摘要：先有鸡还是先有蛋这个因果困境想要表达的是一个“到底是先有(鸡)蛋，还是先有鸡”(鸡生蛋，蛋生鸡，到底谁先出现在这个世界上，是鸡还是蛋)的问题。这个鸡与蛋的问题也常常激起古代的哲学家们去探索并讨论生命与宇宙的起源问题。你知道先有鸡还是先有蛋吗？

先有鸡还是先有蛋?

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

鸡从鸡蛋孵化而来，可鸡蛋是由鸡生产而来。

But the chicken is in the egg, But the egg is in the chicken.

没有鸡就没有蛋。

Without the chicken, there is no egg.Without the egg, there is no chicken.

而没有鸡蛋也就没有鸡。

The chicken and egg are interdependent.The chicken and egg are not independent.

鸡与蛋是相辅相成的。

Everything arises from many causes and conditions.Nothing arises from no cause or condition.

二者缺一不可。

The above is inspired from ‘Beyond the Self: Teachings on the Middle Way’ by Thich Nhat Hanh:

世上没有无因之果。

‘Causes and conditions’ (因缘) and ‘dependent co-arising’ carry a similar meaning and are are at the heart of the Buddha’s teaching. ‘Causes’ refers to the seed or principle condition. ‘Conditions’ refers to the other necessary conditions that are not the principal ones. In the Chinese character for ’cause’ (因), the word ‘great’ is pictured inside four walls. If something is to become great, it must break through those boundaries. When you look at a mustard seed, it’s small; the conditions aren’t there for it to be large. But when the mustard seed is put into the earth and watered, it becomes a great plant. The conditions to bring the mustard seed to fruition are water, earth, fertilizer, warmth, and so on. Notice that the conditions are also causes. But the primary cause, of course, is the seed itself. The subsidiary causes are the conditions necessary to support the primary cause to develop.

任何事物的产生都有它的起因和条件。

以上灵感来源于Thich Nhat Hanh的《超越本性：教育的中庸之道》：

因缘和相互条件理论与巴德哈的教育核心理论有着异曲同工之妙。“因”源自本质的种子与环境，“环境”源自产生该环境的必要条件。在汉文化中，关于“因”有四大“城防重障”。当量变达到一定程度时即会突破层层临界发生质变。当你看着一颗芥子时，它是微小的，因为没有可以让它变大的环境。可是当你把这颗芥子放入泥土中并且适时浇灌，它便会长成一棵巨大的植物。这个使得芥子发生巨变的环境便是水、泥土、肥料、温度，等等。注意这个环境也就是“因”。当然最根本的原因还是种子自己。必要的环境条件只是诱使种子发生质变的辅助原因。