文╱英文老師真娜(Janet)特稿

我的大兒子從三、四歲便在溫哥華受教育，中文程度當然很有限。最近，他突然問我：「Mom，有沒有什麼最短的中文phrase，可以形容一個人很驕傲，看不起別人。」我脫口而出：「我慢。」但是這個中文用詞對他而言還是太難了一些。「我慢」一詞可英譯為”Self-arrogance”。

蓮生活佛盧勝彥大師在他的近作「洗刮腸子的老婆婆」一文中，提到一段他在禪定三昧中的奇妙見聞：

「我趨前看老婆婆洗什麼？一見大駭，老婆婆洗的竟然是人的腸子，腸子很多結了一塊一塊骯髒的東西，腥臭之味與原有的栴檀妙香，大迥其異。

我聞之欲嘔吐。

老婆婆回頭看看我，也不訝異，數著洗刮的東西，說：

『這一塊是我慢。』

『這一塊是嫉妒。』

『這一塊是毀謗。』

『這一塊是……。』」英譯如下：

「I walked forward to find out what the old woman was washing. I felt great shock at what I saw—the old woman was washing human intestines, which contained clump after clump of rotting material. There was a big difference between the awful stench from this and the delightful sandalwood fragrance from the nan-tan trees.

I wanted to vomit from the smell.

The old woman turned around and looked at me, but showed no surprise. She was counting the things that she was washing and scraping off, saying,

“This is a piece of self-arrogance.”

“This is a piece of jealousy.”

“This is a piece of slander.”

“This is a piece of …”」

《英語詞彙》(English Vocabulary)

腸子：Intestines

骯髒的東西：Rotting material

腥臭之味：Awful stench

（檀香的）妙香：Delightful sandalwood fragrance

嘔吐：Vomit

刮掉：Scrap off

嫉妒：Jealousy

毀謗：Slander