口红

A Lipstick

偶尔在杂志上读得一文章，叙述一女工每月工资500元，却用300元买回一支名牌口红，令我感慨不已。且不论她本月开销如何支付，以如此高价买如此之物实在可惜。

An article in a magazine says: A woman worker spent 300 yuan out of her 500 yuan monthly income just to buy a brand-name lipstick. When I chanced upon this news, I sighed deeply. Leaving aside the issue of how she will manage her other expenses for the month, to pay such an exorbitant price for this kind of item is senseless.

对于浓妆艳抹，我向来不以为然。世间也有“清水出芙蓉，天然去雕饰”、“曾识姮娥真体态，素面原无粉黛”之说。为区区一只口红，花费300元，真不如用来放生、供养或者买书。要知道，世间粉妆玉琢的一切，终将烟消云散。无论你如何将自己粉饰得“云髻峨峨，修眉联娟，丹唇外朗，皓齿内鲜”，终将随着时光的流逝，而使红润的容颜转为枯槁面容，乌黑的头发变为星星白发，如欧阳修在《秋声赋》中所云：“渥然丹者为槁木，黟然黑者为星星。”到头来，仅落下一堆白骨。

I have never appreciated the wearing of heavy makeup or fancy outfits, as has been said: “As from clear limpid water emerges the impeccable lotus flower, a natural beauty does not need any polishing,” and: “No scented ointments overlaying it, no coat of leaden powder applied. Such is the true face of a real beauty.” If 300 yuan can be squandered on a mere lipstick, wouldn’t it be better to spend it on, say, releasing live beings, Dharma offerings, or even buying books? Remember: Perfectly sculpted faces or polished jade in this world are all destined to disintegrate. No matter how you make yourself the fairest beauty of all—cloud-bank coiffure rising steeply, long eyebrows delicately arched, red lips appearing so lustrously, white teeth gleaming within—all will erode as time goes by. There is no avoiding that rosy checks will turn into a dry and wrinkled face and the once-ebony hair into a frosty mess. Ouyang Xiu in the “Ode to the Autumn Sound” laments: “Rosy facial features become faded and black hair turns hoary.” In the very end, nothing will be left except a pile of gristle and bone.

任何一个具智之人也不能使自己成为“金玉其外，败絮其中”的绣花枕头，唯有增长自己的智慧、修正自己的品德，才是世上最庄严之饰品。将时间和金钱用于修饰外表，不如闻思修行，谁不对举止闲雅的僧尼生起敬重之感？谁会觉得鸡皮鹤发、慈眉善目的老者有碍观瞻？如果通过修行发现自心的本来面目，才是令人视而不厌的美。不辨真正的美丑，实为当今世人之悲哀。我多想告诉世人：“应当放弃毫无意义的修饰，寻找真正的美。”

Anyone with wisdom should avoid turning oneself into “gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay on the inside”—that is, an elaborately embroidered pillowcase only. The grandest ornament comes only from cultivating one’s virtuous qualities and gaining wisdom. Devoting oneself to the study, reflection, and meditation on Dharma is better than wasting time and money on outward refinements. Who wouldn’t feel a sense of reverence toward monks or nuns whose every act demonstrates elegance and appropriateness? Who would think a loving and kind elderly person with wrinkled skin and white hair an eyesore? The only unfailing beauty is the one that emerges from realizing the true nature through Dharma practice. It is so sad that people in this world still can’t distinguish real beauty from the fake; how I would like to tell them: “Give up meaningless embellishments, seek only true beauty!”

壬午年四月十三日 　
2002年5月24日

14th of April, Year of RenWu
May 24, 2002