[中译]良稹

　　Association with the Wise

　　by Bhikkhu Bodhi

　　The Maha-mangala Sutta, the Great Discourse on Blessings, is one of the most popular Buddhist suttas, included in all the standard repertories of Pali devotional chants. The sutta begins when a deity of stunning beauty, having descended to earth in the stillness of the night, approaches the Blessed One in the Jeta Grove and asks about the way to the highest blessings. In the very first stanza of his reply the Buddha states that the highest blessing comes from avoiding fools and associating with the wise (asevana ca balanam, panditanan ca sevana). Since the rest of the sutta goes on to sketch all the different aspects of human felicity, both mundane and spiritual, the assignment of association with the wise to the opening stanza serves to emphasize a key point: that progress along the path of the Dhamma hinges on making the right choices in our friendships. 《大吉祥经》 (Maha-Mangala Sutta) 是一部最常为人们持诵、被收录于所有规范巴利课诵本内的佛教经文。在经文开端,一位美丽耀眼的天女于静夜降临大地,近诣柢树园中的薄伽梵,请为说至高的吉祥。佛陀在应答初偈中宣称,至高的吉祥来自远离愚人、亲近智者(asevana ca balanam,panditanan ca sevana )。由于余下经文叙述的,是包括世间与灵性诸侧面在内的一切人类福佑,亲近智者被置于经偈之首,意在强调一个关键点: 佛法之道的进步有赖于正确选择我们的友伴。

　　Contrary to certain psychological theories, the human mind is not a hermetically sealed chamber enclosing a personality unalterably shaped by biology and infantile experience. Rather, throughout life it remains a highly malleable entity continually remolding itself in response to its social interactions. Far from coming to our personal relationships with a fixed and immutable character, our regular and repeated social contacts implicate us in a constant process of psychological osmosis that offers precious opportunities for growth and transformation. Like living cells engaged in a chemical dialogue with their colleagues, our minds transmit and receive a steady barrage of messages and suggestions that may work profound changes even at levels below the threshold of awareness. 与某些心理学理论相反,人类的心灵并非是一个密闭式的容器,在其中封存着由生物学规律与婴儿期体验所定型的性格。反之,个体在整个一生当中始终高度可塑,不断地回应其社会互动而自我再造。我们决非是以固有不变的心性踏入个人的交往圈子,相反,那些定期与频繁的社会接触,把我们置于一个心理濡染的连续过程,为我们提供成长与转化的宝贵机会。正如活细胞与周围同伴进行着化学对话,我们的心持续地发送与接受着讯息与提示,它们甚至有可能在潜意识的诸层次上,造就深刻的变化。

　　Particularly critical to our spiritual progress is our selection of friends and companions, who can have the most decisive impact upon our personal destiny. It is because he perceived how susceptible our minds can be to the influence of our companions that the Buddha repeatedly stressed the value of good friendship (kalyanamittata) in the spiritual life. The Buddha states that he sees no other thing that is so much responsible for the arising of unwholesome qualities in a person as bad friendship, nothing so helpful for the arising of wholesome qualities as good friendship (AN 1.vii,10; I.viii,1). Again, he says that he sees no other external factor that leads to so much harm as bad friendship, and no other external factor that leads to so much benefit as good friendship (AN 1.x,13,14). It is through the influence of a good friend that a disciple is led along the Noble Eightfold Path to release from all suffering (SN 45:2). 对于我们的灵性进步特别重要的,是朋友与同伴的选择,那些人对我们的个人命运能够起决定性的影响。佛陀之所以反复强调善友 [kalyanamittata,善知识]在精神生活中的价值,是因为他了解我们的心,何等易受友伴的左右。佛陀说,他不见任何其它事,对引生不善巧素质[恶法],作用之大,如恶友伴者,他不见任何它事,对引生善巧素质[善法],作用之大,如善友伴者 (AN 1. vii,10; I. viii,1)。他又说,他不见任何其它的外在因素,引生伤害之大,甚于恶友伴者,他不见任何其它的外在因素,引生利益之大,甚于善友伴者 (AN 1. x,13,14)。正是借着善友的熏陶与指点,一位弟子在灭尽诸苦的八圣道上才得以进步(SN 45:2)。

　　Good friendship, in Buddhism, means considerably more than associating with people that one finds amenable and who share one's interests. It means in effect seeking out wise companions to whom one can look for guidance and instruction. The task of the noble friend is not only to provide companionship in the treading of the way. The truly wise and compassionate friend is one who, with understanding and sympathy of heart, is ready to criticize and admonish, to point out one's faults, to exhort and encourage, perceiving that the final end of such friendship is growth in the Dhamma. The Buddha succinctly expresses the proper response of a disciple to such a good friend in a verse of the Dhammapada: "If one finds a person who points out one's faults and who reproves one, one should follow such a wise and sagacious counselor as one would a guide to hidden treasure" (Dhp 76). 佛教意义上的善友,其内涵远甚于结交意气相投或与之有共同兴趣者。实际上它意味着寻找能够引导与指点自己的智侣。圣友的任务不仅是行道的同伴; 真正的智慧、慈悲之友,乃是一位心怀理解与同情,愿意批评、责备、指错、敦促、鼓励、视佛法中成长为友谊之终极目标者。佛陀在《法句经》中简明扼要地表达了一位弟子对此等善友的态度:“如果找到一位愿意指错、批评者,他应当追随这位智慧、贤明之士,如紧跟一位宝藏的向导。” (Dhp76)

　　Association with the wise becomes so crucial to spiritual development because the example and advice of a noble-minded counselor is often the decisive factor that awakens and nurtures the unfolding of our own untapped spiritual potential. The uncultivated mind harbors a vast diversity of unrealized possibilities, ranging from the depths of selfishness, egotism and aggressivity to the heights of wisdom, self-sacrifice and compassion. The task confronting us, as followers of the Dhamma, is to keep the unwholesome tendencies in check and to foster the growth of the wholesome tendencies, the qualities that lead to awakening, to freedom and purification. However, our internal tendencies do not mature and decline in a vacuum. They are subject to the constant impact of the broader environment, and among the most powerful of these influences is the company we keep, the people we look upon as teachers, advisors and friends. Such people silently speak to the hidden potentials of our own being, potentials that will either unfold or wither under their influence. 亲近智者对灵性进步之所以如此重要,是因为圣者的指点常常是唤醒与培育我们的灵性潜力使之开启的决定性因素。未修之心具有广泛多样的潜在可能性,低至自私、自我中心、侵略性,高至智慧、奉献与慈悲。作为法的追随者,我们面临的任务,是抑制非善巧的心性,培育善巧的心性,长养那些趋向觉醒、自由、清净的素质。然而,我们的内在心性并非在真空中成熟或衰退。它们不断地受着环境的影响,其中最有力者乃是我们的同伴,我们尊为导师、顾问、朋友者。这些人潜移默化着我们自身隐藏的潜力,使之或者开启、或者枯败。

　　In our pursuit of the Dhamma it therefore becomes essential for us to choose as our guides and companions those who represent, at least in part, the noble qualities we seek to internalize by the practice of the Dhamma. This is especially necessary in the early stages of our spiritual development, when our virtuous aspirations are still fresh and tender, vulnerable to being undermined by inward irresolution or by discouragement from acquaintances who do not share our ideals. In this early phase our mind resembles a chameleon, which alters its color according to its background. Just as this remarkable lizard turns green when in the grass and brown when on the ground, so we become fools when we associate with fools and sages when we associate with sages. Internal changes do not generally occur suddenly; but slowly, by increments so slight that we ourselves may not be aware of them, our characters undergo a metamorphosis that in the end may prove to be dramatically significant. 因此在佛法修行之中,选择那些起码部分地体现我们希望藉修法而自摄之尊贵素质者作为向导与同伴,就成为一个关键的问题。这一点在我们灵性发展的早期阶段特别有必要,那时我们的求善志向尚为新生、柔弱,易受内在的不决感与非同道之损友的破坏。在这个早期阶段,我们的心如同变色龙,随着不同的背景变换色彩。正如这只奇异的蜥蜴入草而身绿,着地而色棕,我们在亲近愚人时亦会转愚,亲近智者时也将得智。内在的转化通常非是骤然达成,而是逐渐地以可能不为自身觉察的微小幅度递增,我们的品格经历着一场最终有可能极其显著的形变。

　　If we associate closely with those who are addicted to the pursuit of sense pleasures, power, riches and fame, we should not imagine that we will remain immune from those addictions: in time our own minds will gradually incline to these same ends. If we associate closely with those who, while not given up to moral recklessness, live their lives comfortably adjusted to mundane routines, we too will remain stuck in the ruts of the commonplace. If we aspire for the highest — for the peaks of transcendent wisdom and liberation — then we must enter into association with those who represent the highest. Even if we are not so fortunate as to find companions who have already scaled the heights, we can well count ourselves blessed if we cross paths with a few spiritual friends who share our ideals and who make earnest efforts to nurture the noble qualities of the Dhamma in their hearts. 我们若与那些嗜好感官之乐、权力、财富与名声者过从密切,则不应想象自己有可能对那些瘾习保持免疫: 我们的心终究将逐渐地倾向同样的目标。我们若与那些虽未放纵于道德之不端,然已舒适地纳入世俗惯习者频繁交往,也将继续沦陷于庸碌人生之旧辙。我们若向往至高理想,欲达出世的智慧与解脱的高峰,则必须亲近那些体现着至高理想的人士。即使我们尚未有幸寻得已达此等高度的同伴,若能够遇上几位志同道合、精进努力、在内心培育佛法尊贵品质的灵性贤友,我们也堪称有福了。

　　When we raise the question how to recognize good friends, how to distinguish good advisors from bad advisors, the Buddha offers us crystal-clear advice. In the Shorter Discourse on a Full-Moon Night (MN 110) he explains the difference between the companionship of the bad person and the companionship of the good person. The bad person chooses as friends and companions those who are without faith, whose conduct is marked by an absence of shame and moral dread, who have no knowledge of spiritual teachings, who are lazy and unmindful, and who are devoid of wisdom. As a consequence of choosing such bad friends as his advisors, the bad person plans and acts for his own harm, for the harm of others, and the harm of both, and he meets with sorrow and misery. 面对如何识别善友、区分善恶导师的问题,佛陀给予我们的忠告清晰明了。在《满月小经》(MN 110)中,他解释了非善士与善士两者的同伴之别。非善士选择无信念、无惭意、不畏恶行、对灵性教导无知、怠惰、无念住、少智慧的人士为朋友与同伴。由于选择了这等恶友为其咨谋,此人在计划与行动上害己、害人、两害,他得到忧苦与不幸的果报。

　　In contrast, the Buddha continues, the good person chooses as friends and companions those who have faith, who exhibit a sense of shame and moral dread, who are learned in the Dhamma, energetic in cultivation of the mind, mindful, and possessed of wisdom. Resorting to such good friends, looking to them as mentors and guides, the good person pursues these same qualities as his own ideals and absorbs them into his character. Thus, while drawing ever closer to deliverance himself, he becomes in turn a beacon light for others. Such a one is able to offer those who still wander in the dark an inspiring model to emulate, and a wise friend to turn to for guidance and advice. 佛陀继续说,反之,善士选择有信念、知耻、畏恶、于法博学、精勤修心、有正念、具智慧者为友人与同伴。求教于这等贤友,敬其为师长、向导,善士以同样的素质为追求理想,将其吸收纳入自己的心性。如此,随着他本人越来越趋近解脱,转而成为他人的灯塔。这样的人,就能够为那些仍然在黑暗中摸索的人们担当起一个励志的榜样、一位可请得忠告与指点的智友。