修行要与佛法合而为一

In Cultivation, We Must Become One With the Dharma

 

一念 记录 Transcribed by Yi Nian

 

宣公上人一九九三年五月九日开示于国际译经学院

 

南无萨怛他 苏伽多耶 阿啰诃帝 三藐三菩陀写(三遍)

 

学习佛法比赚钱更重要

 

我们人个个应该争先恐后来学习佛法，学习佛法比赚钱更重要，赚钱是维持你的生活，学习佛法是养你的慧命，增长你的智慧。这法身慧命，你把它修养得能健康起来，能强壮起来，这比你赚钱好得百千万倍都不止。可是我们人都是舍本逐末，把修养放到第二位，把赚钱放到第一位了。你若能以赚钱来培植法身慧命，学习佛法，这才是真正懂得怎么样做人了。不然尽舍本逐末，天天去赚钱、赚钱，把修养法身慧命都忘了，这是叫舍本逐末，把根本的道理忘了，尽在末梢上用功夫。所以我们人要认清了目标，你把赚钱这一部分，做为修养法身慧命的一种陪衬的方法，说无财不养道，我们必须要用世间财，来培植出世的法身慧命。你把这一条数、这一个账目算清楚了，那才是真正懂得怎么样舍末培本，来培植自己根本的法身慧命。

 

所以你们每一个人自己所愿意的经典，要去学它一部，要能随便不对着本子，能念得出，背得出，随时随地都可以诵持这经文，诵持佛号；不是经典是经典，我是我，要把我和经典，和这个佛法，都合而为一，天天所修的，所注意的，就是这个佛法。有学问的人可研究《华严经》和《法华经》、《楞严经》，因为我在美国首先开讲的就是《楞严经》，《楞严经》以后，附带着《六祖坛经》、《金刚经》、《弥陀经》等等，然后《法华经》，《华严经》。你读《楞严经》是开智慧的，你读《法华经》是成佛的。开慧的《楞严》，成佛的《法华》，《华严经》是归元的，人人无不从此法界流，人人还归此法界。所以要选择哪一部经我们觉得喜欢的，这叫对机。对机，你就研究下去，不要天天尽挂着去找钱，把佛法都忘了。我们学佛要会用，要能身体力行，能以躬行实践，我们这样子，这是我们研究佛法的一个开始。

 

修行一定要慈心下气

 

往往我们学佛，学来学去还有一种贡高我慢，有一种唯我独尊的思想，觉得我比旁人都好，觉得旁人都不如我。那么一天到晚执着这个我，一天一天的就过去了，想不到啊，要修行一定要慈心下气，恭敬一切。慈心，对谁都有慈悲心；下气，就没有贡高我慢了，没有我的执着，没有人的执着，没有众生的执着，没有寿者的执着，把这一切执着都破了，这才能实行菩萨道，就 Bodhisattva 所行的道路。在《法华经》常不轻菩萨是我们每一个人最好的修行榜样。他怎样呢？他见到一切的众生，就先给众生顶礼，心里就想了，说我不敢轻视你等，你等皆当作佛，在未来的时候，你们都会成佛，所以我不敢轻视你；也本着「是男子皆是我父，是女子皆是我母」这种精神。他这样顶礼不要紧，能折服自己的贡高我慢，一切的执着─也不执着我比人家好，也不执着人人都不如我。他看一切众生皆当作佛，以这种的心量来行道；可是行道，行来行去，逆境就发生了，就着了魔了。什么魔呢？遇到这个不讲理的外道了。这个外道就说，「你给我授虚妄的记，这是不对的。」于是乎先就骂他，骂他，他也不怕，他还给他们叩头；以后这个外道看他可欺负了，就打他，拳踢脚打，打得他痛了，就不在人的面前来叩头了，他离这个人一百多步远，就给这个人叩头，见到什么人，离得远远的就给这个人叩头。叩头就说，我不敢轻视你等，你等皆当作佛，这么想念完了之后，起身就跑。为什么他跑？他就怕这个人，又来追着他打，所以行菩萨道就这么样困苦艰难。我们行菩萨道，我相信也没有像常不轻菩萨这样的行门，这样的去做去。人家说一句不好，也受不了了，不要说打，说一句受不了的话，就难过到极点。这是我们凡夫修行，和圣人的修行回然不同的地方。

 

还半点钟的时间，你们谁有问题可以问一问。问一点浅的问题，深的问题我不会答。你不懂的，你再问；你若懂的，你不要问，不要跑这儿来班门弄斧。(众笑)

 

我叫王鸿义，请问师父，为什么菩萨发愿，都要以不愿成佛为他达到愿力的条件？(众笑)

 

上人：这不是菩萨，这是鬼。鬼他堕到三恶道了，他想成佛也没有那么快，所以他慢一点。像我一样，为什么我说我是鬼，你们一定不相信，你们看着我是人一样。因为我度了一些鬼，就把我拉到地狱去了，想出来也没有人拉我，所以就先在地狱里这么游戏、游戏。我看这些鬼朋友都受了那么多苦，所以我想等这些饿鬼都成佛了，我再成佛，虽然比不了地藏王菩萨那个愿力，说地狱不空，誓不成佛；我这是它有一个鬼，我也不成佛。这么样子不一定空，我说在我这个时候的鬼，那将来的我就不管他们，那是又一个时候的。

  Ven. Master Hua's Talk at International Translation Institute, Burlingame on May 9, 1993.

 

Na mwo sa dan two su chye dwo ye e la he di san myau san pu two sye (3x)

 

Learning Dharma is more important than making money

 

We should strive to get ahead and fear to fall behind in our study of the Dharma. Take studying Buddhism as more important than making money. We make money to support our physical life, but we study Buddhism to nurture our wisdom-life, increase our wisdom. If we can nurture our Dharma-body and wisdom-life and make them strong and healthy, this is a million times better than making a lot of money. But the problem with us people is that we overlook the roots and go searching for the branchtips. That's to say, we make cultivation our second priority, and we take making money as number one. If we can use the money we make to support our Dharma-body and wisdom-life, and our study of Buddhism, then we truly understand how to be a person. If we only know how to pursue riches everyday, and forget all about our Dharma-body and wisdom-life, we have really renounced the root and gone after the branchtips. We've overlooked what is fundamental in pursuit of the superficial. So it's important to get our goals straight. We should regard money as a simply a support for the nurturing of our Dharma-body and wisdom-life. It is said that without money we cannot cultivate, so we need to use worldly money to support our cultivation of the Dharma-body and wisdom-life. If you can see it that way, then your books will balance correctly, and you will truly understand how to renounce the branchtips and return to nurture the root, which is your Dharma-body and wisdom-life.

 

Therefore, each one of you should study a Sutra that you like. Study it until you are able to recite it from memory at any time and place, without having to look at the book. Then it will not be that the Sutra is the Sutra and I am me. Rather, the thing to do is to take me and the Sutra, the Buddhadharma, and make them one and the same. Then what we cultivate everyday, and what we pay attention to, is just the Buddhadharma. People who are educated should investigate the Flower Adornment Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and the Shurangama Sutra. That's why when I came to America, I made it my first Job to lecture on the Shurangama Sutra. When that was finished, I continued to explain the Sixth Patriarch's Sutra, the Vajra Sutra, the Amitabha Sutra, and so forth, and then the Dharma Flower Sutra, and finally the Flower Adornment Sutra. Studying the Shurangama Sutra is for opening our wisdom, and the studying the Dharma Flower Sutra is for realizing Buddhahood. It is said, "Wisdom is the Shurangama, and Buddhahood is the Dharma Flower." As for the Flower Adornment Sutra, it's said, "There is no one who does not flow forth from the Dharma Realm, and no one who does not return to the Dharma Realm." By choosing the Sutra which we take delight in, we are matching our potentials. When our potentials are met, we should continue studying. Don't just be concerned about making money all day long, and forget all about the Dharma. In studying the Dharma, we have to know how to use it. We have to put it into practice ourselves. This is the way we begin to study the Buddhadharma.

 

In cultivating, we must be kind and humble

 

Often it's the case that we study Buddhism more and more, and then we get arrogant. We feel that "Only I alone am honored. I'm much better than other people. Nobody measures up to me." From morning to night, we are attached to the self, and time passes day by day. It doesn't occur to us that cultivation requires that we be compassionate and humble. We should be respectful, kind and compassionate to everyone. Humble means we cannot be proud. We cannot have attachments to self, attachments to others, attachments to thoughts of living beings, and attachments to thoughts of beings that have lifespans. Only when all such attachments are broken through can we truly cultivate the Bodhisattva Path. In the Dharma Flower Sutra, we hear about Never-Slighting Bodhisattva. He is our best model for cultivation. What is he like? When he sees any living being, he bows to him right away, and in his mind he thinks, "I don't dare slight you because you will become a Buddha in the future." He says, "I don't dare to have a thought of slighting you, because all of you will become Buddhas in the future. Furthermore, he has this thought: "This man has been my father, and this woman has been my mother." Now the bowing that he does is just fine. It can subdue our arrogance and all our attachments, so that we no longer attached to the thought that we are better than others and others are not as good as we are. He sees all living beings as future Buddhas. That's the measure of the mind that he uses to cultivate the Path. But after he cultivated for awhile, he found himself in adversity, and confronted a demon. What was it? He met a member of a non-ultimate religion who said, "What are you giving me this phony prediction for? That's wrong." And so he scolded him, but Never-Slighting Bodhisattva was not afraid and continued to bow to him. Seeing that he could abuse Never-Slighting Bodhisattva, the cultivator from the other religion started to hit him and kick him. After being hurt like that, Never-Slighting Bodhisattva never bowed right in front of people again. He would bow a hundred steps away. While bowing to someone from afar, he would say, "I don't dare to slight you, because you're going to be a Buddha someday in the future." But as soon as he bowed and made his contemplation, he would stand up and run away. Why? Well, he was afraid that if he stayed around, he would be chased and beaten again. So practicing the Bodhisattva Path is really not that easy to do. When it comes to practicing the Bodhisattva Path, I don't think any one of us is up to the level of Never-Slighting Bodhisattva. If someone says the slightest bad word to us, we simply cannot take it, how much the less if somebody came around to hit us. If someone just says one unpleasant thing to us, we feel terrible. This is the radical difference between the cultivation of ordinary people and that of sages.

 

There is still a half hour left. If anyone has a question, you can ask it. Ask simple questions, because I don't know how to answer deep questions. But only ask what you don't understand. Don't come here to show off. (laughter)

 

My name is Joseph Wong, and I would like to ask the Master, why do Bodhisattvas make vows not to become Buddhas until their vows are accomplished? (Laughter)

 

Ven. Master: That's not a Bodhisattva, that's a ghost. The ghost has fallen into the three paths of suffering, and so he doesn't get to become a Buddha quite so quickly. It's a little slower for him. He's a lot like me in that regard. Why do I say that I'm a ghost? I'm sure you don't believe it, because I look like a person. It's because I have saved some ghosts, and they pulled me down into the hells. And when I wanted to come out of the hells, there was no one to pull me up, so I just roamed around and took a tour of the hells. I saw a lot of my old ghost friends down there suffering so much, so I thought I would wait for these hungry ghosts to become Buddhas first, before I become a Buddha. Now I don't dare compare myself to Earth Treasury Bodhisattva, whose vows are that he won't become a Buddha until the hells are empty. My vow is that as long are there is a single ghost, I will not become a Buddha. Now, this is speaking for the present. What happens to them in the future is not something I'm going to pay much attention to! (Laughter) That's another time.