闭口
　　
Tight-Lipped

作为修行人平时应常观己过，时刻保持沉默。嘴应用于念诵、赞颂功德等有意义的事，否则会对来世造成很大危害。

As spiritual practitioners, we should always check up on our own faults and keep silent all the time. The mouth is to be used in meaningful activities such as recitation or extolling virtues; otherwise it may cause grave harm to future lives.

莲花生大师离开藏地时教育弟子：经常胡言乱语者容易被别人了知其心，其嬉戏之语有时被理解为真实，其真实语有时又会被误认为玩笑，容易之事也因此而难以成办，诸弟子应闭口寡言为妙。藏地大德常用此语教育弟子，使其免造口业。

Master Padmasambhava, when departing Tibet, taught his disciples:
Loquacious people easily betray their thoughts to others. Their jokes sometimes are interpreted as the real thing while true statements are misunderstood as jokes, making even simple tasks difficult to accomplish. Thus all disciples had better keep their mouths shut and say very few words.

伟大的修行者勒索巴格西说：“现在的人喜欢追求大法。整天求此法、求那法，但将所求之法真正进行实修者却十分罕见。那些人从不想所求之法是否修成。许多人自诩为三宝弟子，口里常说：‘我是三宝弟子。’背地里却经常诽谤上师、僧众等。所以我时常在想，我们的口实在是深堕地狱的因。世上如果有人肯听我的话，就应当将嘴锁上，把钥匙交与他人，直到迫不得已必须吃饭的时候才打开，平时都一直紧锁着。如果能这样，那该多好啊！”

Great Tibetan masters often cite this instruction to caution students, lest they commit verbal non-virtues.

The great practitioner Geshe LeSogpa says:

People nowadays like to chase after high teachings; they spend days on end requesting this or that instruction. Yet rarely do they put the requested teachings into actual practice, nor do they care about accomplishing them. Bragging that they are disciples of the Three Jewels, they always babble, ‘I am a follower of the Three Jewels,’ yet they slander their teachers or Sangha members behind them. I always think the mouth can really drag us to the hell realm. If people were to listen to me, they should lock up their mouths and hand the keys to others. The mouth would stay locked all the time, opening only for the necessity of eating. How wonderful if this would actually happen!

宋朝的石门慧开禅师也自称为“默翁”，他在诗里写道：

“饱谙世事慵开口，会尽人间只点头。莫道老来无伎俩，更嫌何处不风流。”从该诗的字里行间中，也不经意地流露出禅师早已谙熟世事，进入真正风流、自在、逍遥之境界，既不在乎他人的赞毁，也懒于谈论他人是非短长的博大胸怀。

Zen master Shimen Huikai called himself “the silent old fellow.” He wrote this poem:

Been there, done that, I am now too lazy to talk.
Seen it, known all, I care only to nod to people.
Declare not that this old guy knows nothing,
Charming and unconventional is everything but him.

世间也有“沉默是金”、“满罐水，摇不响；半罐水，响叮当”的说法。由此可见，闭口是多么的重要啊！

It’s clear between the lines that this Zen master has seen it all in this world; he is unconventional, carefree, and unfettered. Being broad-minded, he is unaffected by others’ praise or insult, nor does he care to discuss others’ personal affairs.

Other adages also say: “Silence is golden,” and “Full of water, a jar makes no sound; half full of water, lots of clattering noise.” It is obvious, then, how important it is to be tight-lipped!

壬午年正月二十四日　
2002年3月7日　

24th of January, Year of RenWu
March 7, 2002