佛教与生物科技
Buddhism and Biotechnology
法界宗教研究院研究教授 旧金山州立大学哲学系讲师易象干博士讲于AHIMSA第六届年会：
主题「吾人科技之未来发展及其对宗教精神的影响
一九九八年十月三日柏克莱加州大学国际学舍
By Ron Epstein, Ph.D. Research Professor, Institute for World Religions,
Berkeley; Lecturer, Philosophy Department, San Francisco State University
Edited from a Talk Delivered at "Spiritual Dimensions of Our Technological Future," AHIMSA* Sixth Annual Conference, International House, University of California at Berkeley, Oct. 3,1998.
张福麟 中译 Chinese translation by Fu-lin Chang
这次讨论会的主题是「生物科技——宗教精神发展上之福星或煞星」。现在人常说我们是处于生物世纪的开端，而且相信各位都很清楚地了解基因工程在许多方面--经济上、政治上、科学上，尤其是医药及环境上，将使地球的生活改头换面。对我们全体而言最重要的是这不可思议的科技与人类宗教精神本质的关系。虽然市面上有大量生物科技的著作问世，但是很少涉及于生物科技，尤其是基因工程与人类宗教精神上的关系。
The topic of this panel is "Biotechnology: Boon or Bane for Spiritual Development." It has very often been said that we are on the threshold of the biotech century, and I am sure that all of you are very clearly aware that genetic engineering is going to totally reshape life on this planet in many ways: eco-nomically, politically, scientifically--particularly in terms of medicine, and also environmentally. Most important for all of us is what the relationship of this incredible technology will be to the spiritual nature of human beings. Although an enor-mous amount has been written on biotechnology, very little has been written about the relationship between biotechnology, particularly genetic engineering, and the human spirit.
本人愿指出基因工程在两方面，正深远地影响着我们全体的生活：
Allow me to mention two ways in which genetic engineering is profoundly affecting all of our lives.
第一是美国政府目前正在考虑是否允许医学家插手改变人类遗传的基因，也就是说，去设法改变人类基因的结构，而遗传于后世。这表示传统的人类进化方式即将结束。将来我们不但要接管人类进化的责任，而且还要接管其他各种在地球上的众生；包括有情及无情之进化的责任。
First, at this very moment, the United States government is considering a request for medical scientists to intervene in the germline of human genetics, in other words, to change the human genetic structure in a way that would be transmitted to future generations. This means that human evolution in its traditional meaning is coming to an end. We will be taking over responsibility, not only for the evolution of human beings, but also for the evolution of many other forms of life on the planet, both sentient and nonsentient.
第二是基因工程直接地影响我们的生命，也就是将基因工程用于生物战，幸运的是目前尚未付诸行动。当我现在演讲时，许多国家的政府，可能也包括一些恐怖份子的组织，都在积极地设法将经过基因工程制造出来的微生物用于战争方面。
The second way in which of genetic engineering is directly touching our lives, that fortunately, insofar as we are aware, is not yet operational, is the use of genetic engineering in biowarfare. As I am speaking, many governments are actively working on the use of genetically engineered organisms in biowarfare, and presumably so too are terrorist organizations.These are two things, which are part of the "promise" of this new biotech century, that we are going to have to be dealing with in the immediate future.
上述两点就是新纪元生物科技所许下的诺言中，我们必须应对处理的两桩事情。
我们的思想体系是我们看问题的镜片，其有助于调整焦距，可以澄清，或许也会扭曲我们如何去看问题。待会泰德‧彼得斯教授和玛格丽特‧麦克琳教授会主要从天主教的思想体系来谈论；休斯顿‧史密斯教授已经说明「科学至上主义」是我们文化中最有势力的思想体系，两者都未涉及一系列完整广泛的重要思想体系。身为佛教学者及行者，我想简单扼要地介绍一下佛教的思想体系，对基因工程的关系中一些特殊的要点。
Paradigms are lenses through which we see issues that aid focusing, clarifying, and perhaps also distorting how we look at issues. Professor Ted Peters and Professor Margaret McLean are both going to be talking primarily from Christian paradigms. Professor Huston Smith has already mentioned Scientism as the dominant paradigm of our culture. That still leaves a whole wide range of important paradigms. As both a Buddhist scholar and practitioner, I would like to briefly introduce some distinctive features of the Buddhist paradigm's relation to genetic engineering.
佛教的思想体系有四方面与最有势力的科学至上主义不大相同，与基督教之思想体系，亦在多方面都不很相同。第一面，我要提出的是「Ahimsa(不伤生)」。这对我们今天在这儿集会尤其合适。Ahimsa‧‧就是不伤生，即是尊敬生命内在价值之原则；尊敬的不仅是是人类的生命，而是全体有情众生的生命。这种尊敬有情众生的思想体系，并非仅是为了对我们有用处，作为一种工具或达到目的之手段。由此尊敬生命之原则产生了慈悲无私之观念，而成为我们行动的指导原则。因此就基因工程而言，即必须排除任何将人类生命或非人类的有情生命作为工具之使用。如果我有时间，我会报告一些生物科技公司为了追求利润，以骇人的方式使用无情的生命，很不幸有时亦使用人类和其他有情的生命作为其工具。
Four aspects of the Buddhist paradigm are somewhat different than the dominant paradigm of Scientism and many of the paradigms that we find within Christian theology. The first aspect that I'd like to mention is Ahimsa**, which is particularly appropriate to our gathering here today. Ahimsa means nonharming; it is the principle of respect for the intrinsic value of the life of all sentient beings, not just human life. This paradigm respects sentient beings not merely for their usefulness to us as tools or means to ends. Out of this principle of respect for life comes the notion of selfless compassion as a guiding principle in our actions, so that, in terms of genetic engineering, it would exclude any instrumental use of human or nonhuman sentient life. If I had time, I would go into the horrific instrumental use of nonsentient life, and sometimes unfortunately human and other sentient life, in the pursuit of profit by biotech companies.
第二点我要讨论的是超觉；超觉与全人类发展出世智慧和解脱之潜能有关。超觉是无法用科学术语加以叙述的。从科学主义的观点而言，也没有方法可说明超觉所具有的意义。
The second aspect I'd like to discuss is transcendence. Transcendence refers to the potential of all human beings for developing spiritual wisdom and liberation. Transcendence cannot be couched in scientific terms. Nor is there any way to talk meaningfully about transcendence from the point of view of Scientism.
第三点，佛教的思想体系，是其了解到宇宙是一个开放的系统。与之对比不同的是科学方法，其运作于假设的，人为的，及封闭的系统，如此去假定其具备某些有意义，但不完全且非完善的相应于「眞实」的世界。以佛教思想体系的观点来看，毫无疑问的科学方法因其先天的限制，而无法评估在一个开放的系统内，这个世界的生物被遗传工程改造后，所可能引起的影响范围。像这样使用科学的思想体系是不可能有确定可靠的风险评估的。
The third aspect of the Buddhist paradigm is the understanding that the cosmos is an open system. In contradistinction, the scientific method operates within hypothesized artificial and closed systems, that are assumed to have some meaningful, but incomplete and imperfect, correspondence with the "real" world. From the viewpoint of the paradigm of Buddhism, it is clear that scientific methodology cannot, because of its inherent limitations, assess the full extent of the possible effects of genetically engineered alterations on living creatures in a world that is an open system. Thus no certainty or reliable risk assessment is possible using the scientific model.
最后第四点，于此佛教思想体系中我要指出的，是其不同于笛卡尔哲学的本质。换句话说就是我们的心和精神影响着我们的身体；而我们的身体也影响着我们的心和精神：我们的身、心、精神是「不二的」。究竟而言，三者彼此不可分开，而且性质上亦无不同。因为身、心、精神互相牵连，互相影响，佛教思想体系的道德是根源于因果报应，故其强调净化三者之重要性。
The fourth and final aspect of this paradigm that I would like to mention is its non-Cartesian nature. In other words, our minds and spirits affect our bodies, our bodies affect our minds and spirit, and body, mind, and spirit are nondual. Ultimately, they are neither mutually distinct, nor qualitatively different. Because body, mind, and spirit interrelate with one another and affect one another, the karmabased ethics of the Buddhist paradigm stresses the importance of the purification of all three.
由于时间的限制，我对于佛教思想体系四个方面非常简要的解释，希望能令您了解其与当今世界主流思想体系是非常地不同的。
I hope that you have been able to follow this explanation, which has been very brief because of our time constraints, of these four aspects the Buddhist paradigm, which is so different from the mainstream paradigms of the modern world.
最后我希望各位能花一点时间，思考这种可能性的存在，由于身、心、精神三者互相关联，而且本源上是不二的，因而基因工程可能会不利地影响到有情生物完成其超觉与解脱的潜能。因为科学只能处理物质界，科学实验或科学方法是没法评估这种风险的。若基因工程即使仅有一点点的可能性，会严重影响到人类的精神性与达到超觉的潜能，这已是一件非常令人担忧的事了。我想你们很多人会同意我的看法。
Finally, I would like you all to take a moment to reflect upon the possibility, which exists because of the interrelation and ultimate nonduality of body, mind, and spirit, that genetic engineering may adversely influence the potential of sentient beings to achieve transcendence and liberation. Because science deals only with the physical realm, no scientific experiment or methodology can possibly assess this kind of risk. Even if there is only a relatively small possibility of genetic engineering having a serious effect on the nature of the human spirit and its potential for transcendence, I think many of you will agree with me that it is a very serious cause for concern.
