日月潭边的玄奘寺相当清幽，除了面朝碧潭听风吟，还有各种语言各种版本的佛学书籍可以任取。
于是，对佛学认知只有菩萨如来金刚弥勒以及阿弥陀佛的我，在清幽的感染下，书架崭新书籍的视觉冲击下，思考了自己未来学习佛学的可能性和动力，拜取了一本最薄的英文佛学书：佛教起源。
学到了什么佛法，顿悟了什么透彻不敢说，但对佛学中的一些英文词汇和句子，却是多了认知，姑且，记录下来，没准，哪天还能有机会，和外来的和尚念念经。
先看看佛学核心思想：unselfish and public-spirited, and springs from a wish to benefit others. 感觉和雷锋精神一样，毫不利己专门利人。
如果你和我一样对佛学一无所知，请根据这句话进行检讨：Understanding the buddha-nature is a reliable way of explaining how humans evolved, but few people have the wisdom to reach that level of understanding. 我不禁狠狠评估了自己的智商，感觉拉进了人类均值，于是，我决定继续学习。
佛学劝人为善不作恶：Practice good deeds and abstain form evil deeds. 因为善有善报恶有恶报: If you plant a good cause, you reap a good fruit; if you plant a bad cause you reap a bad effect.
天堂和地狱就在一念间：The heavens and the hells are created based on people's thoughts.
世间万物都是佛法的表达：All the myriad things and creatures are expressions of dharma.
我们常常说六根清净，到底什么是六根：眼，耳，鼻，舌，身，意。eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and intent.
有时候，可能会说一个人本性是好的，如果他做了什么不好的事，也不是他的真实意图，那么，在佛学中，对于这几个词：本性nature，意识consciousness，意图intent和思想mind有明确的说明和区分：Newborn babies are innocent and true. They have no concept of self, living beings, or lifespans. That quality is their nature. As soon as they start to nurse, their consciousness becomes active. Eventually, they become aware that without clothes they will feel cold and embarrassed. When they become aware of hunger, thirst, cold and heat, their intent is forming. Then when they mature and start wanting to acquire material things, they are using their mind.
每个人生而无一物，死也不带走一物，又何必在生命的过程中沾染俗世喧嚣？Originally there's not a single thing, where can the dust alight? 本来无一物，何处惹尘埃？
When we reach the point of not wanting anything, everything will be ours. 当我们无欲无求，方可拥有一切。
一失足成千古恨，再回头已百年身：A single mistake brings everlasting regret, by the time we recover, we will have reached a ripe old age.
佛教云为人即受苦，故而需要修行，而人一生中有八苦：生苦、老苦、病苦、死苦、爱别离苦、怨憎会苦、求不得苦、五阴炽盛苦。The suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of being apart from those you love, the suffering of being together with those you hate, the suffering of not obtaining what you want and the suffering of raging blaze of the five skandhas.
为什么会受苦？因为我们不知道什么是真实，什么是虚无，我们追求的五欲：财，色，名，食，睡为虚。Five desires: wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep. 而涅槃四德常乐我净为真：The four virtues of Nirvana: eternity, bliss, true self and purity.
就算泡在苦海里，也没什么，因为苦海无边回头是岸：The sea of suffering is boundless, but a turn of the head is the other shore. 对身边的事不要太寻根问底，因为你越探究，越困惑，越困惑，越不解：The more you want to understand, the more confused you become, and the more confused you are, the less you understand.
修行佛法的最终目的：跳出三界外，不受生死苦，到达极乐世界。Then you will be able to leave the triple realm, end birth and death, and attain the bliss of nirvana.
本书的最后，一直强调一句话，在我看来，这句话表示一切都是浮云：All things are impermanent, they are subject to production and extinction. 那么，佛学本身呢？是否浮云？阿弥陀佛，阿弥陀佛！
除了这些佛学语言，这本书还用了不少俗语和成语来使其浅显易懂，就一并记下来吧：铁杵磨成针——Grind the iron pillar down to sewing-needle size. 功到自然成——Your efforts will bear fruit when the work matures. 别因小失大——We should not miss out on the great because we cling to the small. 掩耳盗铃——plug up his ears while stealing a bell.万丈高楼平地起——We have to build a pagoda story by story from the ground up. 春花秋落——springtime's flowers wither in the fall. 骨瘦如柴——as thin as a stick. 富可敌国——His fortune was comparable to the national treasury. 不为所动——remain unmoved. 听而不闻，视而不见——Listen without hearing, look without seeing. 如影随形——Follow us just like shadows.
走马观花，浅尝即止，不求甚解，这是我看完这本书的自我评价。对佛学，依旧一知半解，灵魂，不知是否升华，且罢，且罢，不如就此吧！
以下是一些佛教单词，权当本文附录：
佛教：buddhism
佛法：buddhadharma
法则，达摩：dharma
佛教徒：buddhist
佛陀：buddhas
菩萨：bodhisattvas
佛性：buddha-nature
菩提树：bodhi
阿罗汉：arhats，shravaka
三界：triple realm
释迦牟尼：shakyamuni
涅槃：nirvana
因果报应：karma
如来佛：tathagatas
永世：eon
