先有雞還是先有蛋

　　摘要：這個因果困境想要表達的是一個“到底是先有***雞***蛋，還是先有雞”***雞生蛋，蛋生雞，到底誰先出現在這個世界上，是雞還是蛋***的問題。這個雞與蛋的問題也常常激起古代的哲學家們去探索並討論生命與宇宙的起源問題。你知道嗎？

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　　Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

　　雞從雞蛋孵化而來，可雞蛋是由雞生產而來。

　　But the chicken is in the egg, But the egg is in the chicken.

　　沒有雞就沒有蛋。

　　Without the chicken, there is no egg.Without the egg, there is no chicken.

　　而沒有雞蛋也就沒有雞。

　　The chicken and egg are interdependent.The chicken and egg are not independent.

　　雞與蛋是相輔相成的。

　　Everything arises from many causes and conditions.Nothing arises from no cause or condition.

　　二者缺一不可。

　　The above is inspired from ‘Beyond the Self: Teachings on the Middle Way’ by Thich Nhat Hanh:

　　世上沒有無因之果。

　　‘Causes and conditions’ ***因緣*** and ‘dependent co-arising’ carry a similar meaning and are are at the heart of the Buddha’s teaching. ‘Causes’ refers to the seed or principle condition. ‘Conditions’ refers to the other necessary conditions that are not the principal ones. In the Chinese character for ’cause’ ***因***, the word ‘great’ is pictured inside four walls. If something is to become great, it must break through those boundaries. When you look at a mustard seed, it’s small; the conditions aren’t there for it to be large. But when the mustard seed is put into the earth and watered, it becomes a great plant. The conditions to bring the mustard seed to fruition are water, earth, fertilizer, warmth, and so on. Notice that the conditions are also causes. But the primary cause, of course, is the seed itself. The subsidiary causes are the conditions necessary to support the primary cause to develop.

　　任何事物的產生都有它的起因和條件。

　　以上靈感來源於Thich Nhat Hanh的《超越本性：教育的中庸之道》：

　　因緣和相互條件理論與巴德哈的教育核心理論有著異曲同工之妙。“因”源自本質的種子與環境，“環境”源自產生該環境的必要條件。在漢文化中，關於“因”有四大“城防重障”。當量變達到一定程度時即會突破層層臨界發生質變。當你看著一顆芥子時，它是微小的，因為沒有可以讓它變大的環境。可是當你把這顆芥子放入泥土中並且適時澆灌，它便會長成一棵巨大的植物。這個使得芥子發生鉅變的環境便是水、泥土、肥料、溫度，等等。注意這個環境也就是“因”。當然最根本的原因還是種子自己。必要的環境條件只是誘使種子發生質變的輔助原因。