放生必备：观察的智慧
The Right View (150)
中英文连载
LIBERATING LIVING BEINGS
First, check if the environment is suitable for the liberated beings to live. For example，the weather loaches from China can be bought in Tibet as well. Local Tibetan nomads mistake them for regular fish, buy and set them free in the river. But the riverbed is armored with rocks only，no mud. And the water is very cold，as it originates from the snowy mountains. The weather loaches, unable to cope with this environment，all die shortly after being released in the river.
首先，观察施放环境是否适合所放之生命。譬如藏地也有泥鳅卖，是从内地运过去的，当地的牧民以为是鱼，就买了放到河里。那儿的河底下没有泥，全是石头，河水也很冷，因为它的源头是雪山。泥鳅放下去后，对环境不适应，活不了多久，便都死掉了。
Back in 1991 and 1992, due to our inexperience, we bought some swamp eels in Kangding and released them in a river there. You can imagine what happened to them. Yes, they all died. We had the good intention to set them free, yet we failed to really protect them from adversity. What a shame! Thus, to check the suitability of the environment is a really critical step for the survival of the creatures being liberated.
在 1991、1992年，因我们当时也欠缺常识，在康定买了鳝鱼，然后放到康定城中的一条河里，结果可想而知，它们根本活不了。我们发了救度它们的心，却不能使它们真正得到救护，实在很可惜。所以，观察生态环境适不适合所放生命，这个程序非常重要。
Second, check whether the beings may get caught again and killed after being released. If they do, grave karma will be unavoidable for both the liberators and the possible killers. Therefore, it is imperative that best efforts be made to find a safe place to liberate beings.
其次，观察是否有人再度捕杀。若有人再度捕杀，则会造极大罪业，所以应当尽力避免，并选择无人再去加害的安全地点放生。
While there is no risk of being caught again, but the beings cannot live long anyway, should we still liberate them? Yes, we should, as we can never find a place for them to live forever.
如果没有人捕杀，但放下去以后，却活不了很久，此时要不要放呢？还是放了好。因为我们也找不到一个使它完全不死的地方。
Our top priority should be to release them from the immediate danger of death before all other considerations. To be able to satisfy these two conditions when liberating any beings would be in keeping with the genuine spirit of fearless offering.
先使它们远离死亡的怖畏，其他的事再尽量做到。这样的放生就是无畏布施。
Although freeing small fry or other beings that will not be killed in the near future is also liberating living beings, they are not lives saved at the point of being killed. To engender great merit and to be deemed a genuine form of fearless offering, lives saved should be those that are about to be killed such as the assorted fish sold in the marketplace.
放鱼苗或其他一些很久以后才会被杀的生命，也属于放生，但在放生当时不是从屠刀之下抢救下来的。将泥鳅、鳝鱼、鱼等市场上待宰的生命从屠刀之下救下来，不仅有很大功德，也才是真正的无畏布施。
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