问：佛教里说：“人的始祖，是从光音天来的。”这与现代科学理论，有没有抵触？譬如，科学上有“进化论”，说人是从最原始微生状态，经过若干亿兆年逐步进化演变，最后才从猿猴变为人。这个在佛理上讲得通吗？
Q: Buddhism says that the first ancestor of mankind came from the Heaven of Light-Sound. Doesn't this conflict with modern scientific theory? For example, in science the theory of evolution says the most primitive microorganisms, undergoing progressive changes through hundreds of billions of years, gradually evolved into apes, and finally into humans. Does this agree with Buddhism?
答：人是从光音天来的，这个来源不只七亿兆年，恐怕七亿亿兆年以前就有这种情形。光音天的天人来到人间，并不是那么完整，他们已失去智慧。为什么呢？这就等于我们人投胎又去托生一样。当初这个世界没有人类，尚未开化，混沌一片，如鸡蛋似的。天人好像苍蝇似的，飞到这世界来，以为有什么好吃的。从光音天到地球来，恐怕也要经过很长的时间才能到达。好像现在的卫星火箭，打入太空轨道，要经过人间很久的时间，或几年才能入轨道。同理，天人到地球来，本来没有什么目的地，他们各处旅行，把指南针丢了，到了地球就手忙脚乱。他们到了地球，也不像以往在天上那么聪明，他们仅存一种知觉性，不像在天上那么完整。好像人本来很聪明，但死了再托生做小孩，把前生的事就忘了。也像人撞车之后，失去所有知觉，变得迷糊混淆。
A: People came to the earth from the Heaven of Light-Sound. Their coming wasn't just seven hundred billion years ago. Perhaps such a situation already existed seven thousand trillion years ago. When the gods from the Heaven of Light-Sound came to this world, they were no longer that perfect and had already lost their wisdom. Why? For the same reason that people lose their wisdom when they get reborn. In the beginning, there were no humans in this world, and it was still undeveloped, an indistinguishable mass, like a chicken egg. The gods flew to the world like flies, thinking there was something good to eat here. To get from the Heaven of Light-Sound to the earth, they probably had to travel a long time, just as now it takes a long time for a satellite launched into space to enter its orbit, perhaps several years in human time. The gods didn't come to the earth for any special reason. They had been travelling and had lost their compass, so they were in quite a flurry when they got to the earth. When they reached the earth, they were not as intelligent as they had been in the heavens. All they had left was a perceptive nature. They weren't as perfect and whole as when they were in the heavens. In the same way, a person may be very intelligent, but when he dies and gets reborn as a child again, he will have forgotten all about his previous life. It is also like those victims of car collisions who fall into a coma and become totally stupefied.
虽然说他们从光音天来，但是逐渐都失去本有的德性与智慧，只有一点点知觉性存在。虽然说人从天上来，但是也来得很少，没有人知道他们究竟来了多少？时间也无人可以考查。既无历史可查，也没有什么根据。
Although it's said that they came from the Heaven of Light-Sound, they gradually lost their original virtue and wisdom and only had a little bit of perceptive ability left. Although they are said to have come from the Heaven of Light-Sound, only a few came, and ultimately no one knows how many. No one can verify when they came either. There are no historical records to consult, nor is there much basis for this theory.
至于所谓的“科学”，并不是什么科学，这是人取的一种代名词，叫它为“科学”。其实它只是一种理论、理性。这种道理圆满或不圆满？就要凭各人的见地和理解力。有些人懂得多点，有些人没学过科学，就不懂科学。那么是不是没学过科学的人，在他自性中就没有这种理性呢？不是的。不论你有没有学过科学，在自性里这个理性仍然存在。不能说学过科学，就有科学；没有学过科学，就没有科学。这就像佛性一样，人人自性中皆有。
As for the so-called science, there is no real thing called science. People just made up the name "science" and called it that. It's actually just a body of theories. Is this kind of reasoning perfect or not? It depends on each person's perspective and faculty of understanding. Some people understand it. Others have not studied science before, and do not understand science. Does that mean the people who haven't studied science before lack that kind of reasoning in their own nature? No. Regardless of whether you've studied science or not, that kind of reasoning exists in your nature. You cannot say that if someone has studied science, then he has the ability to understand science, and if he hasn't studied science, then he doesn't have the ability to understand science. It's the same with the Buddha-nature; everyone has it in his own nature.
科学，只是佛性的一小部分，并不是一个很完整的理性。说人研究科学如何如何，写出的理论又如何如何，其实这只是个人的颠倒执著，头上安头，故意无事找事忙，忙来忙去也找不出一个所以然来；研究科学，研来研去也研究不出什么名堂来。
Science is only a small part of the Buddha-nature, and it is not a very complete kind of reasoning. You may say people are doing such and such research in science, and writing about such and such theories, but actually, those are just the upside-down attachments of people. They are as if "adding a head on top of a head." Having nothing to do, they look for something to keep them busy. Busily doing this and that, they never discover anything. They study science, investigating back and forth, but they never reach any real conclusions.
人执著科学，以为有什么了不得，其实都是自性本有的，并不须向外求。你若是向外找，什么时候也找不出来。你说它是真的，那都是在皮毛上呢！真的是既找不出，也说不出来。科学本来不存在，我们叫它科学，它就叫科学。
People become attached to science, thinking it's something special. In fact, it is all inherent in our nature, and you don't need to look outside. If you seek outside, you'll never find it. You may say it's real, but that's just the superficial. The real thing can neither be found nor spoken of. Basically, science doesn't exist. It's just called science because that's what we call it.
一九八二年十一月廿八日开示
A talk given on November 28, 1982
