佛性：是一切众生的本源

The Buddha-nature: the Original Source of All Living Beings

天地间所以能生生不息，化化无穷，就因为有佛性。

There can be endless births and infinite transformations in the world, all because of the Buddha-nature.

最初，宇宙鸿蒙，开天辟地时，没有人，也没有什么众生，也没有所谓世界或不世界，根本什么都没有。以后在「成」劫里，一点一点有了众生。众生究竟从何而有？有人说从猴子，可是猴子又从什么变的？若是以前猴子可变人，为什么现在就不能变人？奇怪！这都是一些无知无识之士，标异现奇，另立一种别开生面的学说，说人是猴子变的，那你怎么不说人是老鼠变的？或毛毛虫变的？你怎不知老鼠是人变的？

In the very beginning, the universe was nebulous and indistin-guishable. When Heaven and Earth were created, there were no people and no living beings. You can't really say that there was a world or there wasn't a world. There was basically nothing at all. Later, during the phase of becoming, living beings came into being bit by bit. Ultimately, where did human beings come from? Some people say they evolved from apes. But what did the apes evolve from? If it was possible for apes to turn into people in the past, why can't they change into people now? Strange! Ignorant people who were trying to be different invented this unusual theory that people evolved from apes. Why don't they just say people evolved from mice, or from caterpillars? How do they know that mice didn't evolve from people?

所有飞潜动植：天上飞的羽禽类，水里游行的鱼鳖虾蟹类，人与其他有血气的动物，与花草树木等一切植物，这些飞潜动植的老祖宗都是谁呢？就是佛性。

Who is the original ancestor of all the flying, swimming, and roaming creatures and the plants--the birds in the sky, the fish, turtles, shrimp, crabs, and other creatures in the water, the people and other creatures endowed with blood and breath, and the flowers, grasses, trees, and all the plants? The Buddha-nature is.

天地间所以能生生不息，化化无穷，就因为有佛性。若是没有佛性，一切都毁灭，唯有佛性是历千古而不灭，经万世而长存。所以由佛性里变化出十法界，这十法界皆不离一念心，一念心即是佛性，也是佛性的别名。所以人是由佛性变的，而畜生是由人堕落而成的，在十法界中说得很明白。

There can be endless births and infinite transformations in the world, all because of the Buddha-nature. If the Buddha-nature did not exist, everything would cease to be. The Buddha-nature alone endures without perishing for thousands of ages, and exists eternally through myriads of generations, and so the Ten Dharma Realms are transformationally produced from it. The Ten Dharma Realms are not apart from a single thought. That single thought is the Buddha-nature--it's another name for the Buddha-nature. Thus, people are evolved from the Buddha-nature, and animals come into being when people fall lower in the cycle of rebirth. The theory of the Ten Dharma Realms explains it very clearly.

愚痴的人硬把人的老祖宗说是猴子，回教说是猪，印度说牛是神，这都是一种偏见，只知一点而不知全体大用，所以把世界弄迷惑了。还著书立说，说这是科学，那是哲学，分门别类，其实都是无事找事做，吃饱了没事做而来迷惑人。

Stupid people insist that apes were the ancestors of people. Islam has a story about pigs, and Hinduism says cows are gods. These are all partial views. They only know a little, but they don't realize the great functioning of the whole reality. And so they have deluded the world, writing books and preaching their doctrines, saying, "This is science. That is philosophy," classifying things into categories. Actually, they are just looking for something to do when there is nothing to do. Having nothing better to do after eating their fill, they go around confusing people.

究竟人是怎么有的？你看鸡是怎么有的，先有鸡或先有蛋？没有鸡就没有蛋，没有蛋就没有鸡，这是鸡的问题，也说不出一个所以然来。至于人，是先有男或先有女？若是说先有男，男是从女腹来的；若是说先有女，但要有男，才会有孕。因为时间久了，人也忘了究竟人是怎么回事了。

Ultimately, how did people come into being? Let's look at how chickens came into being. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Without a chicken, there's no egg. Without an egg, there's no chicken. That's the "chicken question," which has no final answer. Regarding people, did the man or the woman exist first? If you say the man was first, a man is born from a woman's womb. If you say the woman was first, it takes a man for there to be a conception. Because it was so long ago, people have forgotten just how humans came into being.

万事万象，根本皆是从佛性中自有化无，自无化有，生生不息，化化无穷，所以愈化愈多。好像米中生虫子，从无情而生有情；佛性能自无化有，化出一切众生、人类，也是同一个道理。

The myriad phenomena fundamentally come from the Buddha-nature, coming into being and returning to nothingness, in an endless series of births and transformations, ever increasing in number like bugs born in rice, which is a case of something insentient producing something sentient. By the same principle, the Buddha-nature can transform nothing into something, producing all living beings and humankind.

若说是猴子变的，这个理论完全不成立。你看，每一个国家的人民面目各不同，有黑、黄、白、红种人，他们都是什么变的？说来说去找不出一个头绪。若归佛性：自无化有，自有化无，化化无穷，生生不息，这理论则可以讲得通，但很少人有智慧达到这个水平。

The theory that humans evolved from apes is totally groundless. You can see that the people of different countries have different appearances--there are black, yellow, white, and red-skinned people. What did they evolve from? You can talk about it this way and that, but you'll never find an answer. If we return to the Buddha-nature--which can transform nothing into something, and something into nothing, in endless births and transformations --this is a theory which can explain it, but few people have the wisdom to reach that level of understanding.

人是自无化有，一切众生亦复如是。修道呢？就是要自有化无，返本还原，回到本有的佛性，你说这有何用？那你做人又有何用？返回本有的佛性，就能早成佛道。佛性是长存的，就算一切众生都死光了，可是佛性仍然永不磨灭。为什么我要说这个？因为今天是地藏诞，地藏菩萨的愿力催促我讲些真实做人处事的根本道理。也就是「自无化有，自有化无」。你若不相信，那为什么米里会生虫？人在世上也好像虫子一样，只不过他的知觉性、灵性多一些；可是和佛比起来，就差得太远啰！相形之下，就像人和虫子相比是一样的。

People came into being from nothingness, and all other living beings are that way, too. Cultivation is just turning existence into nothingness, returning to the origin, and going back to the inherent Buddha-nature. "What use is that?" you ask. Well, what use is your being a person? If you can return to your inherent Buddha-nature, you will quickly be able to accomplish the Buddha Way. The Buddha-nature exists eternally. Even if all living beings die, the Buddha-nature will never perish. Why am I talking about this? It's because today is the anniversary of Earth Treasury Bodhisattva, and his vows urge me to speak some truly fundamental principles about being a person and handling affairs, that is, about the principle of "nothing turning into something, and something turning into nothing." If you don't believe that principle, then how do you explain bugs being born in rice? People in the world are also like bugs, except that they have a higher level of perceptive ability and a soul. But they are still a long way from the Buddha. Comparing people to the Buddha is just like comparing bugs to people.

你要是懂了，就可以修行。修行要像秤一样平衡，平平静静的，于自性里一点波浪也没有。你若真懂佛法，我可以与你说佛法，研究如何修道。若是没有真懂，还在名利中搞问题，财、色、名、食、睡，什么都放不下，那我如何与你说真佛法与修道呢？各位要猛省！猛省！

If you understand this, then you will be able to cultivate. In cultivation, you must be as steady as a balance, calm and peaceful, with no waves in your own nature. If you truly understand Buddhism, then I can discuss the Buddhadharma with you, and together we can investigate how to cultivate. If you do not truly understand, and you are still involved in seeking name and gain, and you cannot put down wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep--you can't put anything down--then how can I tell you about the true Buddhadharma and cultivation of the Way? All of you should wake up and be alert!

一九八二年九月十三日开示

A talk given on September 13, 1982