Marpa

One of the most renowned Tibetan masters and also one of the main

gurus of the Kagyii lineage, of which I am a member, was Marpa, student

of the Indian teacher Naropa and guru to Milarepa, his most famous

spiritual son. 　瑪爾巴是最有名的西藏大師之一，也是我隸屬的噶舉傳承在西藏的第一代祖師。他師事印度大師那諾巴，他最著名的弟子是密勒日巴。Marpa is an example of someone who was on his way to

becoming a successful self-made man. He was born into a farming family,

but as a youth he became ambitious and chose scholarship and the

priesthood as his route to prominence. 瑪爾巴是一個完全靠自己努力而成功的典型代表。他生於農家，年輕時就心懷大志，選擇學術與僧職作為他成名之路。We can imagine what tremendous

effort and determination it must have taken for the son of a farmer

to raise himself to the position of priest in his local religious tradition. 我們可以想像得到，一個農家之子，要能在當時當地的宗教傳統中，提升自己到僧侶的地位，必須付出多麼大的努力和有多麼大的決心。

There were only a few ways for such a man to achieve any kind of position

in tenth-century Tibet—as a merchant, a bandit, or especially as a

priest. 　在第十世紀的西藏，像他那樣的人，要想得到一點名聲地位，只有幾條路可走，那就是經商、當土匪，或者是當喇嘛。 Joining the local clergy at that time was roughly equivalent to

becoming a doctor, lawyer, and college professor, all rolled into one. 在那個時代，要加入當地的僧團，大約就等於現今當上了醫生、律師和大學教授三者的總和。

Marpa began by studying Tibetan, Sanskrit, several other languages,

and the spoken language of India. 　瑪爾巴從學習語文入手，他學藏文、梵文、幾種其它語文和印度口語。After about three years of such study

he was proficient enough to being earning money as a scholar, and with

this money he financed his religious study, eventually becoming a Buddhist

priest of sorts. 這樣學了差不多三年，他就能以學者的身份開始賺錢了。他把賺來的錢都用在研究宗教上，終於成為一個普通的喇嘛。Such a position brought with it a certain degree of

local prominence, but Marpa was more ambitious and so, although he

was married by now and had a family, he continued to save his earnings

until he had amassed a large amount of gold. 因為他所擔任的僧職使他在地方上小有名氣，但他並不以此為滿足，所以儘管他已結了婚，有了家眷，他還是繼續存錢，直到他積下了很多的黃金。

At this point Marpa announced to his relatives his intentions to travel

to India to collect more teachings. 　　於是，瑪爾巴向親屬宣佈，要去印度搜集經教。India at this time was the world center

for Buddhist studies, home of Nalanda University and the greatest Buddhist

sages and scholars. It was Marpa's intention to study and collect

texts unknown in Tibet, bring them home, and translate them, thus establishing

himself as a great scholar-translator. 當時的印度是世界佛學研究中心，也是那瀾陀大學的所在地，以及許多最偉大佛教聖哲的家鄉。瑪爾巴的目的是去研究、收集西藏沒有的經典，然後帶回來翻譯，使自己成為一位偉大的學者譯師The journey to India was

at that time and until fairly recently a long and dangerous one, and Marpa's

family and elders tried to dissuade him from it. But he was determined

and so set out accompanied by a friend and fellow scholar. 當時，甚至晚近，從藏赴印是一段漫長而危險的旅程。瑪爾巴的家人和長輩都極力勸阻他，但瑪爾巴已下定決心，結果就與一位也是學者的朋友一起動身了。

After a difficult journey of some months they crossed the Himalayas

in India and proceeded to Bengal where they went their separate ways. 經過數月的艱苦旅程，他們越過喜馬拉雅山，進入印度，繼續向孟加拉前進。到了盂加拉，他們就各奔前程。

Both men were well qualified in the study of language and religion, and

so they decided to search for their own teachers, to suit their own tastes.

Before parting they agreed to meet again for the journey home. 由於在語言和宗教方面，兩個人的學識都很夠水準，因此他們決定各按自身所好，分別尋師。在分手前相約，來日再聚，以便結伴還鄉。

While he was traveling through Nepal, Marpa had happened to hear

of the teacher Naropa, a man of enormous fame. Naropa had been abbot

of Nalanda University, perhaps the greatest center for Buddhist studies

the world has ever known. 旅經尼泊爾的時候，瑪爾巴偶然聽人談到大名鼎鼎的那諾巴上師。那諾巴做過那瀾陀大學的校長。那瀾陀大學可能是有史以來最偉大的佛學研究中心了。At the height of his career, feeling that he

understood the sense but not the real meaning of the teachings, he abandoned

his post and set out in search of a guru. 　就在他事業達到巔峰時，那諾巴覺得自己所瞭解的只是教法的皮毛，而非真義。於是他放棄了校長的職位去尋找上師，For twelve years he endured

terrific hardship at the hands of his teacher Tilopa, until finally he

achieved realization. By the time Marpa heard of him, he was reputed to

be one of the greatest Buddhist saints ever to have lived. 他在帝洛巴上師那裡連受了十二年的苦，最後才得證悟。到了瑪爾巴聽說那諾巴名字的時候，那諾巴已被公認為是佛教中曾有過最偉大的聖人了。 Naturally

Marpa set out to find him. 瑪爾巴當然要去找他。

Eventually Marpa found Naropa living in poverty in a simple house

in the forests of Bengal. 　瑪爾巴終於找到，那諾巴是住在孟加拉森林中一所簡陋的屋子，過著貧窮的生活。He had expected to find so great a teacher living

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in the midst of a highly evolved religious setting of some sort, and so

he was somewhat disappointed. 瑪爾巴原先以為，這樣一位大師的居所，一定是某種極其精緻和有宗教氣氛的建築，因而當時不免有些失望。However, he was a bit confused by the

strangeness of a foreign country and willing to make some allowances,

thinking that perhaps this was the way Indian teachers lived. 不過他早已對印度的新奇事物感到不解，所以也就甘願不去計較了，心想：也許這就是印度上師們的生活方式吧！Also, his

appreciation of Naropa's fame outweighed his disappointment, and so

he gave Naropa most of his gold and asked for teachings. 同時，那諾巴的聲望也壓倒了瑪爾巴的失望。瑪爾巴將帶來的金子，大部分都供養了那諾巴，並向他求教。