We must act like an exemplar and refrain from acting immorally.
我们要做君子,不要做小人。
What defines an exemplary person? To put it simply, an exemplary person is someone who is willing to take a loss. What about someone who is morally-debased? The morally-debased are constantly thinking about how to take advantage of others.
什么叫君子?简单讲,君子就是每天肯吃亏的人。什么是小人?每天想着占人家便宜的人。
I hope that all disciples can practise self-discipline at all times, asking yourself whether you are an exemplary person or a morally-debased person. You must repent and reflect on the things you did wrong in the past.
我希望每个徒弟每天要自律,要看看自己是君子还是小人。要忏悔自己,看看自己做错了什么。
How does somebody become ignorant? Ignorance stems from one’s failure to reflect upon themselves. Everyone should practise self-reflection when you return home each day, asking yourself: “What have I done wrong today? What have others done for me?”
一个人为什么会无知?无知就是不会反省自己。每个人每天回家要反省自己,今天我做错了什么?别人又为你付出了多少?
These days, everybody brags about how many good deeds they have done and how many people they have helped, but too few reflect upon the mistakes they have made.
而现在每个人讲出来的都是自己做了多少好事,帮助了多少人,从来不想想自己做了多少错事。
Bodhisattvas have no attachments to worldly affairs; they pay attention only to their own cultivation. Why is this so? Those who understand themselves are able to enlighten sentient beings.
菩萨不觉于世,只觉自己。何以如此呢?因觉自心者,即为觉一切众生之人。
“Having no attachments to worldly affairs” means not observing or being aware of other things. “Paying attention only to their own cultivation” means they are being introspective, and focused upon self-enlightenment.
不觉于世,即不发觉其它的事情,不觉察其它的事情。只觉自己,即只关心自己,关注觉悟自己。
You might wonder if focusing only on one’s own enlightenment without caring about others is the practice of Theravada Buddhism? But you’d be wrong.
如果你认为只关注自己,觉悟自己,不关心别人,这不成了修小乘佛法?那你就错了。
Those who understand themselves do so with their feelings. In fact, they are enlightening all sentient beings.
因觉自心者,因为你拿感觉觉自己的心,老感觉自己怎样怎样,实际上即为觉一切众生之人。
Human beings are an entity, with each person’s body coming from the same primeval soul. Try to bring awareness to your feelings by using your primeval soul, so that what you actually feel is all the sentient beings of this world.
人本身就是一个体,因为每一个人的人体都是由一个元灵出来的。
If you can sense whether or not you are doing the right thing, you are feeling sentient beings. Hence the notion: “To have great compassion is to regard ourselves as being one with all”.
你只要用元灵感觉一下你自己,实际上你感觉的就是世界上的众生。如果你能感觉到自己做的事情对不对,你就是在感觉众生。所以叫同体大悲。
“What is the most honourable thing in life?” Please bear this in mind: even when faced with hypocrisy and injustice, the most honourable thing in life is that you are still able to maintain kindness towards these people.
“人生最尊贵的事是什么?”请大家谨记:“人生最尊贵的事情就是面对别人的虚伪与不义,仍能保持自己对别人的亲切”。
If you discover that the other party is a hypocrite or an unrighteous person, and yet you’re still able to extend your warmth to them with a smile, then you are a Bodhisattva. How many of you can do this?
如果你能知道人家虚伪,人家不义,但你仍能笑嘻嘻地对人家很亲切,那你就是菩萨。你们几人能做到?
Learn to be tolerant of others, as they are yet to start their spiritual practice – they are still just ordinary people. However, you are a practitioner. You know your “self” is just a false self. Therefore, do not regard the “self” as something real.
要学会容忍人家,人家没有修,人家是凡人,你是有修的人,你知道自己是假我,所以别把你当成真的。
How can we earn respect from others? It is through our cultivation in both our speech and our behaviour. That is why we call it “cultivation of the mind and behaviour”. It encompasses our speech and actions, including the behaviour of our minds.
人靠什么才能赢得别人的尊敬,靠的是自身的修养,就是语言、行为。为什么叫修心修行,就是一个语言,一个行为,包括心里的行为。
A person’s life only becomes meaningful when it’s connected with the lives of others. With them, there is you. With you, there is me. With me, there is them. This is a circle.
一个人的生命,一定要与其他所有人的生命联系在一起才有意义,即有他才有你,有你才有我,有我才有他,实际上就是一个循环。
Without interpersonal relationships connecting us all, one cannot survive in this world. For example, if a person is intolerant of others, has no friends, doesn’t get along with their parents, children or friends, and has no contact with others, then what is the meaning of their existence in this world?
如果人与人的感情不连在一起,这个人就不能活在世界上。比如:一个人不能够容忍人家,没有朋友,与父母不和,与孩子不和,与朋友不和,与任何人都不联系,你们说这人活在世界上有何意义?
We are a community of shared life. From a metaphysical point of view, human beings are of a primeval community.
所以人与人是一个整体,从玄学上来讲,人本身就是一个元灵。
Since the beginning of time, we have been together. Therefore, we should help and care for one another. If you see somebody’s shortcomings and point them out for their own sake, you need not worry about being misunderstood.
每个人最早的时候都是在一起的,所以要相互爱护相互帮助,哪怕看到他的缺点你只要是为他好,就不要担心他会不明白。
In fact, everything in the world is closely related to all living phenomena. In other words, everything in this world has its meaning and its purpose. We human beings have sentiments, just as vegetables have the elements that allow them to grow.
另外,世界上的万物,实际上和一切有生命的现象也存在着密切的关系。也就是说,世界上的万物都是有情有义的。我们人有情有义,植物也有情有义。
For example, watermelons grow to be consumed and help you quench your thirst. Similarly, vegetables grow to be consumed by you and provide you with nutrients. Do you think plants have no life? The fact that they are consumed adds meaning to their lives. Therefore, we human beings, and everything in this world, have meaning and purpose.
譬如:西瓜长出来甘愿让你吃,让你解渴。蔬菜长出来甘愿让你吃,给你得到营养,难道植物就没有生命吗?这个植物被你利用之后就更有其生命的意义。所以人和世界上的万物都是有意义的。
Take note: do not waste food, as it amounts to the wasting of life and the diminishment of blessings! Many wealthy people are very generous in the act of giving, but frugal when spending money on themselves. This is not stinginess, but rather an act of cherishing one’s blessings. They know such blessings are hard to come by.
记住:不要随便糟蹋粮食,糟蹋粮食就是糟蹋生命!糟蹋粮食,浪费粮食会折福!很多有钱人布施时很大方,自己消费时却很小气,这不是小气是在惜福。因为他们知道这些福来之不易。
An enlightened person will not be worried in times of hardship.
悟道之人,逢苦不忧。
Whatever circumstance they encounter, they act in accordance with karmic conditions, without regard for gains or losses. Their mind remains steady, neither increasing nor decreasing. While conforming with the Way, they turn themselves from an ordinary person into a sage. This very mind is Buddha.
人的一切境界得失从“缘”,心无增减,冥顺于道,转凡成圣,即心即佛。
An enlightened person will not be worried in times of hardship. An enlightened person will not be worried when encountering trials and tribulations.
悟道之人,逢苦不忧。一个悟道的人,当他遇到苦难的时候是不会担忧的。
This is because they have realised the truth – that suffering in life is inevitable. People come into this world to suffer. They know that suffering is natural, and something they ought to endure. As such, there is no cause for worry; they will accept the hardship willingly. On the other hand, those who continue to worry are yet to awaken.
因为他悟出了道理,他知道人生必然会吃苦,人的一生就是来吃苦的,我这个苦是自然来的,是应该受的,所以他不会担忧,甘心受苦。担忧的人就是还没有开悟。
We need to act in accordance with karmic conditions, adopting the best approach to perfect those conditions. Those who have attachments are unable to do so.
人要随缘,要用最好的方法使这个缘能够圆满。执著的人就是不能随缘。
Regardless of circumstances, Buddhist practitioners need to keep their minds steady, neither increasing nor decreasing. Increasing means that you take matters seriously, while decreasing means you don’t take them to heart.
学佛人遇事要做到从心里不要有增减。这个增减就是重视与不重视。
When you take something seriously, you put a lot of pressure on yourself, but when you choose not to, you become indifferent. A true practitioner would even have the agents of the Underworld conform to their karmic conditions.
你若重视了,在你心中就增加了压力,若减少了就无所谓了。一个真正修行的人就连冥府也要顺着你的缘。
These practitioners turn themselves from an ordinary person into a sage. An ordinary person has endless worries and insatiable desires. We all know that Confucius is a sage, having passed down Chinese culture from generation to generation.
转凡成圣。即把我们转成圣人。我们是凡人什么事情都烦都贪。众所周知,中国的孔夫子是圣人,他传授的是中国文化。
The sage’s main characteristic is their forgiving nature. In fact, forgiving others is the beginning of cultivating compassion. How can you be compassionate if you are unable to forgive?
圣人很重要的一点就是能原谅人家,原谅人家实际上就是慈悲心的开始,不原谅人家怎么会生慈悲心呢?
If you are unforgiving towards someone, you will eventually develop a hatred for them, and when you hate someone, you lose compassion.
不原谅人家就会恨人家,恨人家就不会有慈悲心。
This very mind is Buddha, and this phrase encompasses a myriad of phenomena. It means that your mind should not be swayed by circumstances.
即心即佛。这四个字包罗万象,也就是说你这个心不要随境界转。
If you possess a Buddha’s mind, then you are a Buddha. If you possess a demon’s mind, then you are a demon.
如果这个心是佛,你就是佛,如果这个心是魔,你就是魔。
We respect our faith. How are we to maintain it? The answer is to respect it. Respect comes not from other people, but from yourself. You must respect your own faith.
要敬信心。一个人的信心靠什么来维持?就是要尊敬它,不是靠人家尊敬,是你自己尊敬你自己的信心。
If you don’t even believe that you can succeed, how will you ever be able to do so? How could a person succeed in practising Buddhism if they do not have confidence? A person who is easily swayed by what others say will, in the end, achieve nothing.
一个连自己都不相信自己能成功的人怎么能做得好事?一个没有自信的人,怎么能学好佛?今天听这个人说说,感觉有道理。明天听那个人说说也有道理,最后将是一事无成。
As an individual, our abilities are limited. That’s why, for any individual to make progress in their spiritual development, they must focus on practising one Buddhist practice for the rest of their lives.
一个人的能力有限,一辈子只能修学一个法门才能精进。
If they attempt to learn all Buddhist practices, they are bound to fail. But even worse than that, there’s a possibility that they may go astray and become demons. Therefore, it is imperative to respect our faith and resolve to practise Buddhism diligently.
如果什么法门都想学,最后什么也学不成,而且有时修偏差了就会成魔。因此要尊敬自己的信心,发心好好修。
Expedience (skill-in-means) is the ultimate. By saying expedience, we are not referring to convenience, as is often thought. Rather, it is a method. An expedient method enables you to adapt your approach to a particular situation.
方便即是究竟。这个方便并不是指我们人间所说的方便,实际是指一个方法,这个变通的方法叫方便。
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