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持八戒的婦女 |
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持守八戒固然有不可思議的功德，但八戒的真正精髓是在於「摒除情慾」、「少欲知足」、「易修禪定」、「趨向解脫」等出世功德，然而本篇的婦女持八戒的目的只是停留在滿足世間的慾望，卻不思解脫，就如同乞丐拾得黃金不善運用，竟拿去變賣一些廉價麵包充飢，所以凡夫對於輪迴的迷執，世尊有很深的感嘆。 如牧人以杖，驅牛至牧場，如是老與死，驅逐眾生命。 選譯自南傳巴利英譯法句經第十品刀杖品 譯於西元2006/6/24八關齋戒日 |
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那時，佛陀還住在鹿子母講堂裡。 有一次，五百位來自舍衛城的婦女，跟隨女居士毗舍佉，集體在鹿子母講堂裡準備受持八關齋戒。毗舍佉詢問每一位婦女持八戒的目的，這些婦女的回答都不盡相同。年紀較大的婦女希望藉此來世生天，過著富裕及榮譽的生活；中年婦女則希望能夠不與丈夫的小妾同住在一個屋簷下；已婚的婦女則希望第一胎生的是男孩；未婚的女子則祈求能嫁到如意郎君。 當毗舍佉得知她們的願望後，帶領她們去拜見佛陀，佛陀很感嘆的表示：「毗舍佉，生與死一直在生命中不停的運轉，只要活著，就會受到老和病的折磨，最終至死。這些婦女不為解脫輪迴而努力，她們仍願在六道生死中繼續流浪。」 佛陀以如下的偈語表達對眾生迷執輪迴，不思出離的感嘆： 如牧人以杖，驅牛至牧場，如是老與死，驅逐眾生命。 Verse 135 X (5) The Story of Some Ladies Observing the Moral Precepts While residing at the Pubbarama monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (135) of this book, with reference to five hundred ladies. Once, five hundred ladies from Savatthi came to the Pubbarama monastery to keep the Uposatha Sila vows. The donor of the monastery, the well-renowned Visakha, asked different age groups of ladies why they had come to keep the sabbath. She got different answers from different age groups for they had come to the monastery for different reasons. The old ladies came to the monastery to keep the sabbath because they hoped to gain the riches and glories of the devas in their next existence; the middle-aged ladies had come to the monastery because they did not want to stay under the same roof with the mistresses of their respective husbands. The young married ladies had come because they wanted their first born to be a son, and the young unmarried ladies had come because they wanted to get married to good husbands. Having had these answers, Visakha took all the ladies to the Buddha. When she told the Buddha about the various answers of the different age groups of ladies, the Buddha said, "Visakha! birth, ageing and death are always actively working in beings; because one is born, one is subject to ageing and decay, and finally to death. Yet, they do not wish to strive for liberation from the round of existences (samsara); they still wish to linger in samsara" Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
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