【菩提好聲音 #31】你我的寶藏 The Treasure Within You and Me

Contemplating the leisure, opportunity, significance, and rarity of human life is an evaluation of our current existence.思維暇滿、義大、難得，是對我們現有的身份進行評估。What is the true value of this human body? Most people use it merely to make a living or chase pleasure, even becoming slaves to this body and mind, busy with food and clothing all their lives—living simply to survive, and surviving simply to live.這一人身究竟蘊含多少價值？一般人只是以此謀生，以此享樂，甚至成為這個身心的奴隸，一輩子都在為它的衣食忙碌，活著是為了生存，生存是為了活著。Or, at best, they use it to accumulate wealth and win fame. But these do not last. When death arrives, no fame or fortune can be taken with us, nor can it be used to bargain with death.再或者，也不過是用來積聚財富，博得功名，但這些也是不長久的。一旦死亡到來，任何名利都無法帶走，無法用來和死神交換條件。From the perspective of the Dharma, however, this human identity is a vast treasure. This is because all sentient beings possess the same primordial nature as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; it is just that this latent quality has not yet been awakened.從佛法的觀點來看，這個身份卻是巨大的寶藏。因為一切眾生都具有和佛菩薩相同的生命層面，只是這種潛在品質尚未產生作用而已。As the Nirvana Sutra states: "The Buddha-nature of all sentient beings is covered by various afflictions, just as a poor person has a treasure of pure gold but cannot see it."正如《涅槃經》所說：「一切眾生所有佛性，為諸煩惱之所覆蔽，如彼貧人有真金藏不能得見。」We harbor a treasure without knowing it. Instead, we beg for scraps in the world, wandering endlessly through the Six Realms of Rebirth.我們懷有寶藏而不自知，反而四處乞討，流轉六道。How do we unlock these latent qualities and ultimately awaken? The basic premise is having a human body, specifically a human life endowed with leisure and opportunity.怎樣才能開發這些潛在品質並最終成佛？基本的前提，就是具備人身，而且是有暇圓滿的人身。From this perspective, the value of human life is as immense as the value of enlightenment itself.從這個角度來說，成佛的價值有多大，人身的價值就有多大。This identity is not only of immense value, but also hard to obtain and easy to lose. While people may feel that life is easily lost due to unexpected tragedies, they might not agree that a human birth is truly rare.這個身份不僅價值巨大，而且難得易失。或許人們對人身易失還多少有些感覺，因為現實中確有太多致命的意外，太多飛來的橫禍。但對人身難得卻未必認同。With billions of people on Earth, giving birth seems easy, and being human doesn't feel like a rare privilege.現在世界有這麼多人口，生個孩子也很容易，這一身份似乎並不難得，不值得視同拱璧。Yet from a cosmic perspective, compared to the infinite number of beings in the Six Realms, the chance of being born as a human is infinitesimally small.但從宏觀來看，相對於無量無邊的六道眾生，生而為人的機會實在是微乎其微的。Having been fortunate enough to obtain this human form, we must cherish and make good use of it, so as not to live this life in vain.我們有幸感得人身，唯有珍惜它，善用它，才不辜負此生。