萬佛城金剛菩提海 Vajra Bodhi Sea

金剛菩提海:首頁主目錄本期目錄

Vajra Bodhi Sea: HomeMain IndexIssue Index

《敎育專欄》

 

FOCUS ON EDUCATION

慈祥代天宣化 忠孝為國敎民

On behalf of Heaven,proclaim and transform with kindness. For the country,teach the people to be loyal and filial.

弟子規淺釋
An Explanation of the Rules for Being A Student

孫秀美 文 By Jennifer Li






dong

ze

wen

 

 

 

xia

ze

jing

冬天


使他溫暖
夏天

 令他涼爽

winter

then

warm

summer

then

cool

冬寒的時候,要設法令父母 保持溫暖;暑熱的季節,要設法使父母感覺涼爽。
On cold winter days, we should try to keep our parents warm.
And on hot summer days, we should try to make our parents feel cool.







chen

ze

xing

 

 

 

hun

ze

ding

早上


探視(請安)

傍晚


安定(安頓寢具)

morning

then

greet

dusk

then

settle

清晨要去向父母請安問好; 夜晚就去幫父母舖床理被。
In the morning, we should greet our parents.
At night, we should arrange the blankets and bedding for our parents.







chu

bi

gao

 

 

 

fan

bi

mian

出外

一定

報告

回來

一定

面見

go out

must

tell

return

must

see,face

出門時,一定要先稟告父 母;回來後,一定要再覲見父母。
When we go out, we should tell our parents.
After coming home, we should see our parents again.







ju

you

chang

 

 

 

 

ye

wu

bian

居住

要有

固定

工作

不要

更改

dwell

have

fixed

job/work

don't

change

居住要有固定的處所,職業 不要經常地變更。
We should reside at a fixed place and not constantly change jobs.


溫,在這裡是個動詞,令人感覺溫暖的意思;或者是給舖上厚厚的被褥啊;或者 燒點熱開水,泡杯熱茶的;又或者生個火,在現代來說,調節暖氣。總而言之,在寒冷的冬天,做各種能讓父母感覺溫暖或保持溫暖的事,這樣父母就不會受凍;身 子暖和,心也暖和了!

凊,也是個動詞,讀如「靜」。這個字必須特別地注意,它的偏旁是兩點水,冰 凍的意思,不是三點,水的意思。這兩個點,在古中國字是寫成「」,像冰塊的裂痕,所以有冰凍的意思。凊就是叫人感覺涼爽,好像吃了冰似的。若寫成三點水的「清」就不對了。清就是乾淨,當然是 用水來洗才乾淨的。那麼方才說好像吃冰似的,指的是在夏天,若冬天就不可以吃冰了!夏天太陽大,屋外是曬得汗流浹背,屋內坐著又燥熱氣悶,那麼父母年紀大 一些就會受不了。所以給父母搧搧風,或者開個電風扇、冷氣的,或者打開窗,保持空氣流通,或者倒杯冷開水,切片冰涼的西瓜;這都會讓父母感到清涼又安慰。 我們現在是太空時代,科學發達,什麼都很進步,要冬溫夏凊,好像不是太難;若在古代,那可不容易了!也正因為不容易,才顯出孝子的可貴。

中國歷史上有名的二十四孝中,就有個這樣的例子,漢朝的黃香才九歲時,就已 經懂得怎樣孝順父親了!那時他母親已去世,所以就由小小年紀的黃香來照顧父親。夏天天熱,到晚上室內的餘溫仍很高,房間像個火爐似的,黃香就先拿扇子把床 上的枕蓆搧涼了,才請父親上床睡覺。冬天天氣很冷,床被就像冰塊似的,黃香就先鑽進被窩躺到床也溫了,被子也暖了,再請父親去睡覺。想想看,偶爾做一次都 已是不容易了,黃香卻在九歲的幼年,就已能天天這麼做,讓父親可以舒舒服服的睡覺,那是多麼可佩啊!

省,本義是看;就是早上起來,先去看看父母。為什麼?看看父母夜來睡得安穩 否?有什麼吩咐或需要否?定,是安定、安頓,是個動詞。怎麼安定父母呢?到了晚上,去向父母說晚安,替他們把寢具安頓好,這樣父母就可安安心心又舒舒服服 地睡了!

告,是報告;出門一定要先報告父母,講明了去什麼地方?大約什麼時候可以回 來?絕不可以不先請示可否外出,就溜走了。去的地方如果有電話,最好留下電話號碼;若是無法按時回家,也要打電話回來說一聲。倘若回來了呢!也不可以自顧 自就溜回房,一定要去面見父母,好讓父母安心。否則你若回來老半天,已呼呼大睡了,父母不知道,恐怕還守著燈在等你,內心憂慮得很呀!

現代的人好像很喜歡搬家,換工作,新鮮嘛!可是變動太多,總令人感覺不是你 心情不穩定,就是生活不穩定;這都會令父母為你操心的。若父母是和你同住,豈不更要生煩惱?老人家是最怕變動的了!所以可能的話,儘量避免常常搬家,換工 作;不得已的時候,也要馬上稟告父母你的新住處和職業,一來安父母的心,二來也方便保持聯繫,否則父母若有要緊事,從哪去找到你呢?

有一位布朗老太太,自己住在洛杉磯市中心的一棟公寓,唯一的兒子雖然不算太 壞,就總是無法安定在一個住所或工作單位上,一年間,就不知要換上幾次;有時他想起來告訴老媽媽,老媽媽的住址簿上登記的,卻往往是他前兩、三個通訊處。 布朗老太太提起兒子,總是無可奈何地嘆氣,不但操心他有沒有錢生活?還往往不知現在他人在哪裡?布朗老太太腦中風死了,鄰居幾天不見她出來曬太陽,覺得不 對,撞門而入,屍體都開始發臭了!翻了住址簿,輾轉幾天,才聯絡到那個剛失業,又換過兩次住所的兒子。想想看,這是多麼可悲呀!

想一想

(1).在現代進步的生活環境,我們可以為父母做些什麼「冬溫夏凊」的服 務?

(2).「晨昏定省」在現代人繁忙的生活中,可以怎麼樣做權宜的變化?

(3).如果因故無法做到「出必告,反必面」,有什麼可以補救的辦法,以避 免父母耽心?

(4).如果因為環境和遭遇,不得不變換住所或工作時,應該怎樣安頓父母?


Some ways in which we can make our parents warm in the winter are: giving them thick blankets to cover themselves with, making hot tea for them to drink, and turning on the heater. We should do our best to keep our parents warm in the cold winter, so that they won’t freeze or catch cold. That way, not only their bodies, but their hearts will also be warm!

We should pay special attention to the word “cool” jing in Chinese. It has a radical with two drops of water, which means the water is frozen into ice. The ancient form of this radical was , resembling cracks on the surface of an ice cube, so it means chilly or icy. So the word jing means to make people feel as cool and refreshed as if they were eating ice. If we write three drops of water as its radical, it becomes the character qing 清, which means “clean,” to make things clean with water. In the summer we should make people feel as cool as if they were eating ice, but in the winter it would be too cold to eat ice. During the summer, we sweat under the blazing sun outside, and we feel hot and stuffy inside the house.  Our aging parents may not be able to bear such heat. We can make our parents feel cool and comfortable by turning on the fan or the air conditioner, or opening the windows to let the air circulate, or serving them ice water or cold watermelon.

With modern space age technology, it’s quite easy to keep our parents warm in the winter and cool in the summer. However, it wasn’t so easy in the old days. And precisely because it wasn’t easy, the virtue of filial piety could be revealed through doing it.

Here is an example from the Twenty-four Filial Sons of Chinese history. In the Han dynasty, there was a boy named Huang Xiang whose mother died when he was only nine years old. Yet he proved that he knew how to be filial and take care of his father at such a young age. On sweltering summer nights when their house was as hot as an oven, Huang Xiang would fan the bed before asking his father to sleep. On cold winter nights, the boy would warm the freezing blankets with his own body before asking his father to go to bed. To do such things even occasionally would not have been easy, yet at his young age Huang Xiang did them night after night so that his father could sleep comfortably. What an admirable child!

When we get up in the morning, we should go to see if our parents slept well, if there is something they need, or if they have any instructions for us.

How can we make sure our parents get a good night’s rest? In the evening, we can bid them “good night” and pull down the bed covers for them so that they can sleep comfortably and well.

When we go out, we should let our parents know where we are going and when we will be back. We should never slip away without informing them. We can leave the phone number of the place we are going if there is one, and call our parents if we cannot come home on time. Once we get home, we should report to our parents immediately, and not just slip back to our own room without giving notice, for our parents might stay up and wait for us, worrying about our safety.

Nowadays, many people like to move from place to place and change jobs just for the sake of finding something new. However, we should know that frequent moving and changing of jobs tends to make our moods unstable and our lives insecure. It also causes our parents to worry about us. If our parents live with us and have to move as well, they may become afflicted, because the elderly don’t like to experience changes. Therefore, we should try to avoid moving and changing jobs too frequently. If we are forced by the circumstances to do so, we should inform our parents immediately so that they will not worry and will know where to find us in an emergency.

Once there was a Mrs. Brown who lived in an apartment in Los Angeles. Although her son was not a bad person, he had never had a stable residence or job. He moved several times each year. Sometimes he remembered to call his mother to inform her of his new address and phone number, but usually she only had two or three of his old addresses in her address book. Mrs. Brown always sighed sorrowfully whenever she spoke of her son. She always worried about whether he could support himself and wondered where he was living. One day Mrs. Brown died of a brain stroke. After several days of not seeing her, her neighbors suspected that something was wrong and broke into her house, where they found her body, already beginning to stink. After several days of searching, they finally reached her son, who had just lost his job and moved twice. What a sad plight!

Questions to think about:

(1).Living in the modern technological age, what can we do to make sure our parents are warm in the winter and cool in the summer?

(2).How can we adapt the rule of “greeting our parents in the morning and making sure they rest securely in the evening” to fit our busy lives?

(3).If we are unable to let our parents know when we go out or report to them when we get back, are there any ways to reduce or eliminate our parents’worries?

(4).If we are forced by circumstances to move or get a different job, how can we make the change as smooth as possible for our parents?

▲Top

法界佛教總會Dharma Realm Buddhist Association │ © Vajra Bodhi Sea