出家

Monastic Ordination

一名来自丹东的女大学生到我这里来要求出家。看到眼前身材修长、面目清秀、正值青春韶华的年轻人，我想起了世间人对他们的种种不解，今天何不利用此机会打探一下她的想法呢？也可以此衡量她的决心。

A female college student from Dandong came to me and asked to be ordained as a nun. Tall and slender, she has pretty and delicate features and is at the prime of her youthful years. Her decision, no doubt, must have fallen beyond the comprehension of many worldly people. Why not take this opportunity to find out what is in her mind? Her answer will also help to gauge the strength of her determination.

“你为什么要出家？很多人认为像你这种年龄的青春少女出家，无异于尚未怒放的花朵遭到了摧残，是灭绝人性的，你对此有何看法？”

“Why do you want to become a nun? Many people think that for a young lady like you to enter a monastic life is akin to trampling on a pretty flower yet to bloom—it is inhuman. What do you think?”

听了我的提问，本来显得十分腼腆的她仿佛打开了话匣子，滔滔不绝地向我倾诉起来：

Hearing my question, she lost all of her shyness and poured out her answers fluently:

“在很多人看来，在家可以满足物质和精神方面的种种需求，比如：乘洋车、住洋房，还有他们一赞三叹的所谓爱情。为了这一切，他们付出了毕生的代价，然而却往往事与愿违。为了物质财富，即使绞尽脑汁，也不一定能满足日益增上的贪欲。纵然腰缠万贯，一呼百应，但又有几人能不被牵累，来去自由，抽身于尔虞我诈的名利场？

“To many people, worldly living can certainly satisfy a human’s thirst for physical and mental comfort, like owning cars, fine houses and enjoying the much-glorified love relationship. To these ends they invest all their lives’ effort, yet what they get in return is usually at odds with their wishes. Striving as they may, they can never feel content, because the desire for wealth and possessions only gets stronger each day. A person can boast of extreme wealth or large retinues at their beck and call, but in a world where everyone tries to cheat or outwit the other, how many people can find real freedom from all the trappings and entanglements?

再说所谓的世间情爱，又有几对能真的相约到老？大多数都只落得一拍即散、劳燕分飞的结局，能不反目成仇，已算是万幸。这样的在家生活真称得上是幸福吗？

As to the so-called love relationship, how many couples have made it till the end? Most love unions end up in smoke, to have a breakup without bitterness is considered to be quite lucky. Now, would you deem such worldly living as happy?

出家不但不是灭绝人性，反而更能让我们在修行中，找到真正的自我。人生最大的幸运，莫过于出家！”

To live a monastic life is not inhuman; on the contrary, it provides a way for us to find the true self through spiritual training. There is no greater happiness than to live a monastic life!”

听了她的讲诉，我释然了。看来她不是处于一时冲动，而是经过认真思索才作出的决定。

I was relieved after hearing her point of view. It is clear that her decision to become a nun has emerged from serious and careful deliberation, rather than on an impulse.

《大智度论》云：

 In Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom it says:

“孔雀虽有色严身，不如鸿雁能远飞；白衣虽有富贵力，不如出家功德胜。”

Well-adorned is a peacock with splendid feathers, yet it is no better than a goose that can fly long distances.
Wealth and power a common person may possess, yet such blessings pale in comparison with those of the ordained.

愿我们都能拥有鸿雁翱翔沧溟，海阔天空的广大胸襟，不要被孔雀沉重的华丽羽毛，拖累了我们遨游法界天空的翅膀。

Let’s hope we will have the spreading wings of the goose, flying up into the expansive sky with an open mind. Let’s crave not the dazzling plumage of the peacock, as it weighs on our wings and prevents us from flying freely in the Dharma realm.

壬午年七月十二日 　
2002年8月19日 　

12th of July, Year of RenWu
August 19, 2002