業障說 On Negative Karma

來談談佛經裡的一些詞彙 :

Let us talk about some vocabularies related to Buddhism.

從業障開始，業應該是好的，比如就業、 經營事業。

[Note: 業 is normally translated as karma in English. However, here, 業 means results of some enterprises or actions, so I'll use the word "deed" to translate 業. "Deed" does not mean a contract in this case. 障 means obstacles, so 業障 together would mean "obstacle that is result of a deed", or bad/negative karma.]

Let's start with "Negative Karma." (業障). 業 should be good, such as gaining employment (就業), managing a business (事業).

人總要工作才能生存，再延伸下去就是人與人、或動物所產生的關係。

In order to survive, people need to work, and from work, we find that we will create relationships with other people or animals.

生存是需要競爭的，事業的發展也是，需要競爭就不可能都是良性的，甚至於連在最溫馨的家庭裡，所產生的傷害亦為數不少，而這些由人所引發主動的攻擊，或被動的攻擊，在人與人之間進而產生糾纏，紛爭。 這裡邊有欠債的身體會像有千斤重一般動彈不得，做什麼事都不能順心，被攻擊的因無力反駁，會身陷糾纏，也動彈不得。

Competition is part of survival. Development of a business is the same. But competitions are not benign. Even in the warmest and nicest family, family members still hurt each other. The aggressive one, with either frontal attack or passive aggression, will acquire negative karmic debt that feels like a million tons of weight on his body. Negative karma will cause him to be unable to progress and encounter a lot of problems in his life. The victim of the attack, because of his inability to defend himself, will also be unable to advance because he is caught in the web of conflict.

上面說的情形，就是 【障】 的形成過程，傳統佛學講的業障，只指出欠債問題，其實被糾纏也會產生業障，因為精神受傷負面情緒如影隨形，想正常都難。

The scenarios described above are how "obstacles" are created. The traditional Buddhists' interpretation of negative karma, only mentioned the creation of karmic debt. However, as a victim, to be involved in a conflict will also acquire negative karma, because negative emotions due to the conflict will become part of oneself. It is very hard to recover and become normal again.

這就是我們一直要強調，培養能力的原因，像有功夫一樣，不僅能自我保護，也不需要為生存儘做些攻擊別人的事，當然完美是不可能，至少是降低成份。

This is why we constantly emphasize the need to increase one's abilities and power. This power is like martial art, not only can it be used to protect yourself, it will also allow you to remove the need to attack others. Of course, we are not looking for perfection, we are only looking to reduce our chances to be involved in needless struggles.

不想被纏縛的人，有了能力以後或許可以得到像儒家講的一點， 安身立命。

If you don't want to be caught in the web of struggles, once you have the ability and power, you might be able to achieve a Confucian ideal of 安身立命。

[Note: I am not sure how to translate 安身立命, so I'll break it down to its components and let you absorb the essences yourself. 安 has the meaning of safe, secure, content, satisfy. 身 means body. 立 means erect, setup. and 命 is life or fate. So in a way, it can be "live one's life as one wants to." I guess I did find a translation anyway.]

半寄 Master Ban Ji