极乐世界在眼前

The Land of Ultimate Bliss Is Right Before Our Eyes

只要肯努力精进，我们仍是可以「归去」的！

We only need persist in our vigor, and we can certainly“go home.”

「归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归，既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？悟已往之不谏，知来者之可追；实迷途其未远，觉今是而昨非。」

“I am going home! My fields and gardens are choked with weeds. Why should I not return? My mind has been my body’s slave; how sad and lamentable! I realize that the past is gone, but I can certainly rectify what is to come. I have not actually strayed too far from the path. I have awakened to today’s rights and yesterday’s wrongs.”

这几句话，是五柳先生(陶渊明)所说的，可是不知道他在说这几句话时，是不是真的能够了悟到其中的意义？因为按照佛法来说，他这几句话是极为契理的。

These sentences were spoken by Mr. Wuliu (Tao Yuanming). But I don’t know whether at the time he spoke these words he had truly enlightened to their meaning, because, when regarded in the light of the Buddhadharma, these sentences tally with the ultimate principle.

什么是「归去来兮」呢？我们知道，自性法身，是从十方诸佛常寂光中流露出来，经上说：「一切众生皆有佛性」，我们的自性，是与诸佛无异无别的，若是不这样，就不能称为「皆有佛性」了。我们现在不能了悟自性，这是因为我们染杂了这个娑婆世界的尘劳五欲，以至于背觉合尘，所以便不能了悟自心，识见本性。

What does “I am going home” mean? We know that the self-nature of the Dharma body comes forth from the constantly tranquil light of the Buddhas of the ten directions. The sutras say, “All living beings have the Buddha nature.” Our basic nature is not different from, not distinct from, the Buddha. If it were not this way, then it would not be said that“all have the Buddha nature.” Now we are unable to understand and become enlightened to our self-nature because we are defiled and scattered by the five desires and the wearisome dust of the Saha world. We turn our backs on enlightenment and join with the dust. Therefore we cannot awaken to our own minds and recognize our own basic natures.

可是我们千万不能就这样颠倒沈沦，应该返本还原，背尘合觉，所以说「归去」，意思是叫我们恢复自家的本来面目，或者仗着佛、菩萨的愿力，念诵佛菩萨名号的功德而得生净土，这也可以称为「归去」。

But we certainly should not continue to be so submerged and upside-down. We should return to our source: we should turn our backs on the dust and unite with enlightenment. Therefore, the words “going home” remind us to return to our original face, to our original home. Also, perhaps, the words “going home” can mean we rely on the strength of a Buddha or Bodhisattva; by means of the merit of reciting that Buddha’s or Bodhisattva’s name, we can be born in the Pure Land.

在已悟自心，已生净土之后，发大愿心，倒驾慈航来救度众生，这就叫「来」。那么，「田园将芜胡不归」中的田园，又是指什么而言呢？田，就是说「心田」，这个道理很浅显的，我们平常听人说：「茅塞顿开」，若是我们不好好地修心，那么，杂念丛生，好像田园里头长满了茅草一样，把大好的心田都荒芜了，这就是「茅塞不开」，再也不能返本还原，明心见性了。

After one has awakened to one’s own nature and been born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, one makes great vows of one’s own to launch the ship of compassion and come back to the Saha world to rescue living beings. This is what is meant by “coming back again.” In the line, “My fields and gardens are choked with weeds,” what do the “fields and gardens” refer to? “Fields” refer to the field of the mind. The principle here is very obvious. We often use the phrase “suddenly clear away the underbrush” to refer to the gaining of new insight. If we do not cultivate the mind well, our minds become a thicket of scattered thoughts, just as fields and gardens become overgrown with grass and weeds if not tended. These scattered thoughts choke the good field of the mind. As long as you have not “cleared away the underbrush” you cannot return to the source or understand your mind and see your nature.

「胡不归」，这三个字，是十方诸佛、一切圣人苦口婆心之语，他们都说：「可怜愚痴的众生啊！你为什么不快些回头是岸呢？」

“Why should I not return? ” This sentence is a gentle remonstration by the Buddhas and sages of the ten directions. They say, “How pitiful and foolish living beings are! Why don’t they hurry up and turn their heads around to see the other shore?”

「心为形役」，就是说众生既着六尘之境，不能了悟自心，所以处处都被尘境所转；为吃的奔驰，为利忘躯，流转于生死的苦海中，受种种的苦，所以万悲俱生，苦不堪言，这又是「惆怅而独悲」的意义了。

“My mind has been my body’s slave.” This means that living beings are attached to an environment composed of the six defiling objects─the objects of the senses─and cannot awaken to their own minds. So they are continually being turned by defiling objects; they race about feeding themselves and are intent upon making a profit up to the moment that their bodies give out. We undergo numerous sufferings as we toss and turn in the bitter sea of birth and death. Myriad agonies well up, and the suffering is unspeakable. This is also what is meant by “how sad and lamentable!”

那么，我们这一般众生，是不是注定无药可救呢？注定永远陷于六道轮回的深渊呢？绝对不是的。过去的，虽然错了，可是我们还可以寄望于将来，应知「来者可追」。

Is it the case that we living beings are beyond salvation? Is it the case that we must wallow in the deep abyss of the turning wheel of the six paths forever? Absolutely not! Although we made mistakes in the past, there is still hope for the future. You should know that you“can certainly rectify what is to come.”

在未来的日子里，我们更不能像以往一样地背觉合尘，心为形役了，以前的一切不信因果、不勤修行、造业、杀生等等，都是不对的；而今日的打七、念佛，却是对的。所以我们应该「觉今是而昨非」，对于善的，便要保留；对于恶的，立刻痛加悔改。古人说：「一寸光阴一寸金」，其实，在我们修行人的眼中，一寸光阴简直就是我们的一寸命；少了一寸光阴，就等于我们短了一寸命一样。

In the future, we absolutely will not turn our backs on enlightenment and join with the dust, as we did in the past. Nor will we let our minds be a slave to our bodies. Everything we did in the past, such as not believing in cause and effect, not cultivating diligently, and creating the karma of killing and other offenses, was wrong. Now today, we are in this session reciting the Bodhisattva’s name. This is what is right. So we should “awaken to today’s rights and yesterday’s wrongs.” We should carefully protect what is good and immediately and firmly reform of what is bad. An ancient author said, “An inch of time is worth an inch of gold.” Actually, in the eyes of a cultivator, an inch of time is worth an inch of life. For every moment that passes it is just as if our life is shortened by an inch.

是日已过，命亦随减；

大众！当勤精进，如救头然。

This day is already passed,

and life is consequently shorter.

Everyone should diligently cultivate,

as if trying to save his very head.

要改恶迁善的，赶快吧！我们「实迷途其未远」，极乐世界在望了！只要肯努力精进，我们仍是可以「归去」的！

If we wish to change our errors and tend towards the good, we should do so quicky! We “have not actually strayed too far from the path”; we can still reform. The Land of Ultimate Bliss is within sight! We only need persist in our vigor, and we can certainly “go home.”

一九五八年六月十四日上午开示

A talk given on the morning of June 14, 1958