On a pitch-dark night, a monk seeking the real Buddha was walking in a desolate village. In the also pitch-dark ro , villagers were coming to and fro silently.
一個漆黑的夜晚，一個遠行尋佛的苦行僧走到一個荒僻的村落中。黝黑的街道上，絡繹不絕的村民們在默默地你來我往。

The monk walked round an alley 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.”
苦行僧轉過一條巷道，他看見有一門昏黃的燈光正從巷道的深處靜靜地亮過來。身旁的一位村民說：“孫瞎子過來了。”

The monk felt entirely 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 l ern, 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。一個雙目失明的瞽者，他沒有白日和黑夜的一絲概念，看不到桃紅柳綠，看不到高山流水，他看不到柳綠桃紅的世界萬物，他乃至不知道燈光是什麼模樣的，他挑一盞燈籠豈不使人迷惘和好笑？那燈籠漸漸近了，朦胧的燈光漸漸從深巷移游到和尚的草鞋上。百思不得其解的僧人問：“敢問檀越真的是一名盲者嗎？”那挑燈籠的瞽者告知他：“是的，從踏進這個世界，我就一向雙眼渾沌。”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 illuminate 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.”
僧人問：“既然你什麼也看不見，那你為何挑一盞燈籠呢？”盲者說：“而今是黑夜吧？我傳聞在黑夜裡沒有燈光的映照，那麼滿世界的人都和我一樣是瞽者，所以我就點燃了一盞燈籠。”和尚如有所悟：“原來您是為他人照明？”但那瞽者卻說：“不，我是為自己！” “為你本身？僧人又愣了。盲者徐徐地問和尚說：“你是不是因為夜色黝黑而被其他人碰撞過？”和尚說：“是的，就在適才，還被兩小我不留神碰撞過。”瞽者聽了，就自滿地說：“但我就沒有。雖然說我是瞽者，我什麼也看不見，但我挑了這盞燈籠，既為他人照亮兒，也更讓他人看到了我本身，如許，他們就不會因為看不見而撞我了。”

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 Buddhism 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 longing for in the darkness of our lives.
苦行僧聽了，頓有所悟。他仰天長嘆說：“我海角天涯奔波著找佛，沒有想到佛就在我的身邊，人的佛性就像一盞燈，只要我點亮了，即便我看不見佛，但佛卻會看到我本身的。”是的，點亮屬於本身的那一盞生命之燈，既照亮了他人，更照亮了你本身；只有先照亮他人，才能夠照亮我們自己。為他人點燃我們自己生命的燈吧，這樣在生命的夜色上，我們才能尋覓到自己的安然和光輝！

Always remember: only by lighting up a light for others can we illuminate ourselves.
只有為他人點燃一盞燈，才能照亮我們本身。