有一次和师父到某一处海边,路旁小贩正在贩卖寄居蟹。小小的寄居蟹每只都驮着不同的贝壳,在小盆里的沙堆中爬来爬去,一时之间好像看到许多美丽的贝壳在走路。师父拿起了一只寄居蟹,嘴里喃喃自语:“这是它的家,这不是它的家,这是它的家,这不是它的家。。。”说完,师父放下寄居蟹就走了。
我们每个人不都象是一只寄居蟹,寄居在这个四大假合的身体中,生生死死,不知换过多少身体,有哪一处是真正的家呢?
Translated by 康赛欧
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.