Rich or Poor, Long-lived or Short-lived－None Can Escape Transmigration
人生如夢；不要執著，就沒有一切煩惱。
要看破放下來修行，不要再留戀在六道輪迴中了。
Life is like a dream. Be attached to nothing and you will have no affliction. See through everything, put it all down, and cultivate. Don't hanker after this transient existence in the six paths.
Now we will discuss some of the richest, the noblest, the poorest, and the lowliest figures in Chinese history.
Shi Chong was wealthy,
and Fan Dan, poor;
Gan Luo's fate was to be late,
while Tai Gong was early.
Peng Zu was long-lived,
but Yan's life was short.
These six people are all within
the five elements.
Shi Chong, who lived in the Jin Dynasty, was one of the wealthiest and most famous people in Chinese history. His fortune was comparable to the national treasury. Once Shi Chong went to a banquet at a friend's house. His friend told him how he had obtained a coral "tree" two feet eight inches high and then brought the piece out to show Shi Chong.
The friend went to Shi Chong's house where he saw several hundred coral clusters over three feet tall.
Shi Chong said, "Go ahead! Take one! Choose whichever one you like!" What his friend had prized as a treasure was a dime a dozen in Shi Chong's house. This shows how tremendously wealthy Shi Chong was. No one knew the true extent of his fortune.
Fan Dan was a beggar who had nothing of his own. Each day he would go out and beg for his food, and then he would eat however much he got. He didn't work at all. When he ran out of food, he would go and beg for more. His situation was such that:
家無隔宿之糧，
身無立錐之地。
Barely getting by on a day's scraps,
He was on the verge of homelessness.
Every place was home to him. Although it was true that Fan Dan was poor and always had to beg for food, he probably started saving up some food. Confucius and his disciples ran out of food when they were travelling through the state of Chen. Since they had nothing to eat, Confucius told his disciple Zi Lu to go and borrow some rice from Fan Dan. Confucius had so many followers, and yet he needed to borrow rice from a beggar－strange how things work, isn't it? Zi Lu went to Fan Dan and explained, "My teacher has run out of food in the state of Chen, and I've come to borrow rice from you."
Fan Dan said, "If you want to borrow rice, that's fine, but first you must answer my question. If you give the right answer, I'll lend you the rice. If you don't, I won't lend it to you."
Fan Dan said, "Tell me, in this world, what is numerous and what is few? What makes people happy and what makes them sad? If you tell me the right answer, I'll lend you the rice with no strings attached. You can borrow as much as you want. If you answer wrongly, however, I won't lend the rice to you. I have to make that clear first."
子路說：「你這問題太容易了，很淺的嘛！這世界上，天地間，星星多，月亮少；娶媳婦歡喜，死人惱。」
Zi Lu said, "Your question is way too easy! In this world, there are many stars and few moons. Weddings are happy and deaths are sad."
范丹聽了就直擺手說：「不對！不對！」
When Fan Dan heard Zi Lu's answer, he waved his hand and said, "Wrong!"
Zi Lu felt that his answer was perfect, that none could be better. He was sure that Fan Dan hadn't planned to lend him the rice to begin with and had just been teasing. So, he refused to admit defeat. But Fan Dan still wouldn't lend him the rice. Since there was nothing he could do about it, he left in exasperation and went to see Confucius.
"Teacher! Teacher! That Fan Dan is truly abominable! He wasn't reasonable at all." Zi Lu faithfully reported the entire conversation to Confucius. Confucius said, "You did give the wrong answer!"
Zi Lu was completely taken aback and protested, "Fan Dan said I was wrong, because he was arguing for himself. But Teacher, you should be on my side! Why do you say that I'm wrong as well?"
Confucius said, "Listen to my answer: 'In this world, there are many petty people and few noble people. People are happy when they borrow things but sad when asked to return them.' Go give Fan Dan that answer." Zi Lu went back to Fan Dan and repeated Confucius' answer to him. Fan Dan considered this answer to be completely correct, so he lent the rice to Zi Lu. He filled a bamboo tube with rice and gave it to Zi Lu to take back. This bamboo tube was actually a magic treasure that provided an endless supply of rice. No matter how much rice one wanted to use, the tube could provide that amount. You see, poor men also have their poor men's treasures.
During the reign of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, a boy named Gan Luo was made prime minister when he was only twelve. He should have become prime minister at the age of nine, but he was late by three years. Jiang Tai Gong [a sage who lived during the time of King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty] didn't meet King Wen until he was eighty. Even so, he was early by three years. Gan Luo became the prime minister at a very young age, but Jiang Tai Gong didn't meet King Wen until late in life.
Peng Zu lived for over eight hundred years, so he is considered to have been long-lived. Confucius' disciple, Yan Yuan, on the other hand, died at age thirty, so he's said to have been short-lived. Even so, he was the most intelli-gent of Confucius' disciples, and the most avid learner. Upon learning one principle, he could deduce ten others. When Zi Gong (another disciple) heard one principle, he could only deduce two. At Yan Yuan's death, Confucius lamented, "Heaven is destroying me! Heaven is destroying me!" What he meant was, "Heaven has doomed my teach-ing! Heaven has doomed my teaching!"
These six people include some of the richest, poorest, most noble, and most long-lived people, and also one whose life was rather short. However, none of them was able to transcend his fate, which was determined by the five elements. None of them could escape the endless cycle of transmigration. Life is just like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, a dewdrop, or a lightning flash; that's how we ought to contemplate. Be attached to nothing and you will have no affliction. If you can see through every-thing, put it all down, and come here to cultivate, that's even better. If you can't put everything down right away, then let go of things little by little. Don't hanker after this transient existence in the six paths.
一九八二年六月六日開示於萬佛聖城
A talk given on June 6, 1982
at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
