你皈依三宝了，还要自己努力向前。

After you have taken refuge with the Triple Jewel, you must still work hard to make progress.

皈依，这是“苦海无边，回头是岸”的初步。可是这一初步，你们要向前勇猛精进，不要向后退转，这才是成佛的一条道路。你若向后退转，还会堕落三途，流浪八难。所以说：

"The sea of suffering is boundless; a turn of the head is the other shore." Taking refuge is the first step. Right at the first step you must advance forward vigorously. Do not turn around and retreat. This is the way to Buddhahood. If you turn around and retreat, you will still fall into the three paths, and wander among the eight difficulties. Therefore, it is said,

师父领进门，
修行在个人。
自己吃饭自己饱，
自己生死自己了。

The Master brings you in the door,
But you yourself must cultivate.
You yourself must eat to get full;
You must put an end to your own birth and death.

不要说我皈依了，就倚赖着佛、倚赖着法、倚赖着僧。佛、法、僧，虽然有大威神力，可是他不能来帮助你修成佛果，不能帮助你了达一切佛法，也不能帮助你明白一切修行的道路。法赖僧传，佛法流到世间。

Do not say, "I have taken refuge, so I can depend on the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha." Although the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha have awesome spiritual power, they cannot help you cultivate to realize Buddhahood. They cannot help you to fathom the Buddhadharma, or help you to understand the path of cultivation. It is the Sangha which must propagate the Dharma and cause it to circulate in the world.

那么，虽然你皈依三宝了，还要自己努力向前，你要不杀生、不偷盗、不邪淫、不妄语、不饮酒，这才是真正受五戒了。你若是还杀生、还偷盗、还邪淫、还去打妄语骗人、还饮酒，这是受而没有受。

Although you have taken refuge with the Triple Jewel, you must still work hard to make progress. Do not kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, engage in false speech, or take intoxicants. Then you will have truly received the five precepts. If you continue to kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, speak falsely to cheat people, and take intoxicants, then you have taken the five precepts, but you have not really received them.

你受戒不守戒，这是罪加三等的；因为你明知故犯，你知道这个事情不对了，你还去犯去，这就是犯戒。你犯戒就要堕落的。不是说我皈依三宝，受了五戒，我就有所仗恃了，我杀人不要紧、偷盗也不要紧、邪淫也不要紧、妄语也不要紧、饮酒也不要紧。

If you receive the precepts and fail to uphold them, your offenses are increased threefold, because you are fully aware that you are committing them.  You know that it is wrong, and yet you do it. You are breaking the precepts, and eventually you will fall. You cannot say, "Oh, I've taken refuge with the Triple Jewel and I've received the five precepts, so I have protection. It doesn't matter if I kill people, or steal things, or commit sexual misconduct. It's all right if I tell lies or take intoxicants."

有的人心里就不服，说：“在家人受五戒，犯戒这么严重；那出家人不守戒律的，那又怎么讲呢？”我告诉你们，你要

摩诃萨不管他，
弥陀佛各顾各。

Someone is thinking, "When we laypeople take the five precepts, the retribution is so severe if we violate them. What about the left-home people who violate their precepts? How do you explain that?" Let me tell you, you should have this attitude:

Mahasattvas do not pay attention to others.
Amitabha Buddha looks after himself.

你终日管自己，行住不离家，总要回光返照，要反求诸己，天天问问自己，是不是守戒了？是不是犯戒了？是不是皈依三宝，我就做一个真真实实的佛教徒，我是不是还去天主教、耶稣教、犹太教，或者回教，到其他的宗教去，或者学习外道法。方才没说吗？皈依之后，不要说活着，就算有人逼着我，要我死，说：“你信佛，我就把你杀了；你若不信佛，我就不杀你。”就这样，也不信外道去。

You should watch over yourself all day long and be mindful in movement and stillness. Turn the light around, and reflect within. Seek within yourself. Every day, ask yourself, "Am I holding the precepts? Have I violated the precepts? After taking refuge with the Triple Jewel, have I been a true Buddhist disciple? Or have I gone over to Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam, or other religions? Do I study the teachings of external paths?" Didn't I just say that after you take refuge, you should think, "Even if someone said he would kill me if I believed in the Buddha, but would let me live if I didn't, I still wouldn't believe in the external paths."

所谓外道就是自在天魔等，“等”，这就等于天上一切的魔，天魔外道。这个天魔他都有神通，都有本事，啊！他变化无穷的，神通妙用，他总是要显神通的。佛教徒不显神通，佛教徒若有神通，他也不会显，也不会说。凡是说他有神通，又有天眼通、天耳通，这都是五十种阴魔，天魔外道的眷属。

External paths refer to the demons of the Heaven of Self-Mastery and to all the other demons from the heavens. The demons from the heavens all have spiritual penetrations and psychic powers. They can manifest endless transformations, and they possess the wonderful use of spiritual penetrations. They are always showing off their spiritual penetrations. Buddhist disciples do not show off their spiritual penetrations. If they have them, they will not reveal them or talk about them. Anyone who claims to have spiritual penetrations, such as the penetrations of the heavenly eye and the heavenly ear, belongs to the retinue of the fifty skandha demons and the external paths of the demons from the heavens.

所以我们佛教徒要有择法眼，不要贪便宜、贪相应，处处去用贪心来求佛法。今天听人家说显宗好，我就学显宗；明天又听说密宗不错，又去学密宗了。学了一辈子，可是没有抱定宗旨、没有专一、没有纯一，没有守住这个“一”，所以这一辈子还是把光阴都空过了。

Buddhist disciples must have the Dharma-selecting Eye and not be greedy for easy rewards. If you are greedy in your quest for the Dharma, today you hear people say that the Manifest School is good, so you study it. Tomorrow you hear that the Secret School is not bad, so you go study that. You study your whole life, but because you did not stick to your principle and concentrate on one thing, you have just wasted all that time.

你们皈依之后，要不犯五戒，谨奉三皈，严持五戒。这五戒是成佛的一个基础。那么在家人是五戒，出家人有二百五十条戒，那么比丘尼就有三百四十八条戒，这个戒律是很繁的、很多的；可是你要真能守戒，什么戒也不犯。根本戒是一个范围人、规范人的一个规矩。你若尽量守规矩，不犯错误，这就是守戒；不然你受了戒也不守戒，那还是一个凡夫俗子。

Now that you have taken refuge, you should not break the five precepts. You should practice vigorously according to the Triple Refuge, and strictly uphold the five precepts. The five precepts are the basis for attaining Buddhahood. The laypeople have five precepts, and left-home people have two hundred and fifty precepts. Bhikshunis have three hundred and forty-eight precepts. These precepts are very troublesome and very many, but you have to truly uphold them without transgressing any of them. Basically, precepts are rules for restricting and regulating people's behavior. If you do your best to follow the rules and to avoid making mistakes, then you are upholding the precepts. On the other hand, if you receive the precepts but fail to keep them, then you are still a common person.

佛、法、僧是公道的、是平等的，你公修公得，婆修婆得，你不修就不得。所以你们各位“将军不下马，要各自奔前程”。

The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are fair and equal. If men cultivate, they can have attainment. If women cultivate, they can also have attainment. If you don't cultivate, you won't have any attainment. Therefore, all of you should be "generals who do not dismount, but just advance on the journey."

看你们谁呀！先走到这个佛果去，先到极乐世界。那么因为仗着五戒的功德，或者出家修道，往生了极乐世界。你不要到了极乐世界，就自己在那儿不管众生了，还要回来度众生。所以要发大菩提心，广度一切众生。

Let's see which of you walks all the way to Buddhahood first and reaches the Land of Ultimate Bliss. By means of the merit of the five precepts, or by leaving the home-life and cultivating the Way, you can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. When you reach the Land of Ultimate Bliss, don't just stay there and forget about living beings. You have to come back to save living beings. You should bring forth the Bodhi resolve to vastly save all living beings.

有的人就说：“现在我要度众生！”你现在连自己还没度好呢！所谓“泥菩萨过海”，你怎么能度众生呢？你把你自己先度好了，已经就够了。你自己没有度好，你想去度众生，这叫舍本逐末，舍近求远。你舍己田而耘人田，这是大错而特错。

Some people say they want to save living beings now, but if you have not even saved yourself yet, you are like "a clay Bodhisattva crossing the ocean, who has difficulty saving himself." How can you save other living beings? You should first save yourself. If you hope to save living beings before you have saved yourself, that is "renouncing the root to pursue the branch tips" and "overlooking the near to seek afar." If you neglect your own field and plow others' fields, you are making a great mistake.

所以大家要努力，不要倚赖着师父，说：“我师父又有什么智慧。”可是师父有智慧，不能把智慧分给你一点；师父有什么道，也要你自己来修行。你自己不修行，那就是佛现前，也不一定能帮助你。

Therefore, everyone should work hard. Don't rely on your teacher, saying, "My teacher has such and such wisdom." Your teacher cannot give you a little bit of his wisdom. Even if your teacher has attained the Way, you still have to cultivate. If you don't cultivate, then even if the Buddha appeared, he still might not be able to help you.

一九九三年一月十七日
开示于台湾板桥台北县立体育馆

A talk by the Venerable Master Hua on January 17, 1993,
at the Taipei County Stadium in Banqiao, Taiwan