大悲心没有界限

话说回来，我们不能因为慈善活动只能解决众生的暂时痛苦，就放弃力所能及的世间慈善之举。作为发心利众的大乘行人，社会上的慈善活动当然也应该参加。

There was a story in the Vinaya: A bihkshu who was rendered immobile due to his illness had no one to take care of him. His bed was so filthy that it was as if he slept in his own excrement.

戒律中有一则故事：一个重病卧床不起的比丘，由于没人照顾，所有大小便都拉在床上，污秽不堪的景象大家可以想象。

One day，the Buddha came to this bihkshu’s home with Ananda. The bhikshu panicked upon seeing the Buddha, but the Buddha gently comforted him and took his dirty clothes to wash personally.

一天，释迦牟尼佛带着阿难来到这个比丘的住处。见到佛陀的大驾光临，比丘惶恐至极，然而，佛陀却轻言细语地安慰他，并让他把脏的衣物拿来，然后亲手替他洗。

If the Buddha could do this, we the followers of the Buddha would have no excuse not to do likewise. Yet, this is still not quite real compassion. Real compassion means that，at the time of life and death, one chooses to sacrifice one’s own life for others. Although this ideal may also exist in some other schools of thought or theory, it is somewhat limited in their scope. Whereas the Buddha’s great compassion is for all sentient beings, not just humans or Buddhists.

既然佛都能这么做，身为佛弟子的我们就更不用说了。不过，这还算不上是真正的悲心。真正的悲心，是在生死关头能做出舍己为人的决定，并付诸实行。虽然在某些其他的思想或理论中，也提及了这一点，但他们的悲心，却是片面的，范围很狭窄的；而佛的大悲心，却是针对所有的众生，而不是仅仅针对人类或佛教徒的。