集古老与年轻于“一身”的文化

02.

传喜法师：

当前，国家非常重视中华优秀传统文化的学习和交流。我们能参与其中，很荣幸。佛门讲人能弘道，真修行者，一定是真为生死，具足钢骨，开发见识。无论戒杀放生，还是食素念佛，都是在修行实践中，真真切切地了悟生命的真相，体验像孝敬自己的父母一样服务众生的菩提心性。

Master Chuan-xi: At present, our nation is putting great emphasis on the study of the fine traditional culture of us Chinese and its interaction with the rest of the world. We are very honoured to be able to partake in this. In Buddhism, it is said that humans are capable of propagating the Dao. Certainly, a true practitioner aims to escape from the cycle of rebirth; he possesses steely nerves and is a trail-blazer in the realm of knowledge. Be it to refrain from taking lives and to set free those doomed to death, or to consume only non-meat food, and to be mindful of the Buddha, he is always putting what he has learned into practice, and understands the reality of life truly and matter-of-factly so as to experience the nature of the mind of enlightenment in the service of myriad beings he is being filial to like he would his own parents.

我在山东做《观澜知源》讲座，分享传统文化的文明之光，发现大家在交流中都非常投入，最后他们给出的结论是：值得听，值得讲！这种互动式的交流大有裨益。佛教文化本身更像一个生命体，专家学者不但可以从书本上了解知识，还可以透过这个窗口，了解很多传统文化。这是时代的需求，我们很荣幸。

During the talk on Searching for the Source of a Water by Observing its Ripples that I had conducted in Shandong, I shared how traditional culture has illuminated civilization. I discovered that during the exchange, everybody was very immersed and the conclusion reached in the end was worth the while and deserved to be discussed on. This sort of interactive exchange brings many great advantages. The culture of Buddhism is more like an organic body. Not only could the specialists gain knowledge from the books, they could also understand much of traditional culture through this window. This is the need of our time, and we feel great honour.

记者：

我们大家众所周知啊，山东作为孔孟之乡，儒家文化的一个发源地，世界各地学习孔孟之道、学习国学，到哪儿去呢，到山东去学习。这时候，他们作为儒家发源地的年轻人，为什么要请您去讲传统文化？

Journalist: It is well-known that Shandong is the homeland of Confucius and Mencius, and the place of origination of Confucianism. Where do people from all over the world go to in order to follow after the ways of Confucius and Mencius, and to learn Chinese studies? They go to Shandong. During such a time, why would the youth from the place from which Confucianism originated desire your presence there to talk about traditional culture?

传喜法师：

是的。或许正是因为他们在学术理论上比较权威， 就更加期待在学术研究体系之外，直接面对文化传承人去了解文化现象。有这样的儒学自信， 他们的文化视野更为宽阔。从学术理论上来说，如果我在你们面前讲话，叫关公面前舞大刀。从文化传承上理解，或许这样一位“道”的实践者，有时候会带去意外的惊喜。

Master Chuan-xi: Yes. Perhaps it is precisely because they are more renowned in academic and theoretical studies, all the more they yearn to come face-to-face with someone who is not from their system of thought – someone who is engaged in the transmission of culture – in order to obtain a direct understanding of cultural phenomena. With the confidence gained from Confucianism, their cultural perspective will be wider and more expansive. From the academic and theoretical studies point of view, if I conducted the talk in front of them, it is like to show off to Guan Yu by wielding the big sword in front of him. From the perspective of cultural inheritance, such a person who puts the Dao into practice will perhaps sometimes bring unexpected pleasant surprises.

最后讲到儒学的《论语》《中庸》《大学》等四书五经内容，我们也结合了《道德经》，结合了佛教的《金刚经》《心经》和《六祖坛经》。大家怎么融会贯通，相互印证。这样不仅了解儒家经典，同时也能了解儒释道对同一个问题的各自表述是什么，它们的共同性在哪里，它们的差别性在哪里。所以那天有佛教的法师，有道教的道长，也有学术界的教授和专家。

Towards the end, we spoke on the contents of the Four Books and the Five Classics such as The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean, and Great Learning. We also conducted a teaching which combined Dao De Jing, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, and Platform Sutra of the Six Patriarch, to see how they are harmoniously intertwined and complement each other in the actualization of their teachings. In such a way, not only did we have an understanding of the Confucian classics, we also learned at the same time what each of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism had to say on the same issue, and the similarities and differences they had among them. Therefore, there was a Buddhist venerable, a Taoist master, and also academic professors and specialists.

记者：

其实我觉得应该是这样，应该是从理论上、科研上达到一个高度。您呢，是给他们诠释了一个实践的国学，从实践当中更生动更形象化地阐述了佛学，这就是说更容易贴近我们的生活，容易接受。

Journalist: In fact, it is my opinion that we should start from theory so that academically speaking a vantage point can be reached. As for you, you are providing them with a perspective of one who puts Chinese studies into practice, so that a more vivid and realistic account of Buddhism being put into practice can be conveyed to them. That is to say, this is what we can relate to much better in our daily lives, and is something we can more easily accept.

传喜法师：

我在表述上比较简单，讲座的内容是“中庸之道的人生实践”，当时走廊里都挤满了人，大家在三四个小时的演讲过程中没有一个人离席。

Master Chuan-xi: In providing them with an account, I am much simpler. The theme of the talk was The Practice of the Doctrine of the Mean in Our Lives. The corridor was filled with people and not a single person left his seat during the talk which lasted about three to four hours.

记者：

就是说能够不用咬文嚼字地去理解，很通俗就能明白，能够想到我的切身的日常生活，能够结合实际生活加以联想。法师，我们通过一些新闻媒体经常会发现这样一个现象，就是校园暴力事件。一个十几、二十几岁的孩子，在学校里应该是全身心学习，在这个阶段，为什么这种学校的暴力事件会频发呢？您认为出现这种现象的根本原因是什么呢？

Journalist: Which is to say, there was no need for us to go through each and every single word but instead to gain an understanding through a commonsensical way and be able to relate that understanding to our own everyday experience and draw practical parallels. Master, from the media, we find school violence to be such a frequent occurrence. For a teenager, the school should be a place for all-round learning for both the body and the mind. However, why is it that for them at that age, such acts of school violence happen so often? What do you think is the underlying cause for such a phenomenon?

传喜法师：

年轻人正处于生理成长阶段，生命的自制力还比较薄弱，所以孔老夫子说：少之时，血气未定，戒之在色。年轻人好斗，血气方刚，这是值得教育重要的一个方面。学校除了自身的管理外，还要落在一个 “人”字上。现在的孩子，如果不能够自我了解，自我约束，很难控制自己。我们佛教讲戒恶行善，这个行为准则没有建立起来的话，往往只是在追求学分。你忽略什么它就会发生什么，哪里有缺陷，它就会呈现出它的后果来。我想大家也在实验，是不是引进更多的传统文化。儒释道在教育方面，十分注重“德”的教育。就像您在寺院里看到，大人小孩到这里都面容慈善，很快乐。有了佛教的修养之后，一个人的精神面貌和行为准则，都会发生非常大的改变，身口意都能得到净化。我觉得这是佛教的智慧教育，也是人的素质教育，更是华夏祖先留给我们的宝贵财富。现在很多的教育者已经看到这些精华，关注到这些优良传统对培育人的德行多么重要。我希望看到更多的人运用佛教的智慧去解决社会矛盾，包括校园的这些不和谐。

Master Chuan-xi: Young people are going through physical growth and during this time, their ability to exercise restraint is weaker. Hence, Confucius said: ‘In youth, as one is hot-blooded and one’s flow of energy has not settled down yet, one needs to restrain oneself in terms of material forms.’ Yong people tend to be competitive and are hot-blooded – this is something worth our while to educate them on. Besides the teaching of self-discipline in school, we still need to focus them on how to be a human person. It is very difficult to take control of themselves if the children nowadays do not understand themselves and do not exercise restraint. In Buddhism, we talk about avoiding evil and doing good deeds – if this principle has not been inculcated in them, it will only be the mere pursuit of academic results. Whatever you have missed out will be caused to happen. The end result of whatever shortcomings which have not been rectified will materialize. I think everybody is also deciding whether to bring in more of our traditional culture into the schools. Education-wise, there is great stress on the teaching of morality in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. As what you have seen in the monastery, everyone looks compassionate and kind, and very happy. Having gone through Buddhist cultivation, there will be great changes in one’s spiritual appearance and standard of conduct. One’s body, speech and mind would have gone through purification. I feel that such is the Buddhist teaching of wisdom, which is also the teaching of wholesome character building. It is above all else, a precious treasure that our Hua Xia forefathers had left us. Many educators are seeing its quintessence now and are paying attention to the importance such fine traditions have in the cultivation of personal moral conduct. It is my hope that many more will make use of Buddhist wisdom to find solutions to our social conflicts including such disharmony in our schools.

03.

记者：

如果说我们在教育方面，让智力教育跟我们传统文化、跟佛学的情商教育结合起来，那学生就不会存在我们这种暴力行为的现象。

Journalist: If, say we are able to merge the teaching of intelligence quotient with the teaching of emotional quotient found in traditional culture and Buddhism that would put a stop to the occurrence of violence in schools.

传喜法师：

至少可以很大程度上减少暴力现象。其实校园暴力事件，除了社会影响恶劣，最大的受害者还是他自己。多么令人痛惜，年轻人本可以通过修养， 让生命变得更有质量。

Master Chuan-xi: At the least, this will greatly minimize the occurrences of such phenomena. In fact, beside the detrimental social effects of an act of school violence, the one to be harmed the most is the perpetrator himself. How very lamentable is that. A person of youth could have let his life become one of quality through proper cultivation.

记者：

那接下来呢，用一个问题回应上一个问题。法师您认为，我们现在的学生学习传统文化，对他们的人生有什么样重要意义呢？

Journalist: To employ another question in response to the last question: what now then? Master, what important meaning for life do you think there is for our students to study traditional culture nowadays?

传喜法师：

意义是显而易见的。如果一个孩子建立了正确的行为准则，正确的人生观和世界观，有了高尚圆满的目标，人生几十年的实践，他就会实现从因到果的丰收，所有行为都会向正确的方向发展。反之，一个人没有建立起正确的人生观和世界观，他的人生是盲目的，随波逐流的，甚至可能会给社会制造很多麻烦。

Master Chuan-xi: The meaning is obvious and readily seen. If a child should have established a proper standard of conduct, possesses a correct personal as well as world outlook, and adopts a morally upright ideal, he will enjoy the bountiful harvest of a wholesome cause after having put these into practice for the first few scores of his life. Therefore, his conduct will tend to develop in the correct direction. On the other hand, one shall be blind in life if he has not set up a correct personal as well as world outlook – he goes with the waves and might even create many problems for society.

传统文化正是指路明灯，给迷惘的人指出生活的方向。就像我们在山东大学讲《中庸》一样，明白“中庸”的涵义，他自然会做君子。“中”即是道，“庸”是对道的遵守。你看汉字的“人”，一撇一捺，也可以理解为一阴一阳。阴阳交汇，相互支撑，然后就变成道。道的人格化就是人，道的生命轨迹也是人。

Traditional culture is the light that illuminates the path for us. It provides those who are lost and confused in life with a direction. Like what we have mentioned during the talk on The Doctrine of the Mean in Shandong University, one who is able to grasp the meaning of the mean中庸will naturally become a gentleman. 中 (centeredness) is the Dao while 庸 (ordinariness) is to abide by the Dao. If you look at the Chinese character人 (human) in which there are two strokes, you can also understand it to mean yin and yang - crossing and supporting each other to then become the Dao. The human is the personification of the Dao, and is also the life trajectory of the Dao.

中国传统文化其实就是道的文化，非常奥妙，即包括对生命内在规律的认知，也包括对宇宙规律的认知，两者和谐统一。西方科学虽然发达，特别量子物理学发展后，西方世界开始认识到我们东方的学问非常高级，乃至对现代科技都有极大的启迪。

In fact, the traditional culture of the Chinese is the culture of the Dao. This is very sublime and profound. It is the harmonious coming together of the awareness of one’s internal life rhythm and the awareness of the rhythm of the universe. Although their science is well-developed, the Western world has started to realize especially after they have made progress in quantum physics that the knowledge of the Eastern world is so very advanced such that even modern science and technology can draw great inspiration from it.

记者：

其实我们的国家这种文化不单单能影响我们国人，也能够影响全世界、全人类。中国文化对世界经济，对世界未来的发展方向，会产生影响。所以，我们不光要在国内弘扬传统文化，还要把我们传统文化发扬到世界范围，其实是对人类的一个贡献。

Journalist: In fact, such a culture like ours does not only affect us, but it is also able to affect the whole world and the whole of humankind. Chinese culture will have an effect on world economics as well as its future development. As such, not only do we need to propagate traditional culture in our country, we need to also spread it to the world. This is, in actual fact, a contribution to humankind.

传喜法师：

中国是人类文明古国之一，我们是古老华夏文明的直接传承者。既然是世界公认的悠久文明，我们就要有使命感来继承和弘扬它，去造福国人，造福世界，造福人类。比如说，人可以转凡成圣，这是一个非常有社会意义的话题。一个人能够自觉，就会形成自我规范的道德体系。个体生命的改变不容小觑，人与人，人与社会，乃至国与国之间的秩序，都会得到相应的改善。乃至法律或者法规，多了一层道德保障。我发现在 21 世纪，人类都在思索这个问题，西方很多智者也认识到中国的古老文明对当今世界的重大意义，所以我们一直坚持认为，佛教在当今社会具有意义重大的普世价值。

Master Chuan-xi: China is one of the oldest human civilizations. As the direct heirs of this ancient Hua Xia civilization and since it is being recognized by the world to be one with a long history, we should have a sense of mission to inherit it and propagate and spread it to bring benefits to our countrymen, the world, and humankind. Take for instance the subject of the transformation from being human to being sagely. This is something that has a lot of meaning to society. A person capable of self-awareness will be able to form a system of self-discipline. These changes in an individual’s life should not be overlooked. They will also bring about corresponding changes in the order between individual and individual, individual and society, and even nation and nation. Furthermore, morality will act as an extra line of protection to reinforce legal laws and regulations. We find in the 21st century that humans are all pondering over this question. Many wise people from the West have also realized how greatly important the ancient Chinese civilization is to our modern world. As such, we have always steadfastly felt that there are great and important universal values for modern society to find in Buddhism.

记者：

社会各界都在大力弘扬我们传统文化，所以对我们来说更要不遗余力地去弘扬它。法师您认为我们现在的年轻人应该怎么样正确认识或者看待佛学，不至于让他们产生一些误解，能正确认识佛学跟他们的学习并不冲突，还会对他们有帮助呢？

Journalist: Each and every segment of our society is putting in great efforts to propagate and spread our traditional culture. Therefore, the more we should spare no effort to propagate it. Master, how do you feel our youth should get to know or treat Buddhism correctly so that they will not have any misunderstanding and realize that it does not conflict with what they have learned, and that it even is of benefit to them?

传喜法师：

佛教文化不仅造福了古人，也正在造福着我们当今社会。每个生命都有强烈的自我认知，一是对未知的恐惧；二是对幸福的渴望。佛教文化恰恰就是生命的说明书，让我们明了幸福是什么，什么可以带来幸福；痛苦是什么，怎样可以避免痛苦。种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆，因果观念真实不虚。如果能够戒恶修善，清净身口意，就像摘到甜蜜的果实一样，们可以摘取人生的幸福果实。

Master Chuan-xi: The culture of Buddhism has not only brought blessings to the ancients, modern society is benefiting from it as well. There is a strong sense of the notion of self in every life – firstly, there is a fear of the unknown, and secondly, a yearning for happiness. Buddhism is just so a manual for life which lets us understand what happiness is, what will bring about happiness, what is suffering, and how to prevent suffering.  As a man sows, so shall he reap – the law of cause-and-effect is true and undoubtable. If one is able to refrain from evil and do good, and purify his body, speech and mind - like having harvested a sweet fruit, one is able to enjoy the crop of happiness in life.

幸福可以指日可待，可以当下塑造，甚至我们的相貌都是可以通过心灵的苏醒来改善。相貌好，财富观好，人缘好，这些都可以通过修行来达成，幸福的人生是自己可以把握的。佛教帮助我们开发智慧，这是其他学问很难讲到的，不管物理学多么发达，生命的这种特质它关照不到，也认识不到。

We can expect to have happiness in the future or it can be created in the present moment. Through a spiritual awakening, even our appearances can be changed for the better. When our appearance is good, the outlook for our wealth will also improve and we will have cordial relations with people. We can achieve all these through practice. We are capable of creating a happy life for ourselves. The Buddha helps us to discover our wisdom – something rarely mentioned in other branches of knowledge. No matter how advanced the physical sciences may get, they will never be able to shed light on this unique quality of life, nor will they ever get to know it.

特别对年轻人来说，如果很早接触到佛教的智慧，会少走很多弯路。我们并没有多少资本能走弯路，人生短短几十年，摔倒后再爬起来就已经付出很大代价了。年轻人少走弯路，就会转化成为社会财富，这是国家之大幸啊！我们常说，老年人学佛了，他的孩子就不用操心了；年轻人学佛了，父母就不用操心了。

For the youths especially, if they get to know Buddhist wisdom very early on, they will spare themselves many unnecessary meanderings. We do not have much to waste on going about life without aim. Life is but a few score years short. We would have already paid a hefty price once we have picked ourselves up after a fall. The result from less meandering by the youths will transform into wealth for that society. This is most fortunate for a nation. We always say that when the elderly practise Buddhism, their children should have no more worries; when young people practise Buddhism, there is no more need for their parents to worry.