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七○年代 三藩市
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1970’s San Francisco |
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上人隨緣度化眾生，上人所做的每一件事，都是為了方便教化眾生。有時，上人讓別人為他做事，但實際上這些事未必是為他自己的需要而做的。
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The Master accorded with conditions in order to teach beings. That means that whatever the Master did was an expedient aimed at helping an individual or a group. It also means that often the things the Master allowed others to do for him were not necessarily things that he liked having done for him.
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例如，上人講經時，弟子們喜歡為上人準備飲料。有一段時間，一位出家弟子很殷勤地為上人準備飲料，因此而不能做晚課。上人不喜歡這一點。起初上人不講話，後來他開始抱怨裝飲料的杯子是髒的。 |
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One example is how his disciples liked to serve the Master a cup of liquid during his Sutra lecture. For a while, one of the monks was very involved in serving the Master that cup of liquid. But in order to prepare this drink for the Master, he would miss evening recitation. The Master didn’t like that, but at first he kept quiet. Later, he began to complain that the cup the monk served him was dirty.
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當上人的抱怨沒有結果時，上人就採用另一種方便法。一天晚上，上人喝水後，留了一點水在杯子裡，然後就盯著這隻杯子看。所有聽課的人馬上就都注意到了。上人不停地看著杯子，然後叫恒靜走上講台。上人告訴他杯子裡有隻蟲，讓恒靜看了一下杯子裡面，然後向大家說看到了什麼。恒靜看了以後，說：「我看到的是一些濕濕的塵毛。」 |
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Finally when that didn’t work, the Master decided to use an expedient. One evening he drank most of the cup of liquid and then began to peer intently into the almost-empty cup. His intense interest in his cup was soon noticed by everyone. Then, while still examining the contents of the cup, he called Bhikshu Heng Ching up to the high seat, announcing that his cup had a bug in it and instructing him to look in the cup and then tell everyone what he saw. Heng Ching stared into the cup and then reported,
“All I see is a bit of soggy dust fuzz in the cup.”
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「那不是灰塵！是蟲！」上人說：「傳下去讓每個人看看。」 |
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“That’s not dust! That’s an insect!” argued the Master.
“Pass the cup around for everyone to take a look!”
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恒靜依命而行。所有的弟子看到的，都只是一些濕透的灰色塵毛，在杯子底下。大家看完之後，杯子又送回上人的桌上。 |
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Heng Ching did as he was told. Those disciples who peered into the cup also saw what looked like a bit of soggy gray fuzz in the bottom of the cup. After the cup went around the room, it was placed back on the Master’s table at the high seat.
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上人繼續講《華嚴經》，每當英語翻譯時，上人就又拿起杯子來看。然後又叫恒靜上講臺，問：「看看這杯子，告訴我你看見什麼。」 |
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The Master continued his lecture on the Avatamsaka Sutra, but whenever the translation was going on, he would pick up the cup and stare into it intently. Finally, he called Heng Ching back up again and said,
“Look in the cup now and tell me what you see.”
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恒靜看了一下杯子，驚訝地說：「怎麼搞的，杯子裡居然有一隻蟲！」 |
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Heng Ching did as he was asked and reacted with amazement.
“Why, there’s a perfectly-formed insect in the cup!”
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「傳下去！」上人命令。弟子們這次所看到的，的確是一隻有著八隻腳、多彩漂亮的昆蟲。看起來不像是這個世間所有的生物。那天晚上大家都大開眼界，而那位很殷勤地為上人準備飲料的弟子，也得到了一個教訓。上人事後解釋說：「我不願意成為你缺席晚課的因，我沒有這份福報，我也不願意負這因果的責任。」 |
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“Pass it around,” the Master commanded, and Heng Ching did. What the disciples saw this time was indeed an exquisite insect perched on eight legs shimmering with multicolored iridescence, looking unlike any creature belonging to this world. That night everyone saw what they had never seen before while the tea-serving monk was taught a lesson:
“I don’t want to be the cause of your missing evening recitation!” explained the Master.
“I don’t have such blessings, and I don’t want to have to bear the
cause and effect.”
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