女性更贴近“成佛之道”——参加Sakyadhita 2008国际会议感言

　　Closer to the Buddha’s Path as Women--Reflections Upon Participating in the 2008 Sakyadhita Conference in Mongolia

　　Shih, Chao-Hwei/ 释昭慧

　　Translated by Prof. Christie Chang/ 张玉玲教授英译

　　Sakyadhita并不像男性所主导的佛教国际组织,后者一般而言,因其核心成员多半为世界各国佛教领袖,因此往往拥有教会、教团或各寺院所支援的丰沛资源。Sakyadhita这个世界性佛教女性组织,鲜见强而有力的社经背景与物资奥援,主事者Tsomo法师又专事协助穷困的第三世界佛教女性,因此可想见它的运作,是何等艰难!然而这些令人敬佩的释迦女儿,还是在资源有限的情况下,充分发挥了“共用共荣”以及“无相布施”的精神!厥功至伟者,应属来自美国的Sakyadhita会长慧空法师(Rev. Lekshe Tsomo)。

　　Unlike most other male-dominated international Buddhist organizations, Sakyadhita does not have the support and rich resources from organized churches and strong Buddhist communities or monasteries. As an international Buddhist women’s organization, there is hardly support coming from the privileged socio-economic class and there is very few resources; especially when its leader, Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo who is particularly dedicated to assisting less privileged Buddhist women in the third world, we can imagine how tough a task it must have been for Sakyadhita to operate. Nevertheless, these respected daughters of the Buddha have achieved remarkably under such highly constraining conditions. They have been able to completely extend themselves and successfully demonstrated what it means to offer unconditionally and how to really honor and share with one another. Among all these achievements, of course, Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, the current President of Sakyadhita, deserves to take most of the credit.

　　Tsomo法师十余年来鞠躬尽瘁,席不暇暖,仆仆风尘于亚、美二洲的道途,默默推动着喜马拉雅山区的尼众教育。此次晤面时,她温柔的语调与清朗的笑靥一如往昔,但疲惫的身影,不免透出了操劳过度的痕迹。最令笔者惊叹的是:她的眼神较诸第一次晤面时,显得更为清亮而有神。一般而言,人事与岁月最是磨人而催老,然而笔者直觉:人事与岁月的淬练,在她身上都已转化成了丰沛的菩提资粮。

　　For the past two decades, Ven. Tsomo has been selflessly and tirelessly devoted to the education of nuns in the Himalayas and traveling between the two continents of Asia and America. At our encountering during the 10th Sakyadhita conference in Ulaan Baatar this time, Ven. Tsomo’s gentle tones and bright laughter remained the same, but I could not help noticing traces of exhaust in her. What surprised me the most, however, is that her eyes seemed to have become even clearer and more spirited. Generally speaking, busy lives and exhausting chores in this mundane world usually speed up one’s old age, yet intuitively I feel that all such tiring experiences have transformed into the Bodhi asset in Ven. Tsomo instead.

　　还有一件令笔者印象鲜明的就是:与会的佛教女性,竟能跨越语言的有形藩篱!这些佛教女性朋友们,无论是来自东方还是来自西方,无问肤色、种族与国家,都十分真诚地打破语言的隔阂,交换着修行、研究、奉献事工的心得。

　　What I also found to be very impressive at the Sakyadhita conference in Mongolia was that all the participants were able to break through the language barrier and communicated with not much difficulty! Despite the different parts of the world these Buddhist women came from, east or west, despite the different colors of their skin, their ethnic identifies or countries, they were all able to engage in genuine communications, exchanging their experiences as practitioners, researchers, or Dharma servers.

　　笔者曾参加过一些国际会议,发现在那种场域,参与者即或可以礼貌地将肤色、种族与国家的偏见暂置一旁,但都很难不对那些无法操持英语的与会人士,表现某种程度的漠视与不耐烦,似乎摆明了:与会者理所当然必须操持英语,否则根本就不具足与会资格。即便是肤色黝黑或黄肤黑发的亚洲人士,只要能操持流利英语,面对那些讲英语时张口结舌的亚洲人,竟也会在无形中流露某种与白人不相上下的优越感,有的甚至会粗鲁地打断别人非英语的发言。

　　Having personally participated in many other international conferences, I have always observed that although most participants might be able to leave aside their bias or discrimination among races or nationalities, yet not many people have really shown genuine interest in communicating with those who do not speak fluent English. Most of the times, less fluent English speakers are either neglected or treated with much impatience, which seems to pronounce that “if you don’t speak English well, you are not qualified here”. The Asian participants who speak English better in those conferences are also found to be rather discriminating against those who do not speak English as well. Facing their fellow Asians who struggle over their English expressions, those more fluent English-speaking Asians may even look rather arrogant or even feel superior themselves, consciously or unconsciously, because they think they share the language of the Caucasians, and sometimes they may even very rudely interrupt any non-English expressions by other participants.

　　然而在Sakyadhita会议的参与过程中,笔者发现到:Sakyadhita竟然十分难得地用了极大的心血与极少的资源,共同克服了与会人士的语言隔阂。原来,各国与会佛教女性中,总有些英语流利人士,为了让Sakyadhita与会姊妹得以作意见的充分交流,而自发性地学习同步口译的技能,然后组成口译团队,尽可能将与会人士的发言,同步翻译成各国语言,让不谙英语的与会姐妹们,能在大会的每一场演讲与讨论过程之中,乃至在会外的餐叙或交谊时段,产生亲切的佛法共鸣。来自台湾的张玉玲与李玉珍两位教授,正是未经口译专业训练,却在实务经验中搭配无间,提供第一流口译服务的一对法友。

　　During the Sakyadhita conference in Mongolia, however, what I have found out is that despite the very limited resources, the committee has tried everything it could to help overcome the language barrier among all conference participants. Naturally, there are some who speak more or better English than others do among the participants from each country, and to ensure that no one is excluded as a result of the language barrier, the conference committee has tried to identify all the bilingual speakers among the conference participants and engage them in volunteer interpretation throughout the conference. This volunteer interpretation team has facilitated during the panel discussions as well as during the breaks or even over meals. Whatever is expressed will be simultaneously interpreted in all the different languages spoken by the conference participants. Consequently, despite all the different languages we use to communicate, we have been able to closely engage in the exchanges together and find ourselves touching each other’s heart and echoing the Dharma experienced in the lives of each other. The two university professors and Dharma friends from Taiwan, Christie Chang and Yuchen Li, have helped serve as the volunteer interpreters for Mandarin Chinese speakers. Even though none of them has received any professional training in simultaneous interpretation, but through years of practicing together over similar conferences, their outstanding performance and excellent partnership have indeed impressed us all.

　　这样周到而贴心的服务,在国际会议中极其罕见。一般而言,国际会议即使提供同步口译,也大都受限于人力、物力,而只提供英语与地主国母语的对译。因此笔者以为,周到的口译服务,透出了Sakyadhita平等、尊重、疼惜弱势与无私奉献的精神,以及长于设身处地为人着想的女性特质!

　　Such considerate and thoughtful service is rarely found in other international conferences except for Sakyadhita. Generally speaking, even those who provide simultaneous interpretation are usually constrained by their resources and human power, and most likely they all end up providing simultaneous interpretation only between English and the host country language. Therefore, the fact that Sakyadhita has provided simultaneous interpretation service for all its participants shows its spirit of equity, respect, compassion for minorities, and its selfless devotion—all these thoughtful concerns are exactly qualities of women!

　　身为Sakyadhita的新进成员,笔者与有荣焉,并且益发坚信:女性不但不应沦为佛门的“第二性”,反倒因其如此殷切地体佛心而效佛行,所以较诸男性,更为贴近“成佛之道”!

　　As a new member of Sakyadhita, I feel proud, and my faith is also strengthened: not only should women never fall as “the second sex” in the Buddhist community, but as women, we actually have been able to come closer to understand the Buddha’s teachings and practiced accordingly. Therefore, comparing to men, women are actually closer to the path to Buddhahood.

　　九七、九、廿五淩晨,于尊悔楼

　　Midnight, Sept. 25, 2008 at Zunhui Lou