问：若有些人由于经济不允许或其他因素不得已要堕胎，后果是不是一样严重？

Question: If a married couple has no choice but to get an abortion due to financial difficulties or other reasons, will the consequence be as serious?　

上人：既然经济不许可，根本就不应该叫她有胎的，免得会有第二种麻烦的事情。自己经济既然不许可，没有这种能力范围，为什么要等到有了问题才去想办法？要防范未然。别的好办法为什么不想？为什么一定要等到木已成舟，米已成饭，才知道已经成饭呢？每年的预算，应先打算这笔预算。

The Venerable Master: Since the financial conditions are not permitting, a pregnancy shouldn’t have happened in the first place; in this way, they can avoid the resulting trouble. Given their existing financial difficulties, why do they wait until the problem arises and then try to find a solution? They should have taken precautions against the problem from happening. Why not come up with other good ideas? As it is said, “Why wait until the wood has been made into canoe [before realizing one needs firewood to cook a meal]?” Why wait until when it’s too late to do anything? They should have included the possibility of pregnancy in their annual budget.

问：请问师父，有些未婚妈妈造成社会上很多的问题，还有堕胎……，不晓得师父对这问题，您有何看法或建议？

Question: Venerable Master, some unmarried mothers are causing a lot of social problems, and then there is abortion.... I wonder what opinions or suggestions the Venerable Master has regarding these problems.

上人：这在英文的称呼是 ”single mother” ── 这是人性的失去，所以在未婚就不守规矩了。不守规矩 ── 好像现代一般的年轻人，他们欢喜跳舞、看电影、唱歌，欢喜这些吃、喝、玩、乐，结果就把人性失去了；把人性失去了，连自己都不知道自己是人了。人应该作人事，他们尽作鬼事，偷偷摸摸地就要不守规矩，没有结婚就想试一试，结果就生了小孩子。这在西方国家是不当一回事，然而这在我们中国是觉得很羞耻的。

The Venerable Master: You are referring the problem of single mothers. Unfortunately, these individuals have lost their sense of humanity, so they break the rules before they get married. Nowadays, most young people like to dance, watch movies, and sing. They enjoy eating, drinking, playing, and seeking pleasure. These desires and actions lead to a loss of their humanity, to the point where they don’t even realize that they are human beings. Human beings should act like human beings, but they do things like ghosts -- covertly not obeying the rules, wanting to try things before they get married... as a result, they have a baby. Things like these may not be big deals in the West, but they are thought of as great shame in China.

所以问题就由这一念的无明而起：男的追女，女的追男……，这都是无明。有了无明，就有了行为；有了行为，就有了名色、六入、触、受……，这些都是无明造成的，由于糊里糊涂的，结果就产生了爱，继而占有欲，又生出其他的问题……直到老死，这是十二因缘法。

These problems arise due to a single thought of ignorance: Man chases after woman, woman looks for man.... Because of ignorance, karmic activity follows; after the karmic activity was performed, name and form, the six entrances, contact, and feelings come into being…, these are all generated by ignorance. As a result of being confused, emotional love arises, followed by the desire to grasp and possess, then many other problems appear... until old age and death arrive. This whole chain of events is called the Dharma of Twelve-fold Conditioned Arising.

就因为不懂这十二因缘法，所以就造成相反的作用，问题也就愈搞愈大，甚至于有了小孩，不把他生下来，就在他一、两个月，三、四个月时去堕胎了。

Because people don’t understand the chain of Twelvefold Conditioned Arising, they do things contrary to this principle. As a result, their troubles grow bigger and bigger, to the point that they get pregnant. Things get even worse when, instead of giving birth, they get an abortion when the fetus is one to four months old.

堕胎的罪是最大的，虽然你看那个鬼小啊，但鬼小神通大，能令你死亡，生种种的怪病，弄得你莫名其妙，糊里糊涂地发起神经病……，所以堕胎啊，比杀成人的罪还大。因为，你既然不养他，又为什么要怀下他？为什么要去乱七八糟的？所以，这就是男女不懂做人的道理，因而产生了这些问题。

The offense of abortion is very serious. You may think this is just a little ghost, but it has great spiritual powers that can cause you to die or catch various strange diseases, make you feel baffled and confused to the point of a mental breakdown.... The offense of abortion is greater than the offense of killing an adult. If you do not want to raise a child, why cause the conception? Why be so messed-up? Unfortunately, because man and woman don’t understand the principles of how to be a human being, these problems arise.

要解决这些问题，就要教育有关男女的性行为知识。不要在未成熟的年龄就谈情说爱，要不然，很大的问题就会发生。所以要守规矩。

In order to solve these problems, we need to provide young people with sex education, and teach them not to engage in love affairs before they are fully matured and grown up, otherwise, they will encounter serious trouble. We should urge them to follow the rules.

问：上人这次回国，您能给台湾的信徒们一些开示吗？

Questions: Venerable Master, since you are back in Taiwan, could you give some advice to your disciples in Taiwan?

上人：要国家太平、世界和平，要有男女不乱的根基。如果夫不夫、妇不妇、子不子，你说天下能不乱吗？我奉劝大家要守夫妻之道，不要离婚，好好地照顾自己的子女，家庭都和乐了，自然国家就太平了。

The Venerable Master: The proper behavior between man and woman is the foundation of peace within a nation and peace in the world. If a husband acts unlike a husband, a wife acts unlike a wife, and children act unlike children, how can the world avoid being in disorder? I suggest that everyone should fulfill the proper roles of husband and wife, do not get a divorce, and take good care of your children. With every family happy and harmonious, the nation will naturally be in peace. 

还有，我要劝大家不要再堕胎了！你想想看，一个生命还没出世，就成冤魂，到处是要命的小鬼，你说社会会安宁吗？这些小鬼需要不贪财、有道行的人才能超度。小鬼难缠啊！很难办的，到处是罪业，你说能安宁吗？

In addition, I urge everyone to stop having abortions! Think about it, if living beings become resentful spirits even before they are born, with these vengeful little ghosts of aborted fetuses everywhere, how can the society be peaceful? These little ghosts can only be crossed over by genuine cultivators of the Bodhi Way who are not greedy for wealth. These little ghosts are really tough to deal with! It is very difficult to resolve these matters; hence, with karmic offenses pervading everywhere, how can there be peace?

问：如何才能救台湾呢？

Question: How can Taiwan be saved?

上人：不堕胎、不杀生。

The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings.

问：堕胎是杀业，以前没有学佛，不知犯了杀业，如何才能补救呢？

Question: Abortion constitutes as karma of killing. Since I didn’t study Buddhism before, I unknowing committed the killing offense. How can I make up for my offense?

上人：多做功德，多忏悔，多念佛。

The Venerable Master: By doing more meritorious and virtuous deeds, by doing more repentance and reform, and by reciting the Buddha's name more often.

问：听说堕胎在佛教里是不对的，但从前不知而犯过，今后将作何补救？

Question: I've heard that abortion is wrong in Buddhism, but I committed this offense in the past without knowing that it was wrong. What can I do now to redress the harm that I have caused?

上人：过而能改，善莫大焉。弥天大罪，一忏便消。

The Venerable Master: No wholesome deed is greater than correcting one's own faults. Even if your offenses are enormous, as if they were pervading the sky, if you sincerely repent and reform, they will be eradicated.

问：请教上人，现在报章杂志上面，时常看到“供养婴灵”，到底婴灵是需要供养呢？还是要超度他往生？

Question: Nowadays, there are many advertisements on “Making Offerings to Infant Spirits” in newspapers and magazines. Can we make offerings to infant spirits, or should they be crossed over instead?

上人：这个不能谈到“供养”，因为他不是佛，不是法，不是僧。你要是供养他，那就落邪见。那么超度还可以，超度不是供养，超度令他离苦得乐。但是这个冤孽若深了，也不容易解开这个结，因为这是夺命的一种债务，就要用夺命来还，所以是很不容易解的。虽然不容易解，你若遇到不贪财的真修行人，还可以有机会超度他们的。

The Venerable Master: The term “Making Offerings” cannot be used in this context, because an infant spirit is not the Triple Jewel (the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha). If you consider making offerings to infant spirits, you will fall into the trap of erroneous views. Rather, it should be called “crossing over.” Crossing over living beings is not the same as making offerings to them, because the act of crossing over enables them to leave suffering and attain bliss. However, the infant spirits’ resentment is so great that they are difficult to appease. Given that the debt owed to these spirits involves taking lives, it needs to be repaid with life. However, if such debtors encounter genuine cultivators of the Bodhi Way who are not greedy for wealth, they still have a chance to cross over the infant spirits.

问：有许多人付钱供养婴灵，能解冤吗？

Questions: Many people pay money to make offerings to infant spirits, can these spirits’ resentment and grievance be redressed by doing so?

上人：不能解。

The Venerable Master: No. 

问：现在有很多人借婴灵敛财，有些佛教人士颇不以为然。请问师父您的观点如何？婴灵是否会造成当事者身体不健康，或带来其他方面的困扰？让一些堕胎的当事者因畏惧、害怕，结果花钱为婴灵买牌位。所以，请问师父您对这方面的看法如何？婴灵是否会作怪？又该如何去调伏？才能够让婴灵安心？

Questions: Nowadays, many people take advantage of others by claiming to appease infant spirits as a way to make money. Some Buddhists really frown upon this practice. Venerable Master, what is your opinion? Will infant spirits cause the individuals who owe them ill health or other problems? Some people who had abortions are scared into spending money to buy plaques for infant spirits. Venerable Master, what are your thoughts on this? Are infant spirits really able to cause trouble? If so, how do we subdue these spirits? How do we pacify and comfort them?

上人：弄个牌位，不如没有位。什么叫没有位呢？根本就是不该去堕胎；不堕胎，就是不杀生；不杀生，就免得多此一举。至于，给婴灵弄个牌位，这叫舍本逐末，掩耳盗铃。能不能超度？是否可以解开这个冤债？这是不一定的。所以，与其悔之于后，不如防之于前；在未婚前，不要吃避孕药，也不要发生男女的关系……，为什么等不了呢？为什么要那么着急呢？为什么要那么馋呢？

The Venerable Master: It would be better to have no plaque than to set up a plaque. What do I mean by this? One should not have an abortion in the first place; by refraining from abortion, one does not kill; by not killing, one doesn’t even need to set up a plaque. Setting up a plaque for fetus spirits is called “attending to the trifles and neglecting the essentials,” and it is like “covering up one's ears to steal a bell,” for one is deceiving oneself. Can those infant spirits be crossed over? Can the debts be settled? The answers are uncertain. Therefore, it is better to prevent problems from happening than to feel regret afterwards. Before one is married, one should not take birth control pills or have sexual intercourse. Why can’t you wait until you get married? Why are you in such a hurry?

问：请教法师，因为世界上，现在有很多堕胎的未婚妈妈及强奸、同性恋等种种的怪现象。家长们应该怎么教育子女，才能在这个时代里，青少年本身心理和生理都有一个健全的人格发展。

Question: Venerable Master, there are many strange phenomena in the world today, such as many unmarried mothers having abortions, rape, and homosexuality. How should parents educate their children in this day and age, so teenagers can develop both physically and mentally into wholesome individuals?

上人：这是对症下药一个最好的问题，可是这个问题很简单，很容易治的。青少年从什么地方来的？这些问题青年也是父母生的。不过，做父母的不会做父母，父而不父，母而不母；虽然生出子女，不以子女为重，以贪欢纵欲为自己的快活，所以只会生而不会教。我们男女效法欧风美雨，恣情纵欲，随便谈恋爱，随便追求异性，作为一个时髦的东西。一般人认为，如果男的没有一个女的朋友，这是一个白痴；女的没结婚之前，若没有一个男朋友，在西方来讲就认为是一个神精病，没人要！所以疯狂的恣情纵欲，那么生出子女，也不顾子女，只顾自己。那么结婚了二天半，三天也不够，就讨厌这个了，所以就离婚了。

The Venerable Master: This is an excellent question for it deals with the right solution to our social problems. The problems you described are very simple, because they are very easy to solve. Where did these teenagers come from? These troubled youths have parents, don’t they? However, their parents don’t know how to be proper parents – a father does not behave like a father, and a mother does not behave like a mother. Although they gave birth to their children, their focus is not on the children; instead, they are greedy for pleasure and satisfaction of their sexual desires. Acting just to please themselves, they only know how to procreate, but know nothing about how to educate their children. Men and women in our country are emulating the trends in Europe and America, by indulging in emotional love and sexual desires, dating causally, and chasing after the opposite sex; they think they are being very modern by doing so. Most people think that if a man doesn’t have a girlfriend, he is an idiot. Similarly, if a woman doesn’t have a boyfriend before she gets married, she is thought of as a mental case, and nobody would want to marry her! Since these individuals crazily indulge in emotional love and sexual desires, they don't care about their children after the children are born; they only care about themselves. In this way, it can take as soon as two and a half days after their wedding for them to start disliking each other, and they end up in a divorce.

离婚了，生出子女，不是没有爸爸，就是没有妈妈。美国的法官就给判了，说：“三天跟着爸爸住，四天要跟着妈妈住。”他们两个已经离婚了，这个无论是男孩、女孩，到爸爸那儿住，爸爸就说：“你妈妈，不配做你的妈妈，她不是个好女人，所以我就和她离婚，找另外一个女人。你看看，我现在这个女朋友，心地非常好，而你妈妈是最坏的。”这个小孩子一想：“哦，我妈妈最坏的！”回到妈妈那儿去，就不睬妈妈了──“你这么坏，不够资格做我的妈妈！”就听他父亲一面之词。

After the divorce, their children are either without a dad or without a mom. Then, a judge decides that the child should stay three days with dad, and four days with mom. Since the couple no longer lives together, their child, no matter a girl or a boy, will go and live with dad for awhile. The dad will say: “Your mom is not fit to be your mom. She is not a nice woman, so I divorced her and found another woman. My present girl friend is the best, while your mom is the worst.” The child will think: “Oh, my mom is the worst!” When the child goes back to his or her mom's place, he or she ignores the mom, saying: “You are the worst. You are not fit to be my mom!” The child has only heard the dad’s side of the story.

这妈妈一看，子女变了！也要想法子了，就对他（她）说：“你爸爸是一个最坏的男人，我受不了他的气，所以才和他离婚。”跟他（她）讲出一大套的理由，把这个小孩子弄得：“啊，爸爸也是坏的，妈妈也是坏的！那怎么办呢？啊，我也要学一个坏孩子好了！”于是就吸毒，也是乱七八糟什么都干了！也不关心国，也不关心家，也不关心自己的身体了；因为这个孩子说自己是个坏种子。爸爸妈妈都是坏，自己也不会是个好东西，所以就放弃节制，无所不为了！

The mom thinks: “My child has changed! I better come up with something.” She tells the child: “Your dad is the worst man. I could not stand him, that’s why I divorced him.” She then brings up a whole bunch of other reasons for divorcing her ex-husband, and causes the child to think that, “Oh, no! My dad is the worst man, and my mom is the worst woman! What should I do? Ah, given parents like mine, I should learn to be the worst child, too!” The child starts to take drugs and get into all sorts of trouble. He or she doesn’t care about anything, including his or her country, his or her family, and his or her body. He or she thinks: “I am a bad seed; both my dad and mom are bad, therefore, I also must be bad.” With this attitude, the child gives up any sense of right and wrong and does whatever he or she pleases.

那么，男的被女人抛弃了，女人被男人抛弃了。这一抛弃，各走极端！男的也搞同性恋，女的也是恋同性，学这个不人道的行为！那么这个问题大了。所以造成今天的情形，就是因为夫妇不会做夫妇，所以把家庭也都坏了，国也都坏了。假如人人要都能像孟母似的，像岳母似的，能以教子成名，教子成为圣人，那世界上，也就没有这么多问题儿童了。我答覆你的问题，不知道对不对？如果不满意的话，你另请高明。

Since some men have been discarded by women, and some women have been forsaken by men, they go to extremes. They become gay, and learn actions that go against our humanity. Because husbands and wives don’t know how to behave like husbands and wives, they end up creating huge problems that we face today. When families are broken, so is the nation. If everyone could be like the mother of Meng Zi or the mother of Yue Fei, both of whom were able to teach their son to become famous and sagely, there would not be so many troubled children. I have answered your question, and I don’t know whether I am right or not. If you are not satisfied, please find someone who is better qualified.

还有这堕胎啊，那更是不仁道的一件事情！各位想一想，那个小孩子还没生出，你就叫他（她）死，你说这个因果厉害不厉害？现在，我说一句不怕你们各位不相信的话：每一个堕胎的，那虽然是个小孩子，可是那个小鬼，比那个大鬼更厉害！现在这个又是Cancer（癌）病啊，又是爱死症啊！爱死症就是同性恋，恋出来的；这Cancer病啊，也是堕胎形成的。因为堕胎的人多了，杀的小鬼也多了，所以他到处给你洒毒，到处令人不安，啊，你叫我那么早就死了！我也不能对你善罢干休，我也要把你弄死的！所以，就生出这么多的奇难杂症，古古怪怪的这些个病！

Regarding abortion, it is an inhumane act! Think about it, if you kill a child even before he or she is born, would you say the retribution of such a conduct is severe or not? Now I am going to tell you something whether you believe it or not: although it is only a little baby who has been aborted, this little ghost is even fiercer than a big ghost! Now cancer is fairly common in our society, and this illness is brought about by abortions. Since more fetuses get aborted, the number of little ghosts increases, and these little ghosts sprinkle poisons everywhere and cause disquiet among people. They think: “You made me die so early, I won't let you get away with it. I will also kill you!” Accordingly, we have a lot of strange and hard to cure diseases.