无明就是贪瞋痴慢疑，这五种恶业，能令人颠倒发狂。

Ignorance refers to greed, anger, delusion, pride, and doubt. These five kinds of evil karma make people muddled and crazy.

（一）贪心：对顺的境界起贪爱，非得到不可，甚至为达目的不择手段。

(1) Greed: One is greedy for pleasant states and is determined to obtain them. One will go to any lengths to achieve one’s goal.

（二）瞋心：对逆的境界生瞋恨，发脾气，不是骂人，就是打人，甚至杀人。这都是瞋恨心在作怪，令人失去理智，意气用事。有这种心理的人，能令社会不得安宁。

(2) Anger: One feels angry and upset in adverse situations. One loses one’s temper and is driven to berate people, beat them up, or even kill them. Anger acting up and depriving one of rationality so that one becomes overly emotional. People in this state of mind can cause disorder in the society.

（三）痴心，没有智慧，是非不明，善恶不分，糊涂、颠倒，结果造了很多罪业。

(3) Delusion: One has no wisdom and cannot distinguish right from wrong or good from evil. One is muddled and confused, and as a result one creates a lot of offense karma.

（四）慢心，就是扬己抑人，认为自己了不起，事事比人强。这种贡高我慢的行为，最要不得。

(4) Pride: One promotes oneself and oppresses others. One regards oneself as somebody special who is stronger and better than others in every way. This kind of arrogant attitude is really terrible.

（五）疑心，对于正当的知见，生怀疑心，不相信任何人的话。这种心理不正常，是自卑的偏差。

(5) Doubt: One harbors doubts regarding proper know-ledge and views, and doesn’t trust what anyone says. This psychological condition is an aberration based on an inferiority complex.

这五种心理都是不正常，皆因无明所引起。修道人，一定要消灭无明，不让它兴风作浪，否则祸患无穷。

These five kinds of psychological states are all abnormal. They all stem from ignorance. Cultivators must destroy ignorance so that it will not cause trouble and bring on endless disasters.

无明令凡夫在情欲上用功夫，认为世间情情爱爱是真实的，所以离不开，丢不掉，放不下。所以纠缠不清，放不下六亲眷属，搞得善恶夹杂，染净不分，生生世世在轮回中打转，永无了期，所以说无明是生死的根本。

Ignorance causes ordinary people to function at the level of their emotions and desires. It leads them to regard worldly, emotional love as something real, so that they cannot detach themselves from it, cast it off, or renounce it. They become inextricably caught up in their family relationships. Consequently they create a mixture of good and evil karma and cannot distinguish between purity and defilement. In life after life, they spin around in the cycle of birth and death with no end in sight. Thus ignorance is said to be the root of birth and death.

修道人，没有这种累赘在心里重压着，容易得到清净、解脱──了生脱死。若不和无明一刀两断，那永远就被无明所支配，往地狱里跑，跑到刀山上，跑进油锅里。到那时，才后悔当初为何不精进修道，可惜已经来不及了。

Cultivators are not burdened by these tiresome matters, so it’s easy for them to attain purity and liberation, and to end birth and death. If we fail to sever our ties with ignorance, we will always be under its control and be running off to the hells, onto the mountain of knives or into the cauldron of boiling oil. At that time we will regret that we didn’t cultivate vigorously when we had the chance, but unfortunately it will be too late.

劝告各位，要及时修道，不要存着来日方长的想法，古德说：“莫待老来方学道，孤坟尽是少年人”，学一天道，就和净土近一点，一点一点便到净土。不勤修就想要到净土，那是办不到的。世界上的事，有的浪费时间，而得不到好处；唯独修行法门，不会浪费时间，修一分钟，便有一分钟的好处。所谓“集沙成塔”，一步一步不停前进，自然到达彼岸。

So, I’d like to advise everyone to cultivate when you can. Don’t think that you have lots of time in the future to do so. An ancient philosopher said,

Don’t wait till you are old to cultivate the Way.
The lonely graves are full of young people.

For every day that you cultivate the Way, you are a little bit closer to the Pure Land. Little by little, you will get to the Pure Land. If you hope to reach the Pure Land without cultivating diligently, it isn’t possible. Some of the affairs in this world only waste time without providing any benefit. Cultivation alone is something that won’t waste your time. If you cultivate for one minute, you obtain one minute of benefit. It’s like accumulating grains of sand to build a pagoda. Simply advance step by step without stopping, and you’ll naturally arrive at the other shore.

一九八四年七月五日开示