On a pitch-dark night, a monk¹ seeking the real Buddha² was walking in a desolate³ village. In the also pitch-dark road, villagers were coming to and fro silently.

一个漆黑的夜晚，一个远行寻佛的苦行僧走到一个荒僻的村落中。漆黑的街道上，络绎不绝的村民们在默默地你来我往。

The monk walked round an alley⁴ and saw a dim light cast from the depth of the dark alley approaching. One villager nearby said, “Blind Sun(a blind man), is coming.”

苦行僧转过一条巷道，他看见有一门昏黄的灯光正从巷道的深处静静地亮过来。身旁的一位村民说：“孙瞎子过来了。”

The monk felt entirely⁵ puzzled at the blind man’s deed. A blind man was supposed to have no concept of day and night and cannot see everything like birds, flowers, mountains, waters, etc, around him. He could even not know how the “light” looked like. But Blind Sun was surprisingly holding a lantern, which made the monk feel confused and ridiculous. The lantern was approaching with the dim light gradually cast onto the monk’s straw sandals. Out of curiosity, the monk asked Blind Sun, “Excuse me, are you really a blind man?” “Yes, I have been blind since I came to this world.” The blind man replied.

苦行僧百思不得其解。一个双目失明的盲人，他没有白天和黑夜的一丝概念，看不到鸟语花香，看不到高山流水，他看不到柳绿桃红的世界万物，他甚至不知道灯光是什么样子的，他挑一盏灯笼岂不令人迷惘和可笑？那灯笼渐渐近了，昏黄的灯光渐渐从深巷移游到僧人的芒鞋上。百思不得其解的僧人问：“敢问施主真的是一位盲者吗？”那挑灯笼的盲人告诉他：“是的，从踏进这个世界，我就一直双眼混沌。”

The monk continued asking, “Since you could not see anything, why are you still holding a lantern?” The blind man said, “It is dark night now, isn’t it? I heard that if there is not light on the dark night, all others in the world are also blind just like me. So I lit up a lantern.” The monk got the point all of a sudden and said, “So you lit up the lantern to illuminate⁶ others?” But the blind man replied, “No, I do it for myself.” “For yourself?” the monk sank into bewilderment again. The blind man, with great calmness, asked the monk, “Have you ever been run into by others on a dark night?” The monk said, “Yes. I was run into by two people just now.” The blind man said with a sense of pride, “But I have not all the time. Even though I am blind and cannot see everything, I am holding a lantern in the dark so that I can illuminate others and meantime let others see me. Then they will not run into me due to the dark night.”

僧人问：“既然你什么也看不见，那你为何挑一盏灯笼呢？”盲者说：“现在是黑夜吧？我听说在黑夜里没有灯光的映照，那么满世界的人都和我一样是盲人，所以我就点燃了一盏灯笼。”僧人若有所悟：“原来您是为别人照明？”但那盲人却说：“不，我是为自己！” “为你自己？僧人又愣了。盲者缓缓地问僧人说：“你是否因为夜色漆黑而被其他人碰撞过？”僧人说：“是的，就在刚才，还被两个人不留心碰撞过。”盲人听了，就得意地说：“但我就没有。虽说我是盲人，我什么也看不见，但我挑了这盏灯笼，既为别人照亮儿，也更让别人看到了我自己，这样，他们就不会因为看不见而撞我了。”

Hearing the blind man’ words, the monk felt tremendously enlightened. He could not help looking up to the sky and sighed, “I had been travelling to a lot of places to seek the Buddha and never had I imagined that he is just around me. Our perception of Buddhism⁷ is just like a lamp. As long as we light it up, even though we cannot see the Buddha, he can still see us.” To light up the lamp of our lives can not only brighten others lives, but also brighten ours. Only by brightening up others lives can we truly brighten our own. So please let others light up the lamps of our lives! Only then will we truly seek out the safety and glory we are longing⁸ for in the darkness of our lives.

苦行僧听了，顿有所悟。他仰天长叹说：“我天涯海角奔波着找佛，没有想到佛就在我的身边，人的佛性就像一盏灯，只要我点亮了，即使我看不见佛，但佛却会看到我自己的。”是的，点亮属于自己的那一盏生命之灯，既照亮了别人，更照亮了你自己；只有先照亮别人，才能够照亮我们自己。为别人点燃我们自己生命的灯吧，这样在生命的夜色上，我们才能寻找到自己的平安和灿烂！

Always remember: only by lighting⁹ up a light for others can we illuminate ourselves.

只有为别人点燃一盏灯，才能照亮我们自己。