- 陶小凡
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我收藏有,部分内容如下:(要全的话,麻烦你留个邮箱)THUS HAVE I HEARD
Buddhist Parables and Stories
Series I 1999 SUTRA TRANSLATION Committee of the U.S. & Canada (Dharma Master Lok To, Director) New York - San Francisco - Niagara Falls – Toronto
PREFACE
Buddhism has always been fond of parables and many of these were used by the Buddha himself. He taught by parables, "for men of good understanding will readily enough catch the meaning of what is taught under the shape of a parable."
So wrote a distinguished lexicographer whose name has been lost to us. We could not, however, agree more, and have therefore compiled this modest collection of Buddhist parables and stories.
Our sources are the oral teachings of several masters, sutras such as the Avatamsaka and the Brahma Net, various dictionaries, encyclopedias and monographs and, especially, the Seeker"s Glossary of Buddhism, itself an extensive compilation of several hundred works, old and new, on Buddhism.
As with most stories, these parables can be read on many levels, for many ends. Whatever his background, whatever his purpose, we hope the reader will always keep in mind two crucial principles: the Bodhi Mind and serious practice. Without practice, and without the determination to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings (Bodhi Mind), parables merely feed the intellect and may become, in the words of D.T. Suzuki, "mere bubbles".
Tell me everything that happened while you were away, said the old monk. So the boy started to tell of his journey down from the mountain. He told of villages and towns he passed through, of rivers forded and mountains climbed. Then he told how one day he came upon a stream in flood...
We wish the reader a pleasant journey, a fruitful journey, leading to rebirth in the Pure Land -- in the Pure Mind.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We respectfully acknowledge the following teachers and friends whose advice and assistance have made this book possible. In the order of our temporal association with them, they are: Dharma Master Lok-to; Rev. Ta-yi; Prof. Forrest G. Smith; Messrs. John Ironmount and Sang Lam; as well as Dr. Michael E. Moriarty and our consulting editor, Upasaka Harry Leong, both of whom spent numerous hours assisting us in many ways on this project.
This book is respectfully dedicated to two persons of special significance in our lives: Upasaka Nguyen Van By and Mrs. Mildred Ulrich. Uncle By will always be appreciated for his support of several branches of the Nguyen and Le-Trung families in post World War II Vietnam and Mrs. Ulrich for her sponsorship, directly and indirectly, of some threescore members of the extended Van Hien clan to these shores. Both are responsible, in great measure, for our successful integration in North America on the threshold of this new millennium.
Minh Thanh, MA, MBA & P.D. Leigh, MS Rye Brook, NY Vesak, May "99 Updated: Jan. 2000
PARABLE 001: FATE IS IN OUR HANDS
In a time long past, there was an old monk who, through diligent practice, had attained a certain degree of spiritual penetration.
"He had a young novice who was about eight years old. One day the monk looked at the boy"s face and saw there that he would die within the next few months. Saddened by this, he told the boy to take a long holiday and go and visit his parents. "Take your time," said the monk. "Don"t hurry back." For he felt the boy should be with his family when he died. Three months later, to his astonishment, the monk saw the boy walking back up the mountain. When he arrived he looked intently at his face and saw that they boy would now live to a ripe old age. "Tell me everything that happened while you were away," said the monk. So the boy started to tell of his journey down from the mountain. He told of villages and towns he passed through, of rivers forded and mountains climbed. Then he told how one day he came upon a stream in flood. He noticed, as he tried to pick his way across the flowing stream, that a colony of ants had become trapped on a small island formed by the flooding stream. Moved by compassion for these poor creatures, he took a branch of a tree and laid it across one flow of the stream until it touched the little island. As the ants made their way across, the boy held the branch steady, until he was sure all the ants had escaped to dry land. Then he went on his way. "So," thought the old monk to himself, "that is why the gods have lengthened his days."
Compassionate acts can alter your fate. Conversely, acts of viciousness can adversely affect your fate."
Palmer: 87
PARABLE 002: TWO MORE DAYS TO MOUNT WU-T"AI
Long ago, in T"ang China, there was an old monk going on a pilgrimage to Mount Wu-t"ai, the abode of Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Aged and weak, he was treading the long dusty road alone, seeking alms along the way. After many long months, one morning he gazed upward and saw the majestic mountain in the distance. By the roadside, there was an old woman working the field. "Please tell me," he asked, "how much longer I must proceed before reaching Mount Wu-t"ai?" The woman just looked at
him, uttered a guttural sound and returned to her hoeing. He repeated the question a second and third time, but still there was no answer.
Thinking that the woman must be deaf, he decided to push on. After he had taken a few dozen steps, he heard the woman call out to him, "Two more days, it will take you two more days." Somewhat annoyed, the monk responded, "I thought you were deaf. Why didn"t you answer my question earlier?" The woman replied, "You asked the question while you were standing put, Master. I had to see how fast your pace was, how determined your walk!"
A cultivator is in the same position as the old monk in this story. As he practices the Dharma, seeking to help himself and others, he sometimes wonders why no one comes to his assistance. However, others may simply be trying to assess him, to gauge his strength and determination. This process can take five years, twenty years, or even a lifetime. Therefore, seekers of the Way, do not be discouraged, but forge ahead!
- 真可
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描写的是19世纪一个中国农夫挣扎求生存的故事,绝对是大手笔,长达一千多页一个三部曲,第一部就叫《大地》,第二部叫《儿子》,第三部叫《分家》。其中赛珍珠用力最多、写得最精彩的是第一部,有34章,第二部次之,有29章,第三部又等而下之,才4章。这是一部家族小说。这样逐渐递减的写法跟故事的发展形成了平行的关系,这类似于《红楼梦》的叙事模式。《大地》主要写于1920年代,发表于1931年。赛珍珠在瑞典皇家科学院大谈特谈中国小说则是在 1938年;在1920年代和1930年代,《西游记》还没有被提升到顶峰,“四大名著”之说大概尚未成型。这本书在西方世界很有口碑,也是因为这本书,赛珍珠1938年成为第一位同时拿到诺贝尔文学奖和普立策奖的女性。
至于争议呢,首先……中国移居海外的作家拿到这种奖的作品,一般都是不被本土欢迎的,例子有很多。而她这部作品不受欢迎可能是因为她本人目睹了太多中国旧社会的黑暗面,也因为外国人可以说是通过这本书才开始了解那是时代的中国的(“在赛珍珠之前从未有人在小说里描写中国。”),因此对她书中的描写照单全收,于是……姨太太,迷信,腐败,昏庸,糜烂,以及古怪。当然,这是外国人的评价,在我们自己看来,可能是把黑暗的一面深化,把光明的一面西化(我自己的评价,可能偏颇)让外国人比较容易接受——这也是必然的,正常的,生活所需的行为哪个地方的人类都能接受,但是信仰和风俗类的东西就很容易被异化进而妖魔化。
总的来说,有机会的话可以去找来看看自己评论,不过大概只有英文版?