宣化上人对汉堡大学学生开示

Master Hua Speaks to Students Visiting From Humboldt State University, February 22, 1992

 

一九九二年二月二十二日宣化上人对汉堡大学学生之开示于万佛大殿，译经委员会纪录，已在二六二期万佛城月刊第十三页中登出：以下是上人对学生问题的回答。当时的场面，气氛轻松幽默。

 

上人：谁有最难的问题，尽管提出来问。我要能答复的，我一定答复；不能答复的，老老实实告诉你们，我没有智慧，不能答复道个太困难的问题。我答复不出来的，可以请罗吉士神父回答。谁有什么问题，快点问，免得浪费时间。你们年轻人的时间是很宝贵的，我的老年时间是没价值了。没答复你的问题，把我也急得出汗了。(当时这位学生，在一旁已等了很久，很急了。)

 

学生：请问上人，可否指示或帮助我从打坐中启发智慧？请您指示一些可以帮助我打坐的方法，让我更能清楚明白佛教的教理，及了解其他我所学习的宗教。

 

上人：打坐要先学会坐打，坐着挨打，就像挨打那么痛似的。能忍受痛，这就叫打坐。这里包括不打坐的时候，人打我也要忍耐，骂我也要忍耐；总而言之，八风吹不动，才能坐着不倒单。十多年前，我有个皈依弟子问我说，这些中学生是最难教，最不听话的，该怎样教呢？我教他一个咒。他回去试了咒后，告诉我说，这个咒果然灵。你想知道这是什么咒吗？我现在亳不保留的告诉你，这不是什么秘密，我就说：『忍耐，忍耐，多多忍耐，娑婆诃。』他回来说这个咒真灵，但这么灵的咒他也不会念，要我来教。所以要问打坐，头一步就要忍耐。忍痛、忍寒、忍热、忍风、忍雨，一切都要忍。要忍，还要八风吹不动。八风是什么呢？就是称、讥、苦、乐、利、衰、毁、誉。称，有人称赞你，你不要动摇。讥，有人讥讽你，你也不要动，不要说，喔…今天有人称赞我，我快点去对他说谢谢；有人讥讽我，我要骂他一顿，不能忍了。还要忍苦，比如腿痛了，腰痛了，都要忍着。有时候有什么境界来临，就高兴得不得了；那也不要高兴，还要不动。利、衰，有什么不利益的事情，都要不动心。毁、誉，有时是说得失，得了什么就高兴，丢了什么就不高兴了，这都要不动，才能打坐呢！你没有八风不动，好像苏东坡似的，被佛印说两个字，就被打过江去了。

 

学生：请告诉我忍及耐之间的差别，它们是否一样；或者耐性有别于忍受，就是接受它？

 

上人：耐是有耐性，不发脾气，不爆炸，不像原子弹爆炸似的。比如打坐忍不了痛，就是不能忍耐，都是差不多一样。能忍的也忍，不能忍的也忍，就是原子弹不爆炸。

 

(因为当场的中文翻译有所误解，Akpinar 教授在再作解释。)

 

Akpinar 教授：我想在英文中，此二者是有所差别的。忍是要坚强；耐是要有好的性情。忍，多在于生理上；耐是要柔和，性情随顺。

 

师父：谁有问题的，快点问！要没问题的，我要走了。

 

学生：我有个问题。上人可否点明我，当一个人打坐时，谁或什么是打坐的人？

 

上人：You find out.(你自己找。)

 

学生：您说当一个人打坐时，我们要忍下感受，所以我感到奇怪，我们可否发泄出感受呢？或许该把它收在里边？有时候我把它放在里边，但是之后我发觉我要爆炸了，我该怎么办呢？

 

上人：忍受是要空了它，要没有了，不是藏在里边，你藏在里边作什么用？你装这些垃圾干什么？要忘了它！憋在里边比最邋遢的东西更邋遢。原子弹的威力大，它比原子弹威力更大。如果你不怕粉身碎骨，那你把它藏起来。可怕！可怕！

 

学生：您说到每一个宗教都有它的好处及坏处，什么是佛教的短处呢？

 

上人：短处多啦，骗人啊！把人的钱作为自己的，这都是短处嘛！佛教不应该化缘的，教人供养自己，自己不供养别人，连自己的福都跑了。佛教里头出家人都不应该碰钱的。为什么出家人有那么多钱，在袋里带着？他是日中一食，树下一宿，不贪财宝，身无长物，是这样乞食赤足，就是去托钵乞食，乞来什么吃什么，这样就够了。为什么还要住在高楼大厦？住那么好的房子？吃那么好的东西？穿那么好的衣服？这是什么意思？这不是短处吗？哪一个宗教里头，多的少的，大的小的，都有这些弊病，不过他都隐藏着他的短处，向人宣传自己的长处，这是护短而褒长。哪个宗教如果都是十全十美的，没有长处也没有短处，是圆融无碍的，早就成了各宗教的祖师了。你看，现在所有的宗教都叫穷，这就是他的短处。还有谁有甚么问题，快点问，我等不了了！

 

学生：上人可否指示我如何加强我的坚固心(意志力)？

 

上人：怎样有坚固心？你要坚固心干什么？

 

学生：因为不够坚固。

 

上人：谁给你拿去了？

 

学生：在我自己这儿。

 

上人：在你自己那儿，你怎么来问我…说！

 

学生：我自己去练习。

 

上人：既然在你那儿，你回头就是了嘛！你拿出来就够了！你问我，我怎么教你坚固呢？你的坚固心是你的，我的坚固心是我的，你来问我，那不是向外企求了吗？不是问道于盲了吗？

 

学生：我不一定是丢了，只是要加强它。

 

上人：你什么时候丢了？为什么在你追求女人时又那么坚固？

 

学生：……我明白了。(众笑)

 

上人：你在那样就坚固，怎么这样就不坚固了？

 

学生：现在我有了。

 

上人：Quickly！ questions！(快些问问题。)

 

学生：对于一位不一定是佛教徒的人，怎样学习忍过自己身边亲友所引起的痛苦？

 

上人：什么痛苦？

 

学生：好像你喜欢的男孩不领你的情。

 

上人：这是什么问题？

 

学生：……

 

上人：一切是考验，看你怎么办；看我怎么办，看他怎么办。对面若不识，须再从头练。你有什么难题，真认自己错，莫论他人非；你要真认识自己是错了，就不要管旁人对或不对。他非即我非，他的不对就是我的不对。同体名大悲，你能无缘大慈，同体就是大悲心；对谁都以慈悲心来待人，这样什么问题都没了。

 

学生：起先我要说，我很高兴在此度过了周末，尝到了佛法的滋味，我也希望能学习更多的佛法。我是个犹太教徒，但上人所说的世界五大宗教之中没有犹太教，我想知道佛教中如何能与犹太教合作？

 

上人：犹太教就是佛教，天主教也是佛教，不过换汤不换药，换名不换义。我拿什么宗教都不是宗教，认为只是人性的变化。所以我见到什么宗教，我就是什么宗教，我没有自己的宗教。我是像小蚂蚁、小蚊虫似的，谁的血都要喝一口，什么地方都要跑一趟。我自己本身什么也不是，就是个小蚊虫、小蚂蚁。有的人给我造谣言，说我是青蛙精，要是我是青蛙精，那也很好哇！

 

学生：我有个关于欲的问题。我想要请您指示对于对的欲和错的欲之间的差别。

 

上人：你自私就是不对，你不自私就是对；合理的就是对，不合乎真理的就是不对；对你自己有利益的就是不对，对他人有利益的就是对，再往深一层研究，那我就不知道了。你那些见得人的欲就是对，见不得人的欲就是不对，就是说你做的事，人人都认为合理的，这就是对，这叫见得人；你做的事不合理，怕人人都知道，那就是不对。你明装人就是不对，暗装鬼这也不对；你又搀糠又湿水，(卖米搀糠又对水)那都是不对的。天理和人欲没离开多远，一念之间。因为今天没有太多时间，所以来不及讲十法界。你们谁愿意研究的，在二十年前已有十法界的偈颂，很容易记的，把这些佛法界、菩萨法界、声闻法界、缘觉法界，和天、人、阿修罗、饿鬼、地狱、畜生等法界大略都说了！我们这里有书，愿意看英文的也有，你把这本书看懂了，就是懂十法界了。大家都休息去，快吃饭了！听这个听不饱的。好了！希望你们每个人都不要像我这样愚痴。

 

*The first half of this lecture appears in Vajra Bodhi Sea, Issue#262 , from page 13

 

Ven. Master: So, anyone who has the hardest question please bring it up. If I can answer, I will do my best to answer you. And if I cannot, I will honestly tell you that I have no wisdom to answer your question. I hope Father Rogers will please help me answer any question that I cannot answer. Time is precious for all you young people. You can't afford to waste it. I'm an old fogey, my time isn't worth much. So, quickly ask the questions you want to ask. I'm already nervous and sweating, waiting to answer your questions.

 

Student: Could the Venerable Master give me information or help me to find inner knowledge about the subject of meditation? Can he offer anything that would help me with my practice of meditation so that I will understand more clearly the teachings of Buddhism and the teachings of other religions I've studied?

 

Ven. Master: Well, first of all, literally in Chinese; you "strike up" a meditation and so the answer is, if you want to meditate you have to like to be hit, to be struck. You have to be able to endure the pain if you really want to meditate. And when you are not meditating, you have to be patient. If people hit you, if they scold you, you have to take it, to the point that when the Eight Winds blow, you have to endure them, you do not want to be turned by them. Years ago I had a high school teacher disciple who had taken refuge with me. He came to me and said, "I have students who are really impossible to teach, they don't listen to me at all. What can I do with them?"

 

I then gave him a method that was efficacious; it really worked. It was a mantra, he first one ever transmitted in English. Would you like to know what the mantra was? I won't keep it from you; it is not a secret. This is the mantra:

 

"Patience, patience,

Gotta have patience,

Don't get angry

Swo Pwo He."

 

Then he came back to me and said, "Shr Fu, This mantra really works!". I believe you haven't met the person who asked for this Dharma. His name is Doug Powers. If you truly want to study meditation, then you have to learn to be patient. You have to be patient with the pain and with the cold. You have to be patient with the heat, with the wind, and with the rain. In every situation, you have to be patient. You also have to be patient when the Eight Winds blow.

 

What are the Eight Winds? Praise, and ridicule, pain and joy, profit and loss, fame and infamy.

 

So, whatever situation happens, don't be turned by it. When people praise you, don't think it's fantastic. Don't say, "Oh, I should go thank that person for saying such nice things about me!" If people ridicule you, you shouldn't be turned by that either. And no matter how much pain or misery you meet., you have to endure that, too, and not be disturbed by it. When happy states arise in your meditation, you shouldn't be moved by them, either. Don't let it be that if good things happen, you are happy and if bad things happen, you get upset.

 

Don't be turned by either pain or pleasure. And if people slander you and say bad things about you, there's no need to get angry. If you have a good reputation, you need not be attached to that either. For example, Su Tung-po,the Chinese poet, got really angry when the Patriarch Fo Yin said two words to him. We shouldn't want to imitate him.

 

Student: Would you tell me the difference between patience and just enduring something? Are they the same, or is patience something different than just enduring it, just taking it?

 

Ven. Master: With patience you keep your even temper; you don't blow up. That is patience. Also, when you meditate, if you cannot take a bit of pain, it shows you cannot be patient. Patience and endurance are similar in meaning. However you can keep the bomb from going off, that is the most important thing.

 

Prof. Akpinar: I think there is a difference in English between the two. To endure means to be tough. To be patient means to have a good disposition. Endurance is a physical thing more or less, whereas patience is something soft, a disposition that goes along with things.

 

Ven. Master: Please ask if you have more questions. Otherwise, I must leave.

 

Student: Would the Master enlighten me to this: when one meditates, who or what is the meditator?

 

Ven. Master: You find out.

 

Student: You said that when we meditate, we should have patience with all our feelings. So, I am wondering, should we express our feelings or should we hold them inside? Sometimes I hold them all inside because I want to be patient, and I find later on that I want to explode. What shall I do about that?

 

Ven. Master: If you are really being patient, then you want to empty yourself, it's not that you hold your feelings inside. What use is it to hold them all inside? Why do you want to keep all that garbage inside for? If you hold feelings inside, then your guts get really filthy! The power of an atomic bomb is really great, but represssed feelings have more power than an atomic bomb. If you are not afraid of being pulverized by it, then go ahead and bottle up your feelings. That idea is really scary.

 

Student: You mentioned earlier that every religion has its good and bad points. What are the bad points of Buddhism?

 

Ven. Master: Buddhism has a lot of shortcomings. One is cheating people, taking people's money and using it for themselves. For example, a monk will tell people to make offerings to him so that they may plant blessings. But his blessings are all gone. Basically, a monk or nun, should not touch money. But why do so many left home people still have money in their pockets? Left home people in Buddhism should only eat one meal a day, at noon, and should sleep under a tree in one place only for one night. No matter the religion, whether it has a lot of followers or a few, either a great religion or a small one, they all have similar failings. But what we do is cover up our shortcomings. We don't let others see them. We only allow others to see our good points and we keep the bad things covered. Within each religion, we can find Patriarchs, if there are both few short-comings and few strong points, and if everything is done properly. Now all of the religions of the world are claiming they are poverty-stricken, and this is a shortcoming.

 

Student: Can the Master instruct me as to how I might strengthen my will?

 

Ven. Master: Why do you want to stengthen your will?

 

Same person replies: Because it's not strong enough.

 

Ven. Master: Who took it away from you?

 

Same person replies: I have it here, right with me.

 

Ven. Master: If it's there with you, why come and ask me how to strengthen it?

 

Same person: Good question. Practice it.

 

Ven. Master: If your will is yours, then why are you asking me about it? If it is yours, then just take it back. If you're the one who has lost it, you need to find it and take it back yourself. You shouldn't ask me how you can get it back.

 

Same person: It's not for sure that I lost it, but I do want to strengthen it.

 

Ven. Master: When did you lose it? why do you have so much willpower invested in running after women?

 

Same person: I understand! (Much laughter.)

 

Ven. Master: Since you can strengthen your will to do that, then how come you can't find the will power to do other things?

 

Same person: Well, it's come back again!

 

Ven. Master: Quickly! questions!

 

Student: How can someone who is not necessarily a Buddhist learn to let go of bitterness that affects relationships with people around you?

 

Ven. Master: What is the bitterness?

 

Student: Like when a boy you like doesn't pay attention to you.

 

Ven. Master: What problem do you have with that?

 

Student: (Unable to reply.)

 

Ven. Master: "Everything is a test to see what you will do. If you don't recognize what's in front of you, if I don't recognize what is in front of me, if he doesn't recognize what is in front of him, then we have to start anew." If you have difficulty, then you should "truly recognize your own faults and not talk about other people's faults. Because other people's faults are just your own faults. If you can be of one substance with everybody, then that is real compassion." If you can see that other people's faults and your own are the same, then that's really being able to have great compassion. If you can think this way, then there will be no difficulties or bitterness at all.

 

Student: First I want to say that I am really happy to be here and get this small taste over the weekend of Buddhism, and I hope to read more on it. I am of the Jewish faith and the Master several times referred to the five great religions and Judaism was not in there, which may be understandable, but I would want to know how Buddhism relates or how it can be incorporated into Judaism?

 

Ven. Master: Judaism is just Buddhism, and Buddhism is just Catholicism. Same medicine, different bottle. So, there are no real differences between the Five Religions. People's natures develop differently, yet it all still comes from the Buddha nature. No matter what religion I meet with, I feel I am a member of that religion. I don't have my own religion. I'm like a little ant or mosquito, I want to drink a little of whoever's blood it is. Wherever I am, I want to run around a little. I myself am nothing but a small ant or a mosquito. Some people started a rumor that I'm a frog spirit, and I said, "OK, that's fine."

 

Student: I have a question about desires and I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to differentiate between wrong desires and right desires.

 

Ven. Master: If you are being selfish, then it's wrong; if you're not being selfish, then it's right. If what you are doing accords with true principle, then it's right. If what you are doing does not go along with true principle, then it's wrong. If it is something that is just going to benefit yourself, then it's wrong. If it's something that's going to benefit others, then it's right. And to get into it any deeper, I don't know. So, if your desire is something that you can let everyone know about, then it is right. If your desire is something to feel shameful about, then this is a wrong desire. If in front of people you behave yourself like a gentleman, but in the darkness when no one sees you, you act like a ghost, and if, when you attend to business, you cheat people, then this kind of behavior is all wrong.

 

True principle and human desire are not far from each other; if there is one mind, then they are close to each other. I'm afraid today I don't have enough time to explain the Ten Dharma Realms in detail. But twenty years ago I wrote a poem describing them. If any one of you is interested, this book has been translated into English and you can find it here.

 

I'll just tell you their names for the time being. There are the Dharma Realms of Buddhas, of Bodhisattvas, of Pratyeka Buddhas, of Arhats, (Sound-Hearers), of Gods, of humans, of Asurasa, of animals, ghosts, and hell-dwellers.

 

Well you should all go eat right away. You'll never get full by just listening to me. It's time to eat! I hope after hearing this talk, everyone will not be as stupid as I am.