婦女患眼痛喻——百喻經中英今文（85）

06-20

百喻經中英今文（85）

八十五、婦女患眼痛喻

(85) THE WOMAN WHO HAD SORE EYES

昔有一女人，極患眼痛。有知識女人問言：「汝眼痛耶？」答言：「眼痛。」彼女復言：「有眼必痛。我雖未痛，並欲挑眼，恐其後痛。」

Once upon a time, there was a woman who had a bad case of sore eyes. Another woman told her, "Where there are eyes, there are some times pains. Although my eyes do not ache now, I want to gouge them out so that they will not ache later."

旁人語言：「眼若在者，或痛不痛。眼若無者，終身長痛。」

A bystander said, "Though it"s true that when you have your eyes, they may sometimes ache to disturb you, yet when you don"t have them, you"ll be sure to suffer for lifetime."

凡愚之人，亦復如是。聞富貴者衰患之本，畏不布施，恐後得報，財物殷溢，重受苦惱。有人語言：「汝若施者，或苦或樂；若不施者，貧窮大苦。」如彼女人，不忍近痛，便欲去眼，乃為長痛。

This is also held to be true with the common stupid men. People have heard that wealth and fame are the sources of decadence. They are afraid of retribution in the hereafter for not doing almsgiving in their present lives. The more wealth they have, the more troubles they sometimes suffer afterwards. It is said that if you do almsgiving, you may be happy, or you may be not. But if you don"t do it, you will surely be the most unhappy man. This is just like that woman who could not bear the thought of having sore eyes, wanted to gouge them out to suffer forever.

[白話]

曾有一個女人，眼痛得厲害。一位自認有知識的女人問道：「你眼睛痛么?」她答道：「眼痛呵!」那女人又說：「有眼必定要痛。我如今雖然不痛，卻想把眼都挑了，以防止它以後痛。」傍人說道：「眼若是在么，或痛，或不痛：眼若是沒有了，便會終身長痛。」

凡夫愚人也是這樣，聽說富貴是衰敗患難的源頭，就畏懼了，索性就不布施了。害怕若是布施的話，以後得了果報，財物越發殷實豐裕起來，那麼衰敗患難的源頭也越發活活而來，肯定更重地受苦惱了。有人說道：「你若是布施的話，或苦或樂；若是不布施的話，則貧窮大苦。」就像那個女人忍不了短暫的痛，便想挑掉雙眼，那才是長痛了。

（江湖俠客吳仲湛輯）