不要自我放弃

No Self Surrender

完全仰仗他人，是对自我的努力和信心的放弃。

Dependence on others means a surrender of one's effortand self-confidence.

佛教是人文主义的宗教，以公正、和平、平等为宗旨。而仰仗他力救赎自己，是一种消极的行为，仰仗自己是积极的。仰仗他力等于是放弃对自我的努力和信心。

Buddhism is a gentle religion where equality, justice and peace reign supreme. To depend on others for salvation is negative, but to depend on oneself is positive. Dependence on others means surrendering one's intelligence and efforts.

只有透过自我的努力，才能获得自我人性的提升。人性的改善必须求助于知识和自己的努力，我不是仰仗「天」。人类不应该成为自然界外力的奴隶，即使人类臣服于自然界的力量，他仍然能以自己超越的德性来了解或超越它。

Everything which has improved and uplifted humanity has been done by man himself. Man's improvement must come from hi own knowledge, understanding, effort and experience and not from heaven. Man should not be a slave even to the great forces of nature because even though he is crushed by them he remains superior by virtue of his understanding of them. Buddhism carries the Truth further: it shows that by means of understanding, man can also control his environment and circumstances. He can cease to be crushed by them and use their power to raise himself to great heights of spirituality and nobility.

佛教肯定，知识和努力是圆成一切的恰当途径，佛教否定依靠超自然的力量。宗教信仰是相信善法，而不是相信那些不可预知的力量。佛教不仅仅是宗教，还是一种正确的生活方式。从一开始，佛教就向世人宣称，佛陀是一位理性的导师，今日世人尊敬佛陀，是因为他是世人理性的导师。佛陀教导人类以「因果定律」寻求幸福，而不是通过一大堆烦琐的宗教理论。要了解宇宙和自然界，就必须先了解「缘起法」。否则，人类的生命只是一种自我天性的不完整表现。

Buddhism gives due credit to man's intelligence and effort for his achievements rather than to supernatural beings. True religion means faith in the good of man rather than faith in unknown forces. In that respect, Buddhism is not merely a religion, but a noble method to gain peace and eternal salvation through living a respectable way of life. From the very outset, Buddhism appeals to the cultured and the intellectual minds. Every cultured man in the world today respects the Buddha as a rational Teacher. The Buddha taught that what man needs for his happiness is not a religion with a mass of dogmas and theories but knowledge of the cosmic nature and its relationship to the law of cause and effect. Until this principle that life is merely an imperfect manifestation of nature is fully understood, no man can be fully emancipated.

佛陀给予宇宙一个全新的诠释，这是一个获得永久幸福的新见解。在佛陀的知见里，充满了达到究竟的真理。这种真理是全人类的胜利，是无常以外的永恒境界，是纯净的涅槃，是远离一切变幻无常的世界，最后从烦恼和忧虑中解脱出来。

The Buddha has given a new explanation of the universe. It is a new vision of eternal happiness, the achievement of perfection. The winning of the human goal in Buddhism is the permanent state beyond impermanency, the attainment of Nibbana beyond all the worlds of change, and the fina, l deliverance form the miseries of existence.