恐怖

Being Fearful

随着社会的日益发展，我们享受着科学技术带给我们的巨大物质财富。但另一方面，现代社会带来的一堆鱼龙混杂、良莠不齐的东西，却因腐烂发酵而未作清理，正散发着令人作呕的气息，搅乱了我们往日的宁静，使原有的传统几乎受到了毁灭性的打击。

As society progresses, we are privileged to enjoy tremendous material well being resulting from science and technology. But bad influence is part and parcel of modernization. Once getting jumbled in and staying on, the evil force becomes a putrid, fermenting thing giving off nauseating odors. It demolishes the peacefulness we once knew and delivers destructive blows to old traditions.

“路不拾遗，夜不闭户”已经成为了一个童话，人们随时随地都有可能遭到恐怖的袭击。白天怕小偷，夜晚惧强盗。走在街上，胆战心惊；坐在家里，提心吊胆。虽然家家户户的阳台上，都安装起鸟笼一样的防护栏，却并不能抑制人们的恐怖心态。

The Utopian life described as “no one pockets anything found on the road, nor is there a need to lock the door at night” has been reduced to a fairy tale these days. People are subject to horrific attacks at any time and any place. We fear brigands by day and burglars by night. Sitting at home, we are terrified; going out, we are scared. Security fences like birdcages are erected around the balconies of every household for protection, yet they have no power to mitigate people’s fearful mindsets.

9·11事件后，世界各国都在尽力采取各种方式，以期对恐怖活动予以致命的打击，结果却收效甚微。

After 9•11, many countries in the world have attempted various means of fatally cracking down on terrorist activities, but their outcomes are anything but effective.

美国第一畅销书《恐怖档案》中透露，为了维护和平，挽救无辜生命，美国政府悬赏500万美元寻找本·拉登的下落，并保证为提供线索者的身份保密，并为其家人转移居住地提供方便等等。尽管待遇优厚，但至今却毫无下文。

A bestseller in the United States, the book Profile of a Terrorist Network revealed that the American government, for the sake of peace keeping and saving innocent lives, had offered a reward of $25 million for tips regarding Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts. The offer also promised total privacy for the tipster as well as relocation assistance, etc. Regardless of the rich reward, no progress has come about so far.

《入菩萨行论》中云：“顽者如虚空，岂能尽制彼？若息此嗔心，则同灭众敌。”如果没有调服自己的内心，而想将世间的怨敌一一消灭，完全是痴心妄想！

In A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, it says:

Wicked beings are as unending as space; they cannot possibly all be subdued.
But when the mental attitude of anger is slain, slain is every enemy.

Trying to conquer all the enemies in the world without first overcoming one’s own mind is nothing but wishful thinking!

释迦牟尼佛在因地时曾转世为一婆罗门。一次，他与蛇、鸽子、乌鸦、野兽在一起，野兽说：“恐怖是最大的痛苦。”乌鸦说：“饥饿是最大的痛苦。”蛇说：“嗔恨是最大的痛苦。”鸽子说：“贪心是最大的痛苦。”婆罗门为了断除它们的四大痛苦，而对它们说：“痛苦的根源是无明，要远离痛苦，必须持守五戒。”蛇、鸽子、乌鸦、野兽依此法行持，而转世得人身，并经修持，终获果位。

In one of his past lives, Buddha Shakyamuni was reborn as a Brahmin. During one of his gatherings with a snake, a pigeon, a crow, and a beast, the beast said: “Horror is the worst suffering.” The crow said: “Hunger is the worst suffering.” The snake said: “Hatred is the worst suffering.” The pigeon said: “Avarice is the worst suffering.” The Brahmin then taught them how to eradicate these four worst sufferings: “The root cause of suffering is ignorance. To be free from suffering, one must uphold the five precepts.” The snake, pigeon, crow, and beast all followed the instruction and were reborn as humans; they eventually attained liberation through practice.

其实，历代很多修行人生活的山涧、岩洞，都是远离恐怖的殊胜地。元代的石屋清珙禅师在岩畔的三间石屋里苦修，方圆几十里，荒无人烟，柴门也是虚设的，从不关闭。因为除了自己没有其他人出入。

In fact, the dwellings of spiritual seekers through the ages, whether set in rocky caves or by mountain streams, were all auspicious locations devoid of terror and fear. The Zen master Shiwu Qing-gong of the Yuan Dynasty retreated to a place where no human had ever set foot for miles around. He practiced unremittingly in three stone huts located near rocky boulders; his twig door was never locked, as there was no one else around. He wrote:

故写下了“黄叶任从流水去，白云曾便入山来，寥寥岩畔三间屋，两片柴门竟日开。”可见其悠闲自在之心情。真是羡煞我也！

Fallen yellow leaves float away freely in the stream,
White fluffy clouds sail toward the mountains.
The plain hut of three stone caves by the cliff is my dwelling,
Its twig double door is always left open all day long.

How easygoing and carefree was his mind, I am totally envious!

壬午年正月十八日 　
2002年3月2日　

18th of January, Year of RenWu
March 2, 2002