無辜的小鬼（中英）　宣化上人主講

母子連心

The Hearts of a Mother and her Child are Connected

◎謝果馨
Guo- Xin Xie

不是生出來才連心，一受胎就母子連心，媽媽心裏想什麼，孩子完全知道。

The connection between the hearts of a mother and her child begins even before the child is born.; it starts when the child is still in the womb. The child knows exactly what his or her mother is thinking.

我是個佛學班兒童的老師。記得有一次和幾個家長談不殺生的時候，我同他們講墮胎是殺生，因為這就像是殺掉一個活生生的人；可是其中一些較年輕的媽媽並不以為然。這時候有一位家長就把她三歲女兒的故事說給我們聽。葉媽媽說，她本來就只打算要生兩個孩子，所以生完老二之後就避孕了。結果很意外的幾年之後又受孕，她覺得三個孩子太多，又難帶；所以徵得先生同意之後，決定要把已經幾個星期大的胎兒拿掉。
   　    
I teach Buddhism to children. I remember once I talked to several parents about the principle of no killing. I told them that having an abortion is a form of killing, because it is taking the life of a living human being. However, a number of younger mothers in the group disagreed. Then, a mother responded by telling us the story of her three year old daughter. Mrs. Ye told us that she always planned to have only two children, so when her second child was born, she started to use contraceptives. To her surprise, after a number of years, she got pregnant again. She felt that it would be difficult to raise three children, so after getting her husband’s consent, she decided to abort the fetus that was several weeks old.
   　    
當天晚上她就夢見一個很可愛的小女孩來跟她說：「媽媽！請妳不要把我拿掉，我會很乖的。」連續三天，每天晚上小女孩都來跟她講同樣的話，她知道這是小女兒來求她，不要把她殺掉，葉媽媽於心不忍，就十月懷胎地把她生下來。
   　    
That evening, she dreamed about a cute little girl who told her, “Mom, please don’t get rid of me. I will be very good.” For three consecutive nights, Mrs. Ye had the same dream. She realized that her daughter was pleading with her not to have an abortion. After these dreams, Mrs. Ye didn’t have the heart to go through with an abortion, so she didn’t terminate her pregnancy and gave birth to a baby girl.
   　    
我見到這個小女孩時，她已經三歲了，很乖巧，很可愛，最喜歡幫媽媽洗廁所。葉媽媽的故事肯定了墮胎就是殺生的道理，殺的不是別人，正是自己的孩子。俗語說「母子連心」，不是生出來才連心，一受胎就母子連心，媽媽心裏想什麼，孩子完全知道。所以才有所謂的胎教。你可以想像小Baby有多可憐，當他（她）知道媽媽決定要把他（她）拿掉時，心中恐怖和無助，到最後被殺時，則轉為哀憤與仇恨。唉，於心何忍！於心何忍！三思！三思！
   　    
When I met this little girl, she was already three years old. She is very obedient, clever and cute, and she really likes to clean the bathroom for her mother. Mrs. Ye’s story confirms that abortion is a form of killing; in fact, by having an abortion we would be killing not just anyone, but our own child. There is a saying that “the hearts of a mother and her child are connected.” This connection begins even before the child is born; it starts when the child is still in the womb. The child knows exactly what his or her mother is thinking. This connection is also captured by the saying, “education starts in the womb.” We can imagine how pitiful it would be for a little baby who knows that his or her mother is planning to terminate his or her life. This baby’s fear and helplessness turns into hatred and resentment when he or she is killed. How can anyone bear this? Please think carefully before you act!