魔王和佛斗法，佛用定力胜过魔王的神通力。魔王对佛说：“我现在没有办法胜过你，可是等将来，你的弟子定力不够，知见不正的时候，我就钻到你的门里来，穿你的衣服，吃你的饭，然后在你的饭锅中，拉屎撒尿，看你怎么办？”释迦牟尼佛黯然地说：“那我就没有办法了。”

When the demon king battled with the Buddha, the Buddha used his samadhi power to overcome the demon king’s spiritual penetrations. The demon king then said to the Buddha, “I cannot win now, but in the future when your disciples lack sufficient samadhi power and proper knowledge and views, I will worm my way into your religion, wear your clothing, eat your food, and then relieve myself in your almsbowl. We’ll see what you do then!” Shakyamuni Buddha said sorrowfully, “I won’t be able to do anything then.”

现在居然有出家人，公开地说《阿弥陀经》是假的，他的理由是“从是西方，过十万亿佛土，有世界名曰极乐。”没有根据可考证，是哪位地方官所测量的？也许比十万亿国土多一点，也或许少一点，哪有恰好是十万亿国土呢？这种谬论多愚痴，令人可笑！

Now a Buddhist monk has actually declared that the Amitabha Sutra is spurious, his reason being that there is no proof that, “Passing from here through hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands to the west, there is a world called Ultimate Bliss.” “What surveyor has measured it?” asks this monk. “Maybe the distance is slightly more or less than ‘hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands.’ How could it be exactly ‘hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands’?” What an ignorant, ridiculous argument!

最近又有一个出家人，他对大家宣布《楞严经》是伪造的，不可相信。他根据“时波斯匿王，为其父王，讳日营斋，请佛宫掖，自迎如来，广设珍馐。”这段经文，认为这不合乎当时印度的风俗，因为印度是不讲孝道的。因之他断言《楞严经》是伪造的，而非佛所说的经典。这是毁经谤佛的行为，其果报也是不堪设想的。他的思想太幼稚了！居心何在，可想而知！

Recently, another monk proclaimed that the Shurangama Sutra is spurious and should not be believed. He based his statement on a passage of the Sutra which says, “Then King Prasenajit, for the sake of his father, the late king, arranged on the day of mourning a vegetarian feast and invited the Buddha to the side rooms of the palace. He welcomed the Tathagata in person with a vast array of superb delicacies of unsurpassed wonderful flavors.” That monk argued that this passage does not comply with the customs of India at the time, because Indians did not stress filial piety. Thus, he maintains that the Shurangama Sutra is spurious and was not spoken by the Buddha. This is equivalent to destroying the Sutras and slandering the Buddha. Such behavior carries an inconceivable retribution. His ideas are absolutely juvenile. What could his intentions possibly be?

在《法灭尽经》上说：“将来到末法时代，最先灭的经典，就是《楞严经》。”因为《楞严经》是正法时代的代表者，若无《楞严经》，就没有正法。现在有许多山妖水怪，主张《楞严经》不是佛说的，要大家不要相信。若是不信《楞严经》，则其它经典均可一笔勾销，都可以不相信了。为什么？因为没有根据嘛！所以魔王的心肠真是太毒辣了！

The Sutra of the Complete Extinction of the Dharma says, “The Shurangama Sutra will be the first Sutra to disappear in the future Dharma-ending Age.” That’s because the Shurangama Sutra symbolizes the Proper Dharma Age. If the Shurangama Sutra vanishes, the Proper Dharma will also disappear. Nowadays, there are many mountain spirits and water monsters who maintain that the Shurangama Sutra was not spoken by the Buddha, and that people should not believe in it. If the Shurangama Sutra is not to be believed, then we can also forget about all the other Sutras. Why? Because there is no evidence that the other Sutras were spoken by the Buddha, either. So, you can see how malicious the demon king is!

就是因为《楞严经》说得太真了，而他不能守四种清净明诲，不能修二十五圣圆通法门，更不敢看五十种阴魔的境界。为了怕原形毕露，令人晓得他的真面目，因此就要想法毁灭《楞严经》。这个毁灭，不是烧经，而是从众生的心中毁灭它；令大众对《楞严经》失去信心。

The Shurangama Sutra reveals the truth all too clearly. The demon king cannot follow the Four Clear Instructions on Purity, nor can he cultivate the Dharma doors of Perfect Penetration of the Twenty-five Sages, or face the states of the Fifty Skandha-demons. He is afraid of being exposed and having people find out what he really is. That’s why he tries to destroy the Shurangama Sutra. His tactic is not to burn the Sutra, but to make people lose faith in it.

世上的事，就是这样微妙，真的很少人认识。好像卖假药的生意非常兴隆；但卖真药的反而没有生意。为什么？因为没有人真正认识它的价值。所以说真的往往没有人认识，假的却令人迷醉，这是很容易明白的道理。

The things in this world are just that strange and mysterious. Very few people recognize the truth. Peddlers of fake medicines enjoy booming sales, while those who sell genuine merchandise have no customers at all. No one recognizes the value of their merchandise. That’s why I say that no one recognizes what is true, while everyone is infatuated with and deluded by the false. This principle is very obvious.

现在是末法时代，真正修持佛法的法师，有许多人毁谤他、不相信他。可是假的法师，因为讲法很热闹，倒有很多人去听法，讲堂拥挤不堪，好像挤沙丁鱼似的，挤得喘不过气来。又竟然有出家人，提倡不吃斋的口号，他对大家说：“凡是吃斋的人都有贪心；不吃斋的人，才没有贪心。”这种理论，真是滑天下之大稽，瞎人之眼目，令人 糊涂。糊涂来，糊涂去；糊涂到地狱去，永远出不来了。

We are now in the Dharma-ending Age. Most people slander and disbelieve Dharma Masters who truly cultivate the Buddhadharma. On the other hand, phony Dharma Masters who give boisterous, entertaining speeches attract large audiences. The hall gets so crowded that people can hardly breathe; they are like sardines in a can. There’s even a monk who promotes a nonvegetarian diet. He says to everyone, “Vegetarians are greedy. Nonvegetarians are the only ones without greed.” People are actually blinded and confused by this absurd statement. Confused all their lives, they muddle their way straight to the hells, never to escape.

所以学佛法，要有择法眼，才能明是非辨善恶。否则，无异于盲人摸象，摸不出真正的道理，只是人云亦云，随声附和，人家说大象是墙，也跟着说是墙；人家说大象是柱子，也跟着说是柱子。究竟大象是什么样子？就不知道了！我们学佛法，要懂得道理，不可盲从，这一点要特别注意！

Therefore, in studying the Buddhadharma, we need to have Dharma-selecting Vision so that we can distinguish right from wrong and good from evil. Otherwise, we’ll be like the blind men examining the elephant. Unable to see the truth for ourselves, we just repeat what others say. When someone says the elephant is like a wall, we say that too. When someone says it’s like a pillar, we say it’s like a pillar. What is the elephant really like? We don’t know. In studying the Buddhadharma, we have to understand the truth ourselves and not just follow others blindly. Everyone should really take heed of this!

一九八四年四月十七日开示