關於佛教的英語美文閱讀

  佛教不僅是一種宗教,也是一種內容豐富的文化複合體。它對日本文化甚至是日本民族性的形成都具有極其重大的影響。下面是小編帶來的,歡迎閱讀!

  篇一

  Religious and non-religious people alike can benefit from Buddhism, according to a presenter Saturday at the Museum of Anthropology’s new exhibit honoring Buddhism in the Cache Valley.

  In his experience as a teacher at the Cache Valley Buddhist Sangha, associate English Professor Michael Sowder said he has worked with people of all religious backgrounds who practice meditation and study Buddhist teachings.

  People with such a wide range of religious inclination can practice Buddhism because its teachings neither endorse nor reject any particular beliefs, Sowder said.

  You can have a religious belief and practice Buddhism at the same time, he said. Buddhism will not contradict your beliefs, but it doesn’t affirm something about God, either.

  Dan Judd and Shawn Bliss attended Saturday’s presentation. Both men said they attend a local Sangha, or Buddhist group. Judd said he’s a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while Bliss said he’s not religious.

  Even though they don’t hold the same religious beliefs, Bliss said the two still share some of the same spiritual pursuits. The thing that fuels both of our paths in the Sangha, is that we’re interested in the question of suffering and how to end suffering in our lives and then, hopefully, in the world, Bliss said.

  Attending the Sangha at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Logan has helped him connect with his more religious neighbors, Bliss said. I was really struggling, not being an LDS person in Cache Valley, Bliss said. Getting to know people like Dan and some other members of our Sangha has opened up my heart to the LDS culture and the LDS people in a way that I didn’t think was ever going to be possible.

  Judd said he has been practicing meditation on his own since the early 1970s. After a medical condition made meditation more difficult, he said he began to study Buddhism. Instead of contradicting his LDS beliefs, Judd said Buddhism helps him spend time in contemplation, as leaders of his church have advised.

  While the Cache Valley Sangha draws from many different schools of Buddhist thought, it also has unique aspects that set it apart from its Eastern origins, Sowder said. I think as Buddhism has become established in the U.S., it’s much more democratic, Sowder said. In traditional Buddhist cultures you have a very hierarchical structure. You have somebody like the Dalai Llama, and then there are all the monks under him.

  In the Cache Valley Sangha, Sowder said he is one of 10 teachers who share different approaches to Buddhism on a rotating, weekly schedule. In addition to the weekly presentation by a teacher, a portion of each meeting is reserved for members to talk about their own spiritual experiences and progress, he said. The Sangha relies on the collective wisdom of its members, he said, and therefore the group exchange of expriences can often be more profound than the prepared lessons. Sowder opened and closed the presentation at the museum Saturday with a short meditation practice, in which he asked audience members to close their eyes and focus on their breathing. Just let yourself be present — right here, right now, Sowder said. Just try to let all the other worries and cares and concerns of the rest of your life rest aside, and just try to relax.

  Sowder gave a brief history of Buddha and his teachings on how to gain enlightenment. All people can attain enlightenment — the end of suffering — through a combination of ethics, wisdom and meditation, Sowder said.

  While many Buddhist teachings involve suffering, the philosophy focuses on the way to overcome suffering, Sowder said. Meditation meetings such as the ones held by the Cache Valley Sangha and the USU Meditation Club can provide relief from many different causes of suffering, he added.

  It helps you face and process and work through emotions, Sowder said. It helps you heal from past suffering, wounds that you might have experienced in childhood or in other places. It helps people with addictions. It helps people with depression. It helps people with anxiety.

  Nicole Fulghum, a junior studying elementary education, said after attending the presentation she would like to attend the Meditation Club meetings on campus. Though she has had some exposure to Buddhism through family members, she hasn’t studied its teachings or tested its practices herself, she said, and the services she learned about through the presentation may help her learn more.

  篇二

  China's four sacred Buddhist mountains have become hot topics in social media this week, but not because of religion.

  中國四大佛教名山上週成為社交媒體熱議的話題,不過這一次和宗教無關。

  Or rather, it was because of religion and business.

  或者更確切地說,這是因為宗教和商業綁到了一塊兒。

  Mount Putuo Tourism Development Co., founded by three local tourism companies based in Zhoushan of southern China, said on Saturday that it plans to go public in two years, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The company, which operates the tourism facilities around the mountain, aims to raise at least 7.5 billion yuan, or about $1.18 billion, Xinhua said.

  據新華社報道,由浙江舟山三家當地旅遊公司共同出資組建的普陀山旅遊發展股份有限公司6月30日表示,該公司爭取在兩年內上市。新華社說,該公司運營著普陀山周圍的旅遊設施,它計劃通過上市至少籌資人民幣75億元。

  "The Buddhist associations and all the temples in this area will not be included into the listing project," Mao Jiantao, the company's general manager, told Xinhua. "Their operations will not be affected."

  普陀山旅遊發展股份有限公司總經理毛劍濤對新華社說,佛教協會、各大寺院仍然屬於佛協系統,與上市主體是兩條線,佛協原來怎麼運作將來還怎麼運作

  "We think the tourism industry of Mount Putuo needs better marketing, and going public can help to boost its publicity," said Mr. Mao.

  毛劍濤說,普陀山的旅遊業也需要營銷,上市可以擴大知名度。

  Mount Putuo officials didn't respond to a request for comment.

  普陀山負責人沒有回覆記者的置評請求。

  Mount Putuo, which is about 20 miles from the coastline and is sometimes called "Buddhist heaven above sea," is considered one of China's four Buddhist mountains - the jingtu, or "pure lands," for Buddhists. It has several well-known Buddhist temples and is also among top-tier national scenic areas in China. Xinhua said it had five million visitors last year.

  普陀山距大陸海岸線約有20英里約合32公里,有時也被稱作“海天佛國”,是中國四大佛教名山之一。佛教名山可謂是佛教淨土。普陀山有多座知名的佛教寺廟,同時也是國家5A級旅遊風景區。新華社說,去年其客流量超過500萬人次。

  It wouldn't be the first of the four mountains to be listed. Mount E'mei Tourism Development Co., based in western China's Sichuan province, went public in October 1997.

  普陀山並非四大佛教名山中第一個考慮上市的。早在1997年10月,位於中國西部四川省的峨眉山旅遊股份有限公司就已經成功上市。

  The other two have ambitions to list as well. Officials in the news office of Mountain Wutai, another prominent Buddhist mountain in China's western Shanxi province, told Xinhua that their company had been preparing to go public since 2010 and would be listed before the end of this year. They plan to form a company called Mount Wutai Investment Co.

  另外兩座佛教名山也有上市的雄心。佛教名山五臺山位於中國西部的山西省,五臺山新聞辦主任告訴新華社,2010年五臺山開始籌備上市,預計2012年底前完成五臺山上市前期準備工作。他們計劃成立一家名叫五臺山投資股份有限公司的企業。

  Mount Jiuhua Tourism Development Co., which oversees Mount Jiuhua, in China's Anhui province, didn't succeed in its efforts of going public in 2004 and 2009. But it is trying for a third time, and its IPO application is now under consideration of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

  而管理九華山景區的安徽九華山旅遊發展股份有限公司更是2004年以及2009年兩次都未通過中國證券監督管理委員會發行稽核委員會的上市稽核。該公司目前正在進行第三次嘗試。中國證監會目前正在考慮其首次公開募股IPO申請。

  It's unclear how far these plans will go. Liu Wei, deputy director of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, said in a press conference last month that the agency would object to local tourism development firms that try to exploit religious resources. "Temples are non-profit organizations," he said in comment on the administration's website."Developing a market economy should have its boundaries and not go below the social bottom line."

  上述上市方案能走多遠目前尚不清楚。中國國家宗教事務局副司長劉威上個月在一次新聞釋出會上說,如果當地旅遊開發公司試圖利用宗教資源,該局將持反對意見。他在宗教事務局官方網站上刊登的一篇文章中說,宗教活動場所是民間非營利組織,市場經濟是有邊界的,要符合社會底線。

  Public reaction has been largely negative. "Without its religion reputation, how can Mountain Putuo attract visitors at all?" said the director of the recruitment office of a Buddhism college in Hangzhou, who goes by the Buddhist monastic name of Master Xinwu, on his verified Weibo account. Citing the Buddha associated with compassion, "I cannot imagine paying tribute to Kwan-yin in a listed company," he said.

  中國公眾大多對佛教名山上市持負面看法。杭州佛學院招生辦的負責人心悟法師在他的新浪微博認證賬戶說,沒有佛教內涵的名山,普陀山拿什麼來吸引遊客?在提到觀音菩薩的時候,他的語氣充滿了感情。他說:沒有想到,拜觀音還要拜到股份公司去。

  "China's Buddhist mountains have been involved in this commercialization wave one by one. We can expect to see the Taoism mountains be dragged into this wave soon," Yan Can, vice chairman of Buddhism Association of Henan Province in north China, said on his Weibo account. "It will be a moral tragedy for everyone."

  中國河北省佛教協會副會長延參法師在新浪微博上說:佛教名山捲入這個經營大潮,可以想的到,不遠的後來,道教的名山將無一倖免。他還指出,對每個人來說這都將是道德的悲哀。

  "Religious places should never go public," says Xue Manzi, a prominent Chinese investor in his Weibo account. "Capital markets have developed for hundreds of years in western countries, but has anyone ever heard of a church going public?"

  中國知名天使投資人薛蠻子說,宗教場所不應上市,西方資本市場發展了幾百年,誰聽說把教堂上市的事兒?

  篇三

  中華民俗之元宵節的起源與佛教有關?

  The story about the origin of the festival goes like this. Buddhism first entered China during thereign of Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty. That was in the first century. However, itdid not exert any great influence among the Chinese people. One day, Emperor Mingdi had adream about a gold man in his palace. At the very moment when he was about to ask themysterious figure who he was. The gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in thewest. The next day, Emperor Mingdi sent a scholar to India on a pilgrimage to locate Buddhistscriptures. After journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures.Emperor Mingdi ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of Buddha and serve as arepository for the scriptures. Followers believe that the power of Buddha can dispel darkness.So Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to becomethe Lantern Festival.

  還有一種傳說認為元宵節與佛教有關。東漢明帝時期,佛教進入中國,這也是佛教首次傳入中國,然而,佛教並沒有對中國人產生多大影響。一日,明帝做了個夢,夢見皇宮裡有個金人,正當他準備問清這個神祕人物的身世時,金人突然升入天空,消失在西面。次日,明帝委派一位學士去印度開始了他的取經之旅,經過幾千里的長途跋涉,學士終於帶回了經卷。漢明帝下令建造一所寺廟供佛雕安身、收藏經書。佛徒們相信佛能驅走黑暗,所以漢明帝宣昭他的臣民們張燈結綵,這樣就形成了“燈節”。

  The custom of lighting lanterns continued. However, the lanterns would develop from simpleones to those of various color and shape. The scale of the celebration also increased greatly.

  張燈的習俗得以延續傳承,然而,燈盞由簡樸到華貴,樣式繁多,慶賀的規模也愈來愈大。