成语引思 Reflections on a Chinese Idiom

《杯弓蛇影》从佛教角度去解释，不单只是一个成语故事，也可以将此成语比喻我们的世界。我们现在如痴如迷耽着的人生，如同此蛇一般虚无缥缈。因为无明障碍，我们会将杯中的绳视为蛇，由此产生各种分别念，有人喜欢蛇，有人害怕蛇。人生何尝又不是如此呢？

      在虚幻的世界里，视一切为实有，或沉迷于灯红酒绿，或耽着名利地位，或烦忧生活压力。佛教说：人生一切如梦幻泡影。虚幻的人生让人沉醉不愿意醒来。

      憨山大师在《醒世歌》中说到：“春日才看杨柳绿，秋风又见菊花黄。”春日明媚，刚欣赏完杨柳青青，而秋风萧瑟，又见到菊花已黄。又诸如江河湖海的涌流、沧海桑田的变迁……一切都是刹那变化的缘起法，只不过是我们心的迷乱显现罢了。

      精进闻思修行，明白心及外境皆非实有，一切内情外器均如梦如幻、无有实质可得，皆是心之幻影。在了悟的那一刻，如同抬头看到了绳索，方知蛇只是自己的心识，如梦初醒般，由此便不再有任何迟疑，从迷惑中出离，达到解脱的彼岸。

Bei Gong She Ying

During the Han Dynasty(206BC- 220AD), there was a county magistrate called Ying Bin. One summer day, he invited his secretary Du Xuan to his house and treated him with wine. On the north wall of the room hung a red bow. It was reflected in Du Xuan's cup. Du Xuan took the reflection for a squirming snake. He was very frightened but he dared not turn down Ying Bin's offer because he was his superior. He had to swallow the wine with his eyes closed. When he was back at home he felt so painful in his chest and stomach that he could hardly eat and drink any more.He sent for the doctor and tried much medicine but nothing could cure him. When Ying Bin asked Du Xuan how he got so seriously ill, Du told him he drank the wine with a snake in his cup e other day. Ying Bin found something strange about that. He turned home, thought hard, but he couldn't find an answer. Suddenly the bow on the north wall caught his eye. "That's it!" he shouted. He immediately sent his man to fetch Du Xuan. He seated him where he sat before and offered him a cup of wine. Du Xuan saw the snake-like shadow again. Before Du was scared out of his wits again, Ying Bin said, pointing at the shadow, "The 'snake'in the cup is nothing but a reflection of the bow on the north wall!" Now that Du Xuan knew what it was, he felt much easier. His illness disappeared the next moment!

From the Buddhist perspective, the story, “Bei Gong She Ying”, is not just an idiom, but it also can be seen as a metaphor about our world. The things we are so obsessed with in life are as illusory as this snake. Because of our obstacles of ignorance, we regard the reflection of bow in the cup as a snake, which produces various discriminating minds: some people like the snakes, while others are afraid of them. Same thing happens in life.

In this illusory world, people see everything as real. They may be addicted to the lures of the mundane world, or they are obsessive about fame and money, or they suffer from the pressure of life. Buddhism considers that 

everything in life is like dreams and soap bubbles, which makes people so indulged in them that they are unwilling to wake up.

Master Hanshan said in his "Awakening Song": "we just saw the willow turning green, but soon we will see the yellow blossoms of chrysanthemum in the autumn wind." Spring days are bright and beautiful, and we can enjoy the delightful scene of willow trees. But the bleak autumn wind will come quickly, and the yellow chrysanthemum will be everywhere. Like the flow of rivers, lakes, and seas, or the change of vast sea into farmlands, and so on, everything is the result of dependent origination. It is just the reflection of our illusory minds.

We should diligently study, reflect on, and practice Buddha’s teachings so that we can understand that both our mind and the outside world are not real. Everything is like dreams and soap bubbles, the illusions created by our mind. At the moment of our enlightenment, which is like we look up and see the bow on the wall so that we realize that the snake is only our own illusion, we have no hesitation any more and escape from our confusion to get the other side of liberation. 

Khenpo Jamyang