有一次和師父到某一處海邊,路旁小販正在販賣寄居蟹。小小的寄居蟹每隻都馱著不同的貝殼,在小盆裏的沙堆中爬來爬去,一時之間好像看到許多美麗的貝殼在走路。師父拿起了一隻寄居蟹,嘴裏喃喃自語:“這是它的家,這不是它的家,這是它的家,這不是它的家。。。”說完,師父放下寄居蟹就走了。
我們每個人不都象是一隻寄居蟹,寄居在這個四大假合的身體中,生生死死,不知換過多少身體,有哪一處是真正的家呢?
Translated by 康賽歐
Once, my master and I went to a specific seaside. There, I saw a hawker selling hermit crabs by the roadside. Each tiny hermit crab carried a different shell, crawling back and forth in the sandpit in a small basin as if I could see many beautiful shells walking. My master picked up one of the hermit crabs and murmured to himself: "This is its home, this is not its home, this is its home, this is not its home..." He then put the hermit crab back down and left.
Like hermit crabs, we inhabit this composite body of the four elements, going through life and death and changing bodies many times; I wonder where our true home is.