有限与无限的对立和统一（The Opposition and Unify of finite and infinite） ——谈生论死 ——talking about the life and death 王 康 Wang Kang1. 生与死是自然法则之父所生的一对的孪生兄弟两者是一种相辅相成的共生关系，但却又是一对短暂与永恒的矛盾体而这对矛盾体是永远无法调和的Life and death are (a pair of) twin brothers created by the father of natural law. They are symbiotic and complementary, but are a paradox of ephemerality and eternity (durability) which is inharmonious (incompatible) in perpetuity.人类应该是远在史前时期之前就深知自然法则赋予自己的这种无法摆脱的宿命了。
Human should learn this inextricable destiny endowed by natural law long before prehistoric times. 尽管如此，人类探究生与死的奥秘，探寻如何突破生命极限使之获得永脚步一刻也没有停歇过Still and all, people never stopped to delve into the life and death, and to explore the method of breaking through the limit. 2. 然而因受挫于严酷的现实世界，人类只有寄希望于自己富于想象的精神世界了各种不同宗教当中所描绘的彼岸世界就是人类丰富想象力的精神文化产物However, because of the frustration and harshness in the real world, human beings can only hope for their imaginative spiritual world which is regarded as the “other world” with the description of assorted religions. 不过各种宗教的彼岸世界不尽相同。
基督教把彼岸设在了天上，皈依基督就意味着皈依者有可能获得天堂门票在天堂里，愉悦的彼岸生活正等待着他的到来并经久不衰然而前提条件是，在末日审判到来之时，上帝在根据逝者生前的行为举止做出最终裁决时，逝者一定要得到上帝的眷顾But the disparate religions have their own “other shores” such as the Christians allocate the “other world” in heaven. The conversion to Christianity indicates that the convert stand a chance of getting a ticket of heaven where the joyous life is awaiting him enduringly only if he is blessed by God when the final ruling is given according to his behaviors before Armageddon. 3、道教把彼岸也设在了天上，那里是玉皇大帝陛下及其家眷居住的地方，同时也是他在仙界的臣工们的协助下管理天庭以及下界俗世的地方。
At the same time, the “other world” in Taoism is also set in heaven, where the Jade Emperor lives with family, and administrates heaven and earth with the assistance of celestial ministers.凡夫俗子有望像道家神话中的八仙那样成为神仙享有长寿但是必须是在经过多年的自我艰苦的修炼之后，才有可能被神榜提名Ordinary people are hopefully longevous when become immortal as the Eight Immortals, and can be nominated in the Spirit Tablet only after a painstaking self-cultivation for ages4. 佛教不同于基督教与道教，它的彼岸世界是建立在其生死轮回三世理论之中的Differing from Christianism and Taoism, Buddhism‘s other world is set in the “Three Phased Theory” (three generation's theory) of reincarnation cycles (Metempsychosis).依据佛教的这一理论，一个个体生命所经历的时间被分为三个阶段：前世，现世以及来世。
任何一个个体对其前世与来世都一无所知，唯一清楚的就是自己的今生今世逝者的彼岸生活将是在西方净土或叫做极乐世界里，在哪里幸福无极无疆In accordance with the theory, the past life, secular life and afterlife are three phases of individual’s lifetime who know nothing about his past life and afterlife but his secular life. The other world of the dead is in the western or the Pure Land where they happy endlessly.5.无论某一宗教将其彼岸世界构建于何处，这或许都有助于降低甚至于完全消除人们对死亡的害怕或恐惧自古以来，无论是神学家或是无神论学者都一直在著书立说，谈生论死，鼓励人们直面死亡在西方历史上许多哲学家或思想家为我们留下了大量关于生死的精彩论述Wherever the other world is allocated by the religions, it might conduce to diminish and eliminate human’s fear toward death. Since ancient times, not only the theologists but also atheists were writing books, talking about the life and death and inspiring people to confront death. In the west history, massive splendid comments about life and death are left to us by the philosophers and ideologists.以下是一些精选名言：Following are some selective quotes:1). 我决不肯背义求全而屈服于任何人，我不怕死，我宁死不屈。
——苏格拉底，参阅柏拉图：《苏格拉底的申辩》I would never renounce honor and strive for existence to submit to anyone. I don’t fear death and I would rather die than submit. ——Socrates, refer to Plato: Socrates’ defend 2). 你们如顺从肉体活着必要死，若靠着圣灵治死身体的恶行必要活 ——保罗，《罗马书8章，13节》If it must die after live when it is obedient to flesh, then the rascality which kills the flesh must live. ——Paul, Romans 8:133). 如果有神，那么离开人世就不再是一桩可怕的事情。
——奥勒留《沉思录》If gods exist, then passing away is not a terrible thing any more. ——Aurelius, Meditations4). 如果我们知道如何恰当而平静地生的话，我们就将知道如何恰当而平静地死 ——蒙泰涅《论文集》If we know how should live properly and tranquilly, then we would learn how should die properly and tranquilly. ——Montigne, Memoir5)… 生命本身即具有死亡的种子 ——黑格尔《小逻辑》 Life itself is seed of death. ——Hegal,The logic of Hegal6). 死是最坚定的共产主义者，它使百万富翁与乞丐，皇帝与无产者都一律平等。
——费尔巴哈《从人本学观点论不死问题》Death is the most determined communist which equalize millionaire and beggar; emperor and proletarian.——Feuerbach, discuss athanasia from the point of humanism.7). 我们无所惧于死亡，正如太阳无所畏于黑夜一样 ——叔本华《作为意志和表象的世界》We don’t fear death as the sun doesn’t dread the dark. ——Schophehauer. World of Volition and Presentation8). 每个人都欠大自然一笔账，每个人都得还清账——一句话，死亡是自然的，不可否认的，无法避免的 ——弗洛伊德《目前对战争与死亡的看法》Everyone owns the nature and needs to pay back——namely, the death is natural, deniable and inevitable. ——Freud, Views Towards the War and Death6. 与倾向于寻求解释生与死本质的西方学者相比，我们中国人似乎更喜欢注重生与死的意义、价值与社会效应。
列举如下的是从浩瀚的中国经典中轻而易举地挑选出来的代表性警句与诗句：Compared with the western scholars who are inclined to explain the essence of birth and death, the Chinese pay more attention to the meaning, value and social effects of birth and death. The following sentences are the representative epigrams and verses that can be easily chose from the vast China classics:1). 孔子曰：“杀生成仁 The Confucius said:” die a martyr to a noble cause”2). 孟子曰：“舍生取义Mengzi said:” prefer honour to life.”3). 司马迁：“人固有一死，或重于泰山，或轻于鸿毛Si Maqian said:” Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.”4). 文天祥：“人生自古谁无死，留取丹青照汗青。
Wen Tianxiang said:” What man was ever immune from death? Let me but leave a loyal heart shining in the pages of history.”5). 陈 然：“对着死亡我放声大笑，让魔鬼的宫殿在笑声中动摇Cheng Ran:” I burst laughing towards the death let the devil palace shake with laughter.”6). 叶 挺：“我希望有一天地下的烈火将我连着活棺材一起烧掉，我愿在烈火与热血中得到永生！”Ye ting said:” I hope one day the underground fire will burn me together with my living coffin, and I would like to get eternal life in fire and blood!”7). 毛泽东：“为有牺牲多壮志，敢教日月换新天Mao Zedong said:” Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve, which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies.”8). 雷 锋：“人的生命是有限的，但为人民服务是无限的。
我愿把有限的生命投入到无限的为人民服务当中去Lei feng said:” A man's life is limited while serving the people is limitless. I will put my limited life into the unlimited serving.”7. 以上列举的八个例子中，前七句都是充满了英雄气概的豪言壮语，听起来气壮山河，或是惊天地泣鬼神，同时也反映出儒家的传统价值观：修身，齐家，治国，平天下而最后一句显得非常的平实说这句话的人也非常的平实他不是什么圣人，不是什么学者，不是什么烈士，更不是政治领袖他是中国人民解放军数百万军人中，兵头将尾的一名小班长然而，他的话却很好地解决了哲学史上长期争论的一个话题——有限与无限，短暂与永恒这两个对立面的统一In the eight examples, the first seven sentences are the heroic utterance that filled with heroism. These are sounded magnificent and startle the universe and move the gods. At the same time, they reflect the confucianists traditional values: self - cultivation, family regulation, state governing, and making the whole kingdom peaceful and happy. But the last sentence is unpretentious, so does the speaker. He is not the saint, scholar, martyr and the political leader. He is a monitor in the millions of the Chinese PLA. But his words solve the long-standing debate in the history of Chinese philosophy properly---the combination of the finity and infinity, Eternity and brevity.。