佛这个身，不是由五蕴所积聚成的，也不是从十二处或十八界来的。佛既没有一个形相，众生为什么能见到佛的三十二相、八十种好呢？这是随顺众生的分别心而示现。因为众生有分别好或不好的心，佛为了要使众生发菩提心，所以示现种种不同的身，增加其欢喜心，增加其信仰心。这是善巧方便的法门。

The Buddha’s body is not composed of the five skandhas. It does not come from the twelve locations or the eighteen realms. The Buddha has no form or appearance. Why do living beings see the Buddha’s thirty-two hallmarks and eighty subsidiary characteristics? The Buddha manifests these in order to accord with the discriminatory minds of living beings. Since living beings distinguish between good and bad, the Buddha manifests various appearances to help them grow in joy and faith and to inspire them to seek Bodhi. It’s an expedient skill-in-means.

男人想找个美丽的女人做太太，女人想找个英俊的男人做丈夫。这就证明人人欢喜美的，不欢喜丑的；人同此心，心同此理，人人都希望有个漂亮的太太或者有个潇洒的丈夫，这是人之常情，天经地义的事。

Men want to find beautiful wives, and women look for handsome husbands. This proves that people like beauty and dislike ugliness. People’s minds work the same way and share the same principles. It’s perfectly normal and natural for people to wish for a pretty wife or a handsome husband.

有人说：“法师讲经，为什么讲这个？”你说不讲这个，那要讲什么？古人说：“君子之道，肇端乎夫妇”，这个世界上，只有男女两个人。有了男女，才能造世界。在这里要特别声明，这对男女，不是亚当和夏娃，也不是天主用泥造的男女，来到这世界。

Someone is saying, “Dharma Master, you’re supposed to be lecturing on the Sutra. Why are you talking about this?” If I don’t talk about this, what should I talk about? The ancients said, “The Way of a superior person begins with the relationship between man and wife.” There is only a man and a woman in the world. With a man and a woman, the world comes into being. However, I must make clear that I’m not talking about Adam and Eve, nor am I talking about the man and woman that God created from mud. What I’m saying is that the world is formed of couples－husbands and wives.

总而言之，这个世界是由夫妇组织起来的。有夫妇，然后有父子、有兄弟、有人我。男女就是阴阳，所谓：“一阴一阳之谓道，偏阴偏阳之谓疾”，又说：“孤阴不生，独阳不长”，这是自然的道理。

Once there is the relationship between husband and wife, the relationships between father and son, siblings, and self and others are established. Man and woman are yang and yin, respectively.

An equal balance of yin and yang is
     known as the Way;
A preponderance of yin or yang is
     known as sickness.

Yin alone cannot bring about birth;
Yang alone cannot foster growth.

These are principles found in Nature.

我们修道要返本还原，男人修道，应由“离中虚”，返回到“干三连”上；女人修道，应由“坎中满”，回到“坤六段”上。干代表男，坤代表女。男人要返回到童男，女人要返回到童女。男人要好像善财童子，女人要好像龙女，他们都是童男童女，已经返本还原了。我们修道也要这样，保持童体，这样便容易证得清净法身。

In cultivation, we must return to the source. Men who cultivate should go from the trigram Li, which has a broken line in the middle, back to the trigram Qian, which has three unbroken lines. Women who cultivate should go from the trigram Kan, which has an unbroken line in the middle, back to the trigram Ku, which has three broken lines (six half lines). The trigram Qian represents the male, while Kun represents the female. Men should return to the state of virgin boyhood, and women should return to maidenhood. Men should be like the Youth Good Wealth (in the Avatamsaka Sutra), and women should emulate the Dragon Girl (in the Lotus Sutra). Both were virgins who returned to the source. We who cultivate the Way should remain chaste, for then it is easier to certify to the pure Dharma body.

因为众生有分别心，有善恶，有美丑，有是非，有黑白种种的问题，所以佛随顺众生的心，而示现种种身，令众生见到佛的身，所谓：

Since living beings engage in discriminating between good and evil, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong, and black and white, the Buddha manifests in various forms in accord with their minds.

千江有水千江月
万里无云万里天

In the water of a thousand rivers,
one sees a thousand reflections of the moon.
With no clouds for ten thousand miles,
one sees ten thousand miles of sky.

佛是随类而化身，众生心水净，佛便现其中。我们为什么没有见到佛身？因为我们的私欲太重，无明太重，所以智慧不现前；心水混浊，有佛也不现。

The Buddha transforms into different forms to accord with living beings’ minds. If living beings’ minds are like clear water, then the Buddha’s reflection appears in them. Why can’t we see the Buddha’s body? Because we have too much lust and ignorance, and so our wisdom cannot come forth. Our mind is like a pool of muddy water that cannot reflect the Buddha.

无明就是黑暗，智慧就是光明。有无明就有烦恼，有烦恼就愚痴；有愚痴就是黑暗，有黑暗就无光明；无光明就没有智慧，没有智慧就见不到佛，这都有连带的关系。想要见佛身，必须“勤修戒定慧，息灭贪瞋痴”，这样佛身自然现前，来为行者现身说法。

Ignorance is darkness, and wisdom is light. Ignorance leads to afflictions. Afflictions make one deluded and dark. Being dark and without light, one lacks wisdom. Without wisdom, one cannot see the Buddha. These are all interrelated. If we want to see the Buddha, we must diligently cultivate precepts, samadhi, and wisdom and extinguish greed, hatred, and delusion. Then the Buddha will spontaneously manifest and speak Dharma for us.

一九八○年十一月八日开示