阿姜布拉姆法师对荤食的开示

谷成

摘自：阿姜布拉姆法师（Ajahn Brahmavamso），《What the Buddha Said About Eating Meat》，Buddhist Society of Western Australia，April-June 1990。

原文是英文内容，为了让不谙英文的同修也能阅读，末学发心汉译成中文，若有翻译不周之处，欢迎大家校正。感恩和合十。

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Since the very beginning of Buddhism over 2500 years ago, Buddhist monks and nuns have depended on almsfood. They were, and still are, prohibited from growing their own food, storing their own provisions or cooking their own meals. Instead, every morning they would make their day's meal out of whatever was freely given to them by lay supporters. Whether it was rich food or coarse food, delicious or awful tasting it was to be accepted with gratitude and eaten regarding it as medicine. The Buddha laid down several rules forbidding monks from asking for the food that they liked. As a result, they would receive just the sort of meals that ordinary people ate - and that was often meat.

自从佛教创立二千五百年以来，佛教比库和比丘尼众皆靠托钵化缘乞食。今天，还有很多僧人严守不生产、不储存和不煮食的佛教清规。每天清晨，他们靠接受众人的供养来获得食物。无论是丰盛的或是粗糠之食，美味的或是难咽之物，僧人都会感恩的接受，并视为药物而食。佛陀当年制下戒律，不允许僧人为口欲而挑选而食。所以僧人只可以接受一般信众所提供的食物 ——很多时候都是肉类食物。

Once, a rich and influential general by the name of Siha (meaning 'Lion') went to visit the Buddha. Siha had been a famous lay supporter of the Jain monks but he was so impressed and inspired by the Teachings he heard from the Buddha that he took refuge in the Triple Gem (i.e. he became a Buddhist). General Siha then invited the Buddha, together with the large number of monks accompanying Him, to a meal at his house in the city the following morning. In preparation for the meal, Siha told one of his servants to buy some meat from the market for the feast. When the Jain monks heard of their erstwhile patron's conversion to Buddhism and the meal that he was preparing for the Buddha and the monks, they were somewhat peeved:

曾经有一位师子（Siha）将军去拜访佛陀。将军过去是外道尼健的弟子，自从他为佛陀的教法所感化以后，他决定从此皈依三宝。为此，将军邀请佛陀和比库僧众于次日清晨到他家去接受供养。为了供养僧众，他吩咐佣人到市场去购买肉类食物。当时尼健的弟子听到以前的护持人改从佛教，并为佛陀准备肉食之后，他们即散布谣言说：

"Now at the time many Niganthas (Jain monks), waving their arms, were moaning from carriage road to carriage road, from cross road to cross road in the city: 'Today a fat beast, killed by Siha the general, is made into a meal for the recluse Gotama (the Buddha), the recluse Gotama makes use of this meat knowing that it was killed on purpose for him, that the deed was done for his sake'..." [1].’‘

“...师子将军要杀大动物，设宴款待佛陀，而且佛陀也知情，却将食用那些肉，那杀业是专为他而造的。”

Siha was making the ethical distinction between buying meat already prepared for sale and ordering a certain animal to be killed, a distinction which is not obvious to many westerners but which recurs throughout the Buddha's own teachings. Then, to clarify the position on meat eating to the monks, the Buddha said:

师子将军对此感到疑惑，为此佛陀提出了开示：

"Monks, I allow you fish and meat that are quite pure in three respects: if they are not seen, heard or suspected to have been killed on purpose for a monk. But, you should not knowingly make use of meat killed on purpose for you." [2]

“比库们，我允许你们食用符合这三项要求的鱼类和肉类，即不见杀、不闻杀及不疑为我杀（三净肉）。你们在知情的情况下，不应该接受这三类肉类食物。”

There are many places in the Buddhist scriptures which tell of the Buddha and his monks being offered meat and eating it. One of the most interesting of these passages occurs in the introductory story to a totally unrelated rule (Nissaggiya Pacittiya 5) and the observation that the meat is purely incidental to the main theme of the story emphasizes the authenticity of the passage:

在佛教也有不少文献指出佛陀和比库们接受肉类食物的供养并食用它：

Uppalavanna (meaning 'she of the lotus-like complexion') was one of the two chief female disciples of the Buddha. She was ordained as a nun while still a young woman and soon became fully enlightened. As well as being an arahant (enlightened) she also possessed various psychic powers to the extent that the Buddha declared her to be foremost among all the women in this field. Once, while Uppalavanna was meditating alone in the afternoon in the 'Blind-Men's Grove', a secluded forest outside of the city of Savatthi, some thieves passed by. The thieves had just stolen a cow, butchered it and were escaping with the meat. Seeing the composed and serene nun, the chief of the thieves quickly put some of the meat in a leaf-bag and left it for her. Uppalavanna picked up the meat and resolved to give it to the Buddha. Early next morning, having had the meat prepared, she rose into the air and flew to where the Buddha was staying, in the Bamboo Grove outside of Rajagaha, over 200 kilometres as the crow (or nun?) flies! Though there is no specific mention of the Buddha actually consuming this meat, obviously a nun of such high attainments would certainly have known what the Buddha ate.

有一次，一位阿罗汉莲华色比丘尼在打坐的时候，获得路过的小偷所遗下的肉类供养，那些肉是他们从偷来的牛身上屠割而得。隔天，汉莲华色比丘尼将所得的肉类准备好以后，拿去供养佛陀。虽然没有明确的内容说明佛陀是否食用了那些肉，但是身为阿罗汉的比丘尼，必然知道佛陀会接受什么样的食物。

However there are some meats which are specifically prohibited for monks to eat: human meat, for obvious reasons; meat from elephants and horses as these were then considered royal animals; dog meat - as this was considered by ordinary people to be disgusting; and meat from snakes, lions, tigers, panthers, bears and hyenas - because one who had just eaten the flesh of such dangerous jungle animals was thought to give forth such a smell as to draw forth revenge from the same species!

无论如何，确实有一些是僧众被严格禁止食用的肉类，即：人肉（显而易知）、象肉和马肉（他们被视为忠诚的动物）、狗肉（会被一般人所讥嫌）、蛇肉、狮肉、虎肉、豹肉、熊肉、土狼肉（原因是食用这些肉类会导致身上产生气味并引来这些动物的同类的报复）。

Towards the end of the Buddha's life, his cousin Devadatta attempted to usurp the leadership of the Order of monks. In order to win support from other monks, Devadatta tried to be more strict than the Buddha and show Him up as indulgent. Devadatta proposed to the Buddha that all the monks should henceforth be vegetarians. The Buddha refused and repeated once again the regulation that he had established years before, that monks and nuns may eat fish or meat as long as it is not from an animal whose meat is specifically forbidden, and as long as they had no reason to believe that the animal was slaughtered specifically for them.

就在佛陀即将涅盘的时代，他的堂兄弟提婆达多企图取代佛陀的领导地位，因此他提出终生不食鱼肉的主张，以便表现出更高尚的苦行，但这项主张被佛陀拒绝了。

The Vinaya, then, is quite clear on this matter. Monks and nuns may eat meat. Even the Buddha ate meat. Unfortunately, meat eating is often seen by westerners as an indulgence on the part of the monks. Nothing could be further from the truth - I was a strict vegetarian for three years before I became a monk. In my first years as a monk in North-East Thailand, when I bravely faced many a meal of sticky rice and boiled frog (the whole body bones and all), or rubbery snails, red-ant curry or fried grasshoppers - I would have given ANYTHING to be a vegetarian again! On my first Christmas in N.E. Thailand an American came to visit the monastery a week or so before the 25th. It seemed too good to be true, he had a turkey farm and yes, he quickly understood how we lived and promised us a turkey for Christmas. He said that he would choose a nice fat one especially for us... and my heart sank. We cannot accept meat knowing it was killed especially for monks. We refused his offer. So I had to settle for part of the villager's meal - frogs again.

佛教戒律对此事情是非常明确的。比库和比丘尼可以食肉，即便佛陀也食肉。可是对现代西方人来说，僧人食用肉类食品好像是耽溺于食欲。而事实是——我在出家之前，曾经三年是素食者。当我在泰国东北出家以后的第一年，我必须勇敢的面对一些例如此类的食物，糯米饭和煮熟的青蛙，或是感觉像塑胶的蜗牛，红蚁咖喱或炒熟的草蜢——当时我想过放弃一切去恢复素食！我在泰国东北度过的第一个圣诞节，有一位美国人到寺院来访，正好他是火鸡农场的经营者，他了解了我们的生活状态以后，迅速承诺为我们提供圣诞火鸡。他说，他将会挑选一头肥美的火鸡给我们...我听了心都沉了。我们不能接受那些故意为我们宰杀的肉类，我们于是拒绝了他的好意。结果我只好接受村民供养的食物——又是青蛙。

Monks may not exercise choice when it comes to food and that is much harder than being a vegetarian. Nonetheless, we may encourage vegetarianism and if our lay supporters brought only vegetarian food and no meat, well... monks may not complain either!

僧人不应该刻意去挑选食物，要实践这点确实比素食更难。不管如何，我们还是鼓励大家去选用素食，如果我们的信徒只是带素食而不是肉类食物来供养僧人的话...僧人没有什么可投诉的。

May you take the hint and be kind to animals.

希望你们可以获得启示，对动物更仁慈一些。

References:

[1] Book of the Discipline, Vol. 4, p. 324
[2] ibid, p. 325