but people saw what the principle behind it was, and they were courageous enough to follow that principle.
这桩事是关于什么是道德的一个好例子，因为它超越了规矩；规矩是一回事，人所见到规矩后面的道义是什么，又是另外一回事。这些学生都很有勇气，能见义而勇于去行其道。
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编按：阿比纳博士原籍前南斯拉夫 ，生于佛教家庭，笃信佛教。获贝 尔格勒南斯拉夫大学东方事务学硕 士；土耳其伊斯坦堡大学土耳其事务学博士。现任美国万佛城法界佛教大学校长，教授「佛教宗教观」一课；并任加州柏克莱法界宗教研 究院主任、研究教授。
Editor's note: Dr. Akpinar originally came from the former Yugoslavia and was born a Buddhist. She holds an M. A. in Oriental Studies from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and a Ph.D. in Turkish Studies from the University of Istanbul, Turkey.
She is President of Dharma Realm Buddhist University at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and teaches a course called "A Buddhist View of Religion". She is also Director/Research Professor of Institute for World Religions in Berkeley, California.
