Chapter 10 Prayer, Meditation and Religious

第十章 佛教与修行

Practices Faith, Confidence and Devotion

信仰-信心与奉献

Right understanding points the way to confidence; confidence paves the way to wisdom.

有正知才能导向正信，唯有正信才能获得智慧。

Faith in the theistic sense is not found in Buddhism because of its emphasis on understanding. Theistic faith is a drug for the emotional mind and demands belief in things which cannot be known. Knowledge destroys faith and faith destroys itself when a mysterious belief is examined under the daylight of reason. Confidence cannot be obtained by faith since it places less emphasis on reason, but only by understanding.

信仰应该是有神论的意识形态。但是，在佛教里却不存在「有神论」。有神论的信仰是导致心智闭塞的毒药，有神论的信仰是不可知的。知识破坏了信仰，而信仰则破坏了它本身，因为，这种信仰建立在不可知上面，导致对信仰无法产生信心。只有当对宗教有真正的理解时，才会生起信心。

Referring to the unintelligible and 'blind'nature of faith, Voltaire said, 'Faith is to believe in something which your reason tells you cannot be true; for if your reason approved of it, there could be no question of blind faith.'

宗教信仰是无知和盲目的？法国的哲学家伏尔泰说： 「信仰是去相信一些你理性里认为不真实的东西，如果你的理性承认了它，就无所谓盲目不盲目了。」

Confidence, however, is not the same as faith. For confidence is not a mental acceptance of that which cannot be known. Confidence is an assured expectation, not of an unknown beyond, but of what can be tested as experienced and understood personally. Confidence is like the understanding that a student has in his teacher who explains in the class-room the inverse square law of gravitation as stated by Newton. He should not adopt an unquestioning belief of his teacher and his textbook. He studies the fact, examines the scientific arguments, and makes an assessment of the reliability of the information. If he has doubts, he should reserve his judgment until such time as when he is able to investigate the accuracy of the information for himself. To a Buddhist, confidence is a product of reason, knowledge and experience. When it is developed, confidence can never be blind faith. Confidence becomes a power of the mind.

信仰和信心完全不同。信心不是心灵那种不可知的接受(信仰)，信心是一种可知的、确定的和期待的，是由每个人的理解和每个人的经验证实。信心，好比是一个熟悉爱因斯坦相对论的学生，在课室内聆听老师讲解牛顿的万有引力，他不会相信老师所教。相反的，他保留自己的判断，一直到他自己有能力去解决这个问题。对佛教徒来说，信心来自理性、知识和经验。当理性、知识和经验获得开展后，信心不再是盲从的信仰，信心变成一种心灵的动力。

In his book, What The Buddha Taught Walpola Rahula says:

在《佛陀的教诲》一书中，作者 W.腊忽拉说：

'The question of belief arises when there is no seeing?seeing in every sense of the word. The moment you see, the question of belief disappears. If I tell you that I have a gem hidden in the folded palm of my hand, the question of belief arises because you do not see it yourself. But if I unclench my fist and show you the gem, then you see it for yourself, and the question of belief does not arise. So the phrase in ancient Buddhist texts reads:' Realizing, as one sees a gem(or a myrobalan fruit) in the palm'.'

「问题在于没有觉察到信念的产生──觉察到这世间的每一种思维。当你发现时，信念的问题就消失了。当我告诉你，我紧握住的手掌中藏有珍宝，信念的问题就产生了，因为你并没有亲眼看见。如果，我一开始就让你看到我掌中的珍宝，那么信念的问题就不会产生。因此，佛教的经典中说：『相信那位曾经看见掌中珍宝(圣果)的人』。」