【文化释说英文有声书】第三篇 走近年轻人引发新的思考（二）

二、走近年轻人引发新的思考

Two – To connect with the youth in order to stimulate new ways of thought

记者：佛教与咱们的传统相伴, 都是同时几千年沉淀下来的。我们听说这段时间以来, 传授弘扬咱们的传统文化, 为什么要向年轻人传播传统文化呢？

Journalist: The coming together of Buddhism and our tradition is the culmination of thousands of years of development. We hear talk all this while of the need to propagate our traditional culture; why is there a need to propagate traditional culture among the youth?

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, 更容易接受。

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.’ Young 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.     

英文翻译&读诵：建成