女性更貼近「成佛之道」——參加Sakyadhita 2008國際會議感言

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

Shih, Chao-Hwei/ 釋昭慧

Translated by Prof. Christie Chang/ 張玉玲教授英譯

　　Sakyadhita並不像男性所主導的佛教國際組織，後者一般而言，因其核心成員多半為世界各國佛教領袖，因此往往擁有教會、教團或各寺院所支援的豐沛資源。Sakyadhita這個世界性佛教女性組織，鮮見強而有力的社經背景與物資奧援，主事者Tsomo法師又專事協助窮困的第三世界佛教女性，因此可想見它的運作，是何等艱難！然而這些令人敬佩的釋迦女兒，還是在資源有限的情況下，充分發揮了「共用共榮」以及「無相佈施」的精神！厥功至偉者，應屬來自美國的Sakyadhita會長慧空法師（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法師十餘年來鞠躬盡瘁，席不暇暖，僕僕風塵於亞、美二洲的道途，默默推動著喜馬拉雅山區的尼眾教育。此次晤面時，她溫柔的語調與清朗的笑靨一如往昔，但疲憊的身影，不免透出了操勞過度的痕跡。最令筆者驚歎的是：她的眼神較諸第一次晤面時，顯得更為清亮而有神。一般而言，人事與歲月最是磨人而催老，然而筆者直覺：人事與歲月的淬練，在她身上都已轉化成了豐沛的菩提資糧。
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.

　　還有一件令筆者印象鮮明的就是：與會的佛教女性，竟能跨越語言的有形藩籬！這些佛教女性朋友們，無論是來自東方還是來自西方，無問膚色、種族與國家，都十分真誠地打破語言的隔閡，交換著修行、研究、奉獻事工的心得。
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.

　　筆者曾參加過一些國際會議，發現在那種場域，參與者即或可以禮貌地將膚色、種族與國家的偏見暫置一旁，但都很難不對那些無法操持英語的與會人士，表現某種程度的漠視與不耐煩，似乎擺明了：與會者理所當然必須操持英語，否則根本就不具足與會資格。即便是膚色黝黑或黃膚黑髮的亞洲人士，只要能操持流利英語，面對那些講英語時張口結舌的亞洲人，竟也會在無形中流露某種與白人不相上下的優越感，有的甚至會粗魯地打斷別人非英語的發言。
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會議的參與過程中，筆者發現到：Sakyadhita竟然十分難得地用了極大的心血與極少的資源，共同克服了與會人士的語言隔閡。原來，各國與會佛教女性中，總有些英語流利人士，為了讓Sakyadhita與會姊妹得以作意見的充分交流，而自發性地學習同步口譯的技能，然後組成口譯團隊，儘可能將與會人士的發言，同步翻譯成各國語言，讓不諳英語的與會姐妹們，能在大會的每一場演講與討論過程之中，乃至在會外的餐敘或交誼時段，產生親切的佛法共鳴。來自台灣的張玉玲與李玉珍兩位教授，正是未經口譯專業訓練，卻在實務經驗中搭配無間，提供第一流口譯服務的一對法友。
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.

　　這樣周到而貼心的服務，在國際會議中極其罕見。一般而言，國際會議即使提供同步口譯，也大都受限於人力、物力，而只提供英語與地主國母語的對譯。因此筆者以為，周到的口譯服務，透出了Sakyadhita平等、尊重、疼惜弱勢與無私奉獻的精神，以及長於設身處地為人著想的女性特質！
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！

　　身為Sakyadhita的新進成員，筆者與有榮焉，並且益發堅信：女性不但不應淪為佛門的「第二性」，反倒因其如此殷切地體佛心而效佛行，所以較諸男性，更為貼近「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，於尊悔樓
Midnight, Sept. 25, 2008 at Zunhui Lou