六級閱讀：佛教精講

　　六級閱讀：佛教　Buddhism1

　　Buddhism is the only important foreign religious influence that has become part and parcel2 of Chinese life. The influence is so deep that we now speak of children’s dolls, and sometimes the children themselves, as“ little Buddha ”, and the Empress Dowager3 herself was addressed as“Old Buddha”. The Goddess of Mercy and the laughing Buddha 4 have become Chinese household words. Buddhism has affected our language , our food, our arts, our sculpture and directly inspired the characteristic pagoda5 . It has stimulated our literature and our whole world of imagination. The little monkish figure, with his bald head and his gray robes, forms an intimate part of any panorama of society, and Buddhist temples, rather than those of Confucius, are the center of the town and village life, where the elders gather to decide on6 village matters and annual celebrations. Its monks and nuns penetrate the privacies of Chinese households, on all occasions of births, deaths and weddings, as no other persons are allowed to do, and hardly a widow or virgin can be seduced , according to the Chinese novels, without the help of these religious figures.

　　Buddhism has conquered China as a philosophy and as a religion, as a philosophy for the scholars and as a religion for the common people. Whereas Confucianism has only a philosophy of moral conduct, Buddhism possesses a logical method, a metaphysics7 , and a theory of knowledge . Besides, it is fortunate in having a high tradition of scholarship in the translations of Buddhist classics, and the language of these translations, so succinct and often so distinguished by a beautiful lucidity of language and reasoning, cannot but attract scholars with a philosophical bias. Hence Buddhism has always enjoyed a prestige among the Chinese scholars, which so far Christianity has failed to achieve.

　　閱讀自測

　?、? Fill in each blank with the proper form of the words given in the brackets :

　　1. The injury to their key player could be a________ ( decide ) factor in the basketball game .

　　2. The president is paying a ________ ( privacy) visit to Europe.

　　3. She had the good ________ ( fortunate) to be free from the disease.

　　4. Some ________ ( influence) politicians change the world chaotic situation.

　　5. The offer of a high salary and a free house is very________ ( seduce) . 6. He is a truly ________ ( religion ) man who goes to church every day.

　?、? Answer the following question in your own words :

　　Why can Buddhism win the favor of Chinese scholars?

　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. decisive / deciding 2. private 3 . fortune 4. influential 5 . seductive 6. religious

　?、? Because Buddhism possesses a logical method, a metaphysics, and a theory of knowledge, in addition, Buddhist classics have been translated into brief and beautiful Chinese .

　　參考譯文

　　佛教

　　佛教是唯一一個成為中國人生活重要組成部分的重要外國教派。佛教對中國影響巨大, 現(xiàn)在我們常常將一些孩子的玩具娃娃稱為“ 小菩薩”, 有時甚至將孩子也稱為“ 小菩 薩”, 我們還將慈禧太后稱為“ 老菩薩( 老佛爺) ”。觀音菩薩和彌勒佛已經(jīng)成為中國家喻戶 曉的名字。佛教影響了我們的語言、飲食、藝術、雕塑, 還直接給我們靈感, 建造起佛教特有 的寶塔。佛教促進了我國文學的發(fā)展, 刺激了我們整個想象空間。留著光頭、穿著灰色長 袍的小和尚形象已成為中國社會全景圖中不可缺少的畫面。佛教寺廟成為中國鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)人民 生活的中心, 在寺廟里村中老人聚集在一起對村里事務和每年舉行的慶?；顒幼龀鰶Q定, 而儒教的寺廟則不能發(fā)揮如此大的作用。佛教里的和尚和尼姑已經(jīng)滲透到中國家庭的日 常生活中, 他們出現(xiàn)在孩子出生、葬禮和婚禮等所有重要場合里, 而和尚和尼姑在這些場合 的作用是他人所無法替代的。在中國傳統(tǒng)小說里, 如果沒有這些宗教人物的幫助, 幾乎沒 有一個寡婦或處女不會被人引誘而誤入歧途。

　　佛教作為哲學和宗教征服了中國。作為哲學, 佛教贏得了中國學者的心; 作為宗教, 佛 教則獲得了平民百姓的支持。儒教只具有道德行為的哲學, 而佛教則擁有邏輯方法、形而 上學理論和一整套認識學說。另外, 幸運的是, 在翻譯佛家經(jīng)典著作時, 中國具有優(yōu)良的學 術傳統(tǒng), 翻譯過來的語言簡潔明快, 經(jīng)文中的語言和推理因美妙易懂而卓爾不群, 即使對哲 學抱有偏見的學者也會被其吸引。因此, 佛教在中國學者中一直享有較高的威望, 這一點 基督教至今還未能達到。

　　閱讀導評

　　儒、道、佛是中國傳統(tǒng)思想文化的三大支柱, 三教的融合一直是中國思想文化發(fā)展的主 流。強調“無我”的印度佛教與中國本土文化在沖突中融合, 在融合中發(fā)展, 最終以“ 人人 072 皆有佛性”的思想在中國得到了廣泛流傳。遍布各地香火鼎盛的廟宇顯示了佛教在中國的 勃勃生命力。佛教雖是外來的, 但中國的政治、經(jīng)濟、文化等各個方面的發(fā)展無不受到佛教 文化的影響?？磥磉@外來的和尚是真的會念經(jīng)。

　　閱讀導釋

　　1. 佛教。佛教與基督教( Christianity) 、伊斯蘭教( Islam) 并列為世界三大宗教。公元前6 至5 世紀釋迦牟尼( Sakyamuni) 創(chuàng)建于古印度, 西漢末年傳入我國, 隋唐是其繁榮鼎盛 期。

　　2. 重要部分, 主要部分, 如: Human needs should be part and parcel of the whole planning and design process. ( 人的需要應該是整個計劃和設計過程最基本的部分。

　　3. dowager n. 繼承亡夫爵位( 或遺產(chǎn)) 的遺孀。文中的Empress Dowager 是指“慈禧太后”。

　　4. The Goddess of Mercy 指“ 觀音菩薩”, the laughing Buddha 則是指“ 彌勒佛”, 這兩個佛教 的神仙已為廣大中國人所熟悉。Buddha n. 佛, 菩薩。

　　5. 寶塔。塔起源于印度, 最初的漢譯音稱浮屠或塔婆, 最初是用來收藏佛祖釋迦牟尼舍利 的。釋迦牟尼死后, 他的弟子們把他的舍利分別埋葬在許多地方, 建塔作為標志。后來, 一些得道高僧死了, 也建塔紀念。中國的塔有兩類, 一類是佛塔, 一類是供來觀賞、美化 風景的。

　　6. 對??作出決定或決議, 如: decide on a course of action ( 決定行動步驟) 。

　　7. metaphysics n. 形而上學( 指哲學中探究宇宙根本原理的一個部分, 也稱玄學)