哲理故事:盲人點燈 照亮他人亦方便自己

On a pitch-dark night, a monk seeking the real Buddha was walking in a desolate village. In the also pitch-dark road, villagers were coming to and fro silently.
一個漆黑的夜晚，一個遠行尋佛的苦行僧走到一個荒僻的村落中。漆黑的街道上，絡繹不絕的村民們在默默地你來我往。

The monk walked round an alley and saw a dim light cast from the depth of the dark alley approaching. One villager nearby said, “Blind Sun(a blind man), is coming.”
苦行僧轉過一條巷道，他看見有一門昏黃的燈光正從巷道的深處靜靜地亮過來。身旁的一位村民說：“孫瞎子過來了。”

The monk felt entirely puzzled at the blind man’s deed. A blind man was supposed to have no concept of day and night and cannot see everything like birds, flowers, mountains, waters, etc, around him. He could even not know how the “light” looked like. But Blind Sun was surprisingly holding a lantern, which made the monk feel confused and ridiculous. The lantern was approaching with the dim light gradually cast onto the monk’s straw sandals. Out of curiosity, the monk asked Blind Sun, “Excuse me, are you really a blind man?” “Yes, I have been blind since I came to this world.” The blind man replied.
苦行僧百思不得其解。一個雙目失明的盲人，他沒有白天和黑夜的一絲概念，看不到鳥語花香，看不到高山流水，他看不到柳綠桃紅的世界萬物，他甚至不知道燈光是什麼樣子的，他挑一盞燈籠豈不令人迷惘和可笑？那燈籠漸漸近了，昏黃的燈光漸漸從深巷移游到僧人的芒鞋上。百思不得其解的僧人問：“敢問施主真的是一位盲者嗎？”那挑燈籠的盲人告訴他：“是的，從踏進這個世界，我就一直雙眼混沌。”

The monk continued asking, “Since you could not see anything, why are you still holding a lantern?” The blind man said, “It is dark night now, isn’t it? I heard that if there is not light on the dark night, all others in the world are also blind just like me. So I lit up a lantern.” The monk got the point all of a sudden and said, “So you lit up the lantern to illuminate others?” But the blind man replied, “No, I do it for myself.” “For yourself?” the monk sank into bewilderment again. The blind man, with great calmness, asked the monk, “Have you ever been run into by others on a dark night?” The monk said, “Yes. I was run into by two people just now.” The blind man said with a sense of pride, “But I have not all the time. Even though I am blind and cannot see everything, I am holding a lantern in the dark so that I can illuminate others and meantime let others see me. Then they will not run into me due to the dark night.”
僧人問：“既然你什麼也看不見，那你爲何挑一盞燈籠呢？”盲者說：“現在是黑夜吧？我聽說在黑夜裏沒有燈光的映照，那麼滿世界的人都和我一樣是盲人，所以我就點燃了一盞燈籠。”僧人若有所悟：“原來您是爲別人照明？”但那盲人卻說：“不，我是爲自己！” “爲你自己？僧人又愣了。盲者緩緩地問僧人說：“你是否因爲夜色漆黑而被其他人碰撞過？”僧人說：“是的，就在剛纔，還被兩個人不留心碰撞過。”盲人聽了，就得意地說：“但我就沒有。雖說我是盲人，我什麼也看不見，但我挑了這盞燈籠，既爲別人照亮兒，也更讓別人看到了我自己，這樣，他們就不會因爲看不見而撞我了。”

Hearing the blind man’ words, the monk felt tremendously enlightened. He could not help looking up to the sky and sighed, “I had been travelling to a lot of places to seek the Buddha and never had I imagined that he is just around me. Our perception of Buddhism is just like a lamp. As long as we light it up, even though we cannot see the Buddha, he can still see us.” To light up the lamp of our lives can not only brighten others lives, but also brighten ours. Only by brightening up others lives can we truly brighten our own. So please let others light up the lamps of our lives! Only then will we truly seek out the safety and glory we are longing for in the darkness of our lives.
苦行僧聽了，頓有所悟。他仰天長嘆說：“我天涯海角奔波着找佛，沒有想到佛就在我的身邊，人的佛性就像一盞燈，只要我點亮了，即使我看不見佛，但佛卻會看到我自己的。”是的，點亮屬於自己的那一盞生命之燈，既照亮了別人，更照亮了你自己；只有先照亮別人，才能夠照亮我們自己。爲別人點燃我們自己生命的燈吧，這樣在生命的夜色上，我們才能尋找到自己的平安和燦爛！

Always remember: only by lighting up a light for others can we illuminate ourselves.
只有爲別人點燃一盞燈，才能照亮我們自己。

（中文故事: 選自<<小故事網>> 英文翻譯: 愛爾蘭都柏林大學 賴小琪）