寬容與多元

寬容與多元 [作者] 菩提尊者 [中譯] 良稹 Tolerance and Diversity by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi	原文版權所有 © 1993 佛教出版社。免費發行。本文允許在任何媒體再版、重排、重印、印發。然而，作者希望任何再版與分發以對公眾免費與無限制的形式進行，譯文與轉載也要求表明作者原衷。中譯版權所有 © 2008 良稹，http://www.theravadacn.org ，流通條件如上。轉載時請包括本站連接，並登載本版權聲明。
Today all the major religions of the world must respond to a double challenge. On one side is the challenge of secularism, a trend which has swept across the globe, battering against the most ancient strongholds of the sacred and turning all man's movements toward the Beyond into a forlorn gesture, poignant but devoid of sense. On the other side is the meeting of the great religions with each other. As the most far-flung nations and cultures merge into a single global community, the representatives of humankind's spiritual quest have been brought together in an encounter of unprecedented intimacy, an encounter so close that it leaves no room for retreat. Thus at one and the same time each major religion faces, in the amphitheater of world opinion, all the other religions of the earth, as well as the vast numbers of people who regard all claims to possess the Great Answer with a skeptical frown or an indifferent yawn.	當前，世界上的諸大宗教都必須對一項雙重挑戰作出回應。一方面，是世俗主義的挑戰。這股潮流已橫掃全球，衝擊著神聖信念的亘古堡壘，把人類一切朝向超世的衝動，淪變爲一場感人而無謂的悲涼作態。另一方面，是諸大宗教的相互交會。隨著地理遙遠的國度與文化融合爲同一個全球社區，人類的精神追求的代表者們，在一場前所未有的近距離接觸中被帶到了一起，接觸之緊密，使得人們已無後撤的餘地。於是，每一個主要宗教，在世界觀的圓型競技場中，同時面對著地球上所有的其它宗教，也面對著以懷疑的蹙眉與漠然的哈欠，回應超世解悟之一切持稱的芸芸世人。
In this situation, any religion which is to emerge as more than a relic from humanity's adolescence must be able to deal, in a convincing and meaningful manner, with both sides of the challenge. On the one hand it must contain the swelling tide of secularism, by keeping alive the intuition that no amount of technological mastery over external nature, no degree of proficiency in providing for humanity's mundane needs, can bring complete repose to the human spirit, can still the thirst for a truth and value that transcends the boundaries of contingency. On the other hand, each religion must find some way of disentangling the conflicting claims that all religions make to understand our place in the grand scheme of things and to hold the key to our salvation. While remaining faithful to its own most fundamental principles, a religion must be able to address the striking differences between its own tenets and those of other creeds, doing so in a manner that is at once honest yet humble, perspicacious yet unimposing.	在此情形之下，任何一個層次上高於人類早期遺俗的宗教，都必須能夠以一種既令人信服又富有意義的方式，應對這個挑戰的雙重側面。一方面，它必須藉使那股直覺保持活力，遏制世俗主義的潮漲，也就是: 無論多少對外在自然的技術性掌控，無論多少對世俗需求的精良供給，都不能給人類的心靈帶來徹底的寧靜，都不能平息對一種超越偶然性範圍之真諦與價值的渴求。另一方面，各個宗教都必須找到某種方式，拆解諸教皆持的抵牾指稱，即本教懂得我們在宇宙大局中的位置並擁有救贖之鑰。一個宗教在忠實自身之根本原則的同時，必須能夠闡明本門旨趣與別教的突出歧異，闡明的方式必須同時既坦誠又謙和，既明察又不強加。
In this brief essay I wish to sketch the outline of an appropriate Buddhist response to the second challenge. Since Buddhism has always professed to offer a "middle way" in resolving the intellectual and ethical dilemmas of the spiritual life, we may find that the key to our present problematic also lies in discovering the response that best exemplifies the middle way. As has often been noted, the middle way is not a compromise between the extremes but a way that rises above them, avoiding the pitfalls into which they lead. Therefore, in seeking the proper Buddhist approach to the problem of the diversity of creeds, we might begin by pinpointing the extremes which the middle way must avoid.	在本篇短文中，我打算概述佛教徒對第二種挑戰的適當回應由於佛教在解決精神生活的思想、倫理矛盾時一貫主張“中道”，我們也許會發現，當下問題的解決關鍵，也有賴於找到最能夠體現中道的回覆。正如常爲人們指出的那樣，中道並非是兩個極端間的折衷，而是超越兩者、避開兩者所趨之困境的方式。因此，就教義的多元性問題探索正確的佛教回應時，我們一開始不妨指明中道必須避開的極端。
The first extreme is a retreat into fundamentalism, the adoption of an aggressive affirmation of one's own beliefs coupled with a proselytizing zeal toward those who still stand outside the chosen circle of one's co-religionists. While this response to the challenge of diversity has assumed alarming proportions in the folds of the great monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam, it is not one toward which Buddhism has a ready affinity, for the ethical guidelines of the Dhamma naturally tend to foster an attitude of benign tolerance toward other religions and their followers. Though there is no guarantee against the rise of a militant fundamentalism from within Buddhism's own ranks, the Buddha's teachings can offer no sanctification, not even a remote one, for such a malignant development.	第一個極端是朝向原教旨主義的退卻，採取的態度是對自身信仰的激烈肯定，結合著對仍位於同道圈外者的傳教狂熱。對多元性挑戰的這種回應，雖然在諸大單神宗教即基督教與伊斯蘭教之中已達到示警的比例，對於這個極端，佛教是不具備現成親和力的，因爲佛法的倫理準則自然地傾向對其它宗教及其追隨者培育良性的寬容態度。雖不能保證佛教自身的教衆中不會産生一種好戰的原教旨主義，佛陀的教言對這樣的惡性發展，不能夠提供任何支持依據，甚至連邊也夠不上。
For Buddhists the more alluring alternative is the second extreme. This extreme, which purchases tolerance at the price of integrity, might be called the thesis of spiritual universalism: the view that all the great religions, at their core, espouse essentially the same truth, clothed merely in different modes of expression. Such a thesis could not, of course, be maintained in regard to the formal creeds of the major religions, which differ so widely that it would require a strenuous exercise in word-twisting to bring them into accord. The universalist position is arrived at instead by an indirect route. Its advocates argue that we must distinguish between the outward face of a religion — its explicit beliefs and exoteric practices — and its inner nucleus of experiential realization. On the basis of this distinction, they then insist, we will find that beneath the markedly different outward faces of the great religions, at their heart — in respect of the spiritual experiences from which they emerge and the ultimate goal to which they lead — they are substantially identical. Thus the major religions differ simply in so far as they are different means, different expedients, to the same liberative experience, which may be indiscriminately designated "enlightenment," or "redemption," or "God-realization," since these different terms merely highlight different aspects of the same goal. As the famous maxim puts it: the roads up the mountain are many, but the moonlight at the top is one. From this point of view, the Buddha Dhamma is only one more variant on the "perennial philosophy" underlying all the mature expressions of man's spiritual quest. It may stand out by its elegant simplicity, its clarity and directness; but a unique and unrepeated revelation of truth it harbors not.	對佛教徒來說，更具誘惑力的是第二種極端。這個以正直爲代價購買寬容的極端，或者可稱爲靈性普遍論: 認爲諸大宗教的核心基本上擁護的是同一個真理，只不過爲不同的表達模式所包裹。當然這種論說不可能依靠各大宗教的正式教義來維持，其旨趣如此歧異，須得下一番大功夫扭曲文字，才能夠把它們整束一致。普遍論者的立場改由一條間接的途徑得出。它的主張者們論辯說，我們必須把宗教的外在表面——它的具體信條與外在持守——與其內在的體驗核心區別開來。在這個區別的基礎上，他們接著堅持說，我們將會發現各大宗教在迥異的外表之下，其核心——也就是引生宗教的靈性體驗與其指向之目標——實質上是等同的。因此，諸大宗教的區別僅僅在於，它們是達到同一種解脫體驗的不同手段、不同方便，而這個解脫體驗則可以不加區別地稱爲“開悟”、“救贖”、或者“神的實現”，因爲這些異稱僅是在顯示那同一目標的不同側面。有道是: 條條蹊路通山頂，山頂月色同一景。照這個觀點，佛法只不過是人類精神追求之一切成熟表達所共同蘊涵的“長青哲學”的另一變異。也許它以簡潔、清晰、直接而出類拔萃，然而它所揭示的真諦卻並非獨一無二、未見重複。
On first consideration the adoption of such a view may seem to be an indispensable stepping-stone to religious tolerance, and to insist that doctrinal differences are not merely verbal but real and important may appear to border on bigotry. Thus those who embrace Buddhism in reaction against the doctrinaire narrowness of the monotheistic religions may find in such a view — so soft and accommodating — a welcome respite from the insistence on privileged access to truth typical of those religions. However, an unbiased study of the Buddha's own discourses would show quite plainly that the universalist thesis does not have the endorsement of the Awakened One himself. To the contrary, the Buddha repeatedly proclaims that the path to the supreme goal of the holy life is made known only in his own teaching, and therefore that the attainment of that goal — final deliverance from suffering — can be achieved only from within his own dispensation. The best known instance of this claim is the Buddha's assertion, on the eve of his Parinibbana, that only in his dispensation are the four grades of enlightened persons to be found, that the other sects are devoid of true ascetics, those who have reached the planes of liberation.	初察之下，這種觀點的採納，似乎是走向宗教寬容的不可或缺的踏腳石，堅持教義上的分歧不僅存在於文字表達，而且有其真實性與重要性，或許看來幾近頑固不化。因此，出於對單神宗教之教條與狹隘的反對而接納佛教的人們可能會發現，面對那些宗教獨家掌握真理的典型堅稱，這樣一種觀點——何等地柔和、通融——不啻爲可取的避風港。然而，不帶偏見地對佛陀口述的經文作一番考察，即可以明確地顯示，普遍主義者的論點並未得到這位覺悟者本人的支持。相反，佛陀反覆地宣稱，通往梵行生活之殊勝目標的途徑，只有在他本人的教導中闡明，因此，該目標的實現——也就是苦的終極解脫——也只能在他本人的教派中成就。此說的最佳例證，存在於佛陀般涅槃之夜的指稱，他說，只有在他的教派中存在四種層次的覺悟者，其他教派缺乏真正的沙門即已證達解脫境界者。
The Buddha's restriction of final emancipation to his own dispensation does not spring from a narrow dogmatism or a lack of good will, but rests upon an utterly precise determination of the nature of the final goal and of the means that must be implemented to reach it. This goal is neither an everlasting afterlife in a heaven nor some nebulously conceived state of spiritual illumination, but the Nibbana element with no residue remaining, release from the cycle of repeated birth and death. This goal is effected by the utter destruction of the mind's defilements — greed, aversion and delusion — all the way down to their subtlest levels of latency. The eradication of the defilements can be achieved only by insight into the true nature of phenomena, which means that the attainment of Nibbana depends upon the direct experiential insight into all conditioned phenomena, internal and external, as stamped with the "three characteristics of existence": impermanence, suffering, and non-selfness. What the Buddha maintains, as the ground for his assertion that his teaching offers the sole means to final release from suffering, is that the knowledge of the true nature of phenomena, in its exactitude and completeness, is accessible only in his teaching. This is so because, theoretically, the principles that define this knowledge are unique to his teaching and contradictory in vital respects to the basic tenets of other creeds; and because, practically, this teaching alone reveals, in its perfection and purity, the means of generating this liberative knowledge as a matter of immediate personal experience. This means is the Noble Eightfold Path which, as an integrated system of spiritual training, cannot be found outside the dispensation of a Fully Enlightened One.	佛陀把終極解脫限定在他本人的教說之內，並非是出自狹隘的教條主義，或者是由於慈心不足，而是立足於對終極目標之本質與其成就之必要手段的精準確定。這個目標，既不是死後永生天界，也不是某種概念模糊的靈性啓示態，而是無餘涅槃，從生死輪迴之中的解脫。這個目標的成就，來自徹底摧毀心的雜染——貪、嗔、癡——直至最細微的潛在層次。雜染的滅除，只能藉著洞見諸法實相才可能成就，那就意味著，涅槃的證得有賴於親見內在、外在一切有爲現象之“三特徵”: 無常、苦、非我。佛陀斷言，他的教導提供從苦中最終解脫的唯一法門，他的依據是，對諸法本質如實完整的知見，只能透過他的教導才能達到。之所以如此，在理論上，是因爲定義此知見的原則爲他的教導所獨有，並且與其他教派基本教義的關鍵部分有重大分歧; 還因爲在實踐上，只有他的教導完整、純淨地揭示了親證這個解脫知見的途徑。這就是八聖道，它作爲一個綜合系統，在一位徹底覺悟者的教說之外是不存在的。
Surprisingly, this exclusivistic stance of Buddhism in regard to the prospects for final emancipation has never engendered a policy of intolerance on the part of Buddhists toward the adherents of other religions. To the contrary, throughout its long history, Buddhism has displayed a thoroughgoing tolerance and genial good will toward the many religions with which it has come into contact. It has maintained this tolerance simultaneously with its deep conviction that the doctrine of the Buddha offers the unique and unsurpassable way to release from the ills inherent in conditioned existence. For Buddhism, religious tolerance is not achieved by reducing all religions to a common denominator, nor by explaining away formidable differences in thought and practice as accidents of historical development. From the Buddhist point of view, to make tolerance contingent upon whitewashing discrepancies would not be to exercise genuine tolerance at all; for such an approach can "tolerate" differences only by diluting them so completely that they no longer make a difference. True tolerance in religion involves the capacity to admit differences as real and fundamental, even as profound and unbridgeable, yet at the same time to respect the rights of those who follow a religion different from one's own (or no religion at all) to continue to do so without resentment, disadvantage or hindrance.	不同尋常的是，佛教對終極解脫之道的獨持性立場，從未導致佛教徒對其他教派的追隨者採取過不容性政策。相反，在其漫長歷史上，佛教對於所遭遇的諸多宗教一直體現了完全的寬容與和藹的善意。在保持寬容的同時，它也始終保持著自己的深刻信念，那就是，佛陀的教導對有爲生存之過患，提供了獨一無二、無可超越的解脫之道。對佛教來說，宗教寬容性的達成，不是透過把諸種宗教縮減爲一個共同的基本命題，也不是把它們在思想與行持上的重大差異，化解成歷史發展中的偶然性事件。從佛教的觀點來看，使寬容依賴於粉飾差異，根本不是行使真正的寬容; 因爲這種做法能夠“寬容”的差異，只是藉著把差異稀釋得如此徹底，使得它們不再具有區別的意義。真正的宗教寬容，要求有度量承認差異的實存性與基本性，甚至於深刻性與不可逾越性，然而在同時又尊重信奉別教者(或無宗教信仰者)繼續奉持的權利，不施以怨恨、損害或障礙。
Buddhist tolerance springs from the recognition that the dispositions and spiritual needs of human beings are too vastly diverse to be encompassed by any single teaching, and thus that these needs will naturally find expression in a wide variety of religious forms. The non-Buddhist systems will not be able to lead their adherents to the final goal of the Buddha's Dhamma, but that they never proposed to do in the first place. For Buddhism, acceptance of the idea of the beginningless round of rebirths implies that it would be utterly unrealistic to expect more than a small number of people to be drawn toward a spiritual path aimed at complete liberation. The overwhelming majority, even of those who seek deliverance from earthly woes, will aim at securing a favorable mode of existence within the round, even while misconceiving this to be the ultimate goal of the religious quest.	佛教的寬容性來自於承認，人類的心性與精神需要種類繁多，不可能爲單一教說所包容，因此這些需要自然地將在廣泛多樣的宗教形式中找到表達。種種非佛教系統不會把其追隨者引向佛陀之法的終極目標，然而那些系統原本未作此等主張。對佛教來說，接受一種無始輪迴的思想，意味著預期受吸引而走上一條以徹底解脫爲目標的修行道者多於一小部分人，根本是不切實際的。絕大多數人，即便是那些追求脫離世俗之過患者，將會瞄準在輪迴內部穩得一種良性的生存模式，甚至於把它誤解爲宗教追求的終極目標。
To the extent that a religion proposes sound ethical principles and can promote to some degree the development of wholesome qualities such as love, generosity, detachment and compassion, it will merit in this respect the approbation of Buddhists. These principles advocated by outside religious systems will also conduce to rebirth in the realms of bliss — the heavens and the divine abodes. Buddhism by no means claims to have unique access to these realms, but holds that the paths that lead to them have been articulated, with varying degrees of clarity, in many of the great spiritual traditions of humanity. While the Buddhist will disagree with the belief structures of other religions to the extent that they deviate from the Buddha's Dhamma, he will respect them to the extent that they enjoin virtues and standards of conduct that promote spiritual development and the harmonious integration of human beings with each other and with the world.	一門宗教在多大程度上主張堅實的倫理原則，能夠在一定層次上促進諸如愛心、佈施、遠離、悲憫等善巧素質的發展，那麽在多大程度上，在這個方面，它值得佛教徒的稱讚。這些爲其它宗教系統所倡導的原則，也將有助於重生樂趣——天界與梵天界。佛教從未聲稱對這些境界擁有獨家通道，而是認爲，趣向這些境界的途徑已經在人類不少偉大的精神傳統之中，以種種的清晰度被描述闡說。盡管對其它宗教的信仰結構，在多大程度上它們與佛陀之法有偏離，佛教徒將在相應程度上持異見，然而就其箴誡的道德與操行準則在多大程度上促進靈性進步與人類的和諧相處，他將在相應程度上敬重它們。

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