A stormy nightin Hong Kong.

　　香港一個風雨交加的夜晚。

　　A young man who asked his girlfriend out on adate canceled the date and stayed at home because of the bad weather. Meanwhile, in the same apartment building, a pregnant lady who was lying in bed already, suddenly decided to drive out to grab some food. As she was driving back in the heavy rain, the lightning struck her building. And she saw the whole building collapsing in front of her in the storm.

　　公寓中的一名男孩，本已約了女友外出，出門時因風雨太大，就臨時取消了約會而逗留家中。而公寓中另一位有孕在身、本已臥床休息的少婦，因想吃點東西而獨自駕車外出。當她冒著風雨駕車返回時，發現整棟公寓竟然在風雨中倒塌了……

　　All the residents of that building, including the young man, lost their lives in that accident. Yet the pregnant lady survived.

　　包括那名男孩在內的公寓中其他居民都喪身在倒塌的公寓與山泥之中，而孕婦卻幸免于難。

　　This is a story of fate by author, Kuang Ni from Hong Kong. Dead oralive, all depended on that one thought. Is this a made-up story, or a true reflection of our lives?

　　這是香港作家倪匡筆下一個耐人尋味的命運故事。一念之間，生死兩重天。這到底只是作家的藝術創作，還是生活的真實寫照?

　　You have probably also experienced how one decision potentially leads to adramatic and different result. So is it accidental, or inevitable? Does destiny exist? If so, how is it formed? Can it be changed? How do we change it?

　　你可能也經歷過這種事情，因為一個決定而產生了截然不同的結果。那么，這是偶然還是必然?命運真的存在嗎?如果存在，它又是怎樣形成的?可以被改變嗎?如何才能改變?

　　My dad published a book titled Enlightenment in 2012. It’s a book about Buddhism and its wisdom that may help you in life. I say “A life-changing book” here because first of all, it is what the Chinese characters on the cover mean; secondly it is my own father’s book and of course I want to sell it; but thirdly, it indeed is “Alife-changing book.”

　　我父親于2012年出版了《覺悟》一書。這是一本關于用佛教智慧改變我們生命的書。我說“This is a life-changing book(一本足以改寫你生命的書)”，因為首先，這本書的封面上的確寫著這些中文字;其次，這是我父親的書，我當然想推銷它;(笑聲)第三，這的確是一本足以改寫你生命的書。

　　Ever since he published book, he has wanted me to translate his book when I grow more proficient in English. I doubt that I have the ability to translate his book yet, but I’d like to take this opportunity to share some bits and parts of his insights on Buddhism; especially those on Zen Buddhism that have helped me in my life. This speech will partially be a rough translation of the first chapter of his book, as he wishes, and partially my personal experience with Zen.

　　自從他出版這本書以后，我父親就希望我能幫他翻譯成英語。當然，我不覺得我現在的英語水平夠去翻譯這整本書，但是我希望借這個機會，能分享一些他對佛法的見解，尤其是在我成長的過程中對我有很大幫助的禪學。這次演講的一部分內容會是《覺悟》一書部分章節的簡單翻譯(算是如我父親所愿)，還有一部分是我自己的修心、修行經歷。

　　Since the day we’re born, we’ve stepped into a huge maze with only one exit. The exit leads to the tranquil middle path that Buddhism is looking for. And only by finding the right road can we exit the maze that is full of suffering. Different thing shappen to different people in our lives, but you should know that every hardship or impasse you face comes from the seeds of your past ignorance and presumptuous acts. There’s nothing we could do with things that already happened, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop searching for the way out. In fact, according to Buddhist teaching, if we wake up from the ignorance, we can definitely leave the maze.

　　從出生之日起，我們就像步入了一個只有唯一出口的巨大迷宮。佛教正是要幫助你找到這個給你帶來解脫的唯一出口。唯有找到這個出口，我們才能從滿是痛苦的迷宮中走出來。每個人在生命中都經歷著不同的事情。但不管在你的生命中發生了什么，要知道，現在你所遇到的每一個障礙或絕境，都來自過去的無知和妄行埋下的種子。已經發生的結果，我們無力改變，但并不意味著我們必須停下探索的腳步。事實上，佛教認為，只要我們從無知中醒來，就一定能走出迷宮。

　　There is a kind of dandelion in Canada that cangrow out of the ground again even if it’s been pulled out by its roots. Some specialists latter found out that this kind of dandelion has roots that are eight meters down into the earth, and at the end of the roots, there’s a seed. Even if the roots are taken out, the dandelion can grow out again because of its seed.

　　加拿大有一種生命力特別旺盛的蒲公英，即便你將它連根拔起，不久它還會從地下長出新的來。后來，經過專家的深入研究發現，它的根須特別長，竟然頑強地扎入地下八米的深處，并且須根的盡頭有一粒種子，就算須根斷了，蒲公英也照樣會因這粒種子而再次破土重生。