百喻經(jīng)之五四: 蛇頭尾共爭在前喻

　　(54) THE SNAKE'S ARGUMENT

　　譬如有蛇，尾與頭言：“我應(yīng)在前。”

　　Once there was a snake whose tail told its head, "I should lead the way."

　　頭語尾言：“我恒在前，何以卒爾?”

　　And the head said, "I'm used to leading, why do you want to change positions so suddenly?"

　　頭果在前，其尾纏樹，不能得去。放尾在前，即墮火坑，燒爛而死。

　　When the head led the way, the tail knotted himself around a tree and was unwilling to move. And when the tail led, the snake fell into a burning pit and was burnt to its death.

　　師徒弟子，亦復(fù)如是。言師耆老，每恒在前;我諸年少，應(yīng)為導(dǎo)首。如是年少，不閑戒律，多有所犯。因即相牽，入於地獄。

　　This is also true with teachers and disciples. The disciples have a fancy that the young should lead the way, as they think teachers are too old to lead. Due to their youthful immaturity, they often break commandments without being aware of it. They end up dragging each other down to Hell.

　　注釋：

　　①閑：同嫻，熟。

　　白話：

　　有一天，一條蛇的頭和尾忽然爭執(zhí)起來，蛇尾對蛇頭說∶『今天應(yīng)該我走在前面?！簧哳^說∶『我常常走在前面，怎麼可以倒過來走呢?』蛇頭和蛇尾各認(rèn)為自己有理，相持不下。結(jié)果，蛇頭就自管自向前走去，蛇尾卻纏住了樹牢牢不放。這樣，蛇頭走不動了，只得讓蛇尾走在前面。不料蛇尾，因?yàn)闆]有眼睛，卻走入一個火坑中，把這條蛇燒死了。

　　師徒之間也是這樣，說師父年老了，卻總是在前面主持著，也應(yīng)讓我輩年少的作引導(dǎo)的首領(lǐng)。這些年輕人不熟習(xí)戒律，時時有所違犯，于是師徒彼此都牽連著，墮入于地獄中。

　　這故事比喻∶老師和徒弟，應(yīng)該互相敬愛?？墒怯行┩降芡詾槔蠋熌赀~了，應(yīng)該由徒弟來作領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，不肯尊敬師長，可是因?yàn)橥降苣贻p不懂規(guī)矩，沒有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，做事常常犯錯誤，使事情搞不好，反而受到很大的損失。