金翅鸟命终，骨肉尽消散；
唯有心不化，圆明光灿烂。
龙王取为珠，能破千年暗；
转轮得如意，能救一切难。
如何在人中，日用而不见？

When the golden garuda dies,
Its flesh and bones scatter and rot.
Only its heart remains intact,
Round, lustrous, and dazzling bright.
When the dragon king takes it for his pearl,
It can obliterate a thousand years of darkness.
When the wheel-turning king obtains it as a
 wish-fulfilling pearl,
It can rescue all those in difficulty.
How is it that we humans use it daily and
yet cannot see it?

这是憨山大师所著〈六咏偈〉中的一首，这是咏颂人的心。我们都知道大鹏金翅鸟把翅膀一伸，就有三百六十由旬那么长。（小由旬四十里，中由旬六十里，大由旬八十里）。牠把翅膀一搧，就会把海水都搧干了，搧到别处去了，牠就有这么大的力量。可是牠也有死的时候，牠死时骨头和肉都会坏，只有心不坏。

This is one of the six songs written by the Great Master Han Shan. It praises the human heart. We know that when the golden-winged garuda bird extends its wings, they span 360 yojanas. (A small yojana is 13 miles, a medium yojana is 20 miles, and a great yojana is 27 miles.) When it flaps its wings, the ocean waters all dry up. It can move all of that water to another place. That's how powerful it is. However, there will also be a time when it must die. Then, its flesh and bones will decompose and only the heart will remain intact.

金翅鸟以什么做为饮食呢？牠专门吃龙。龙虽然有神通，能大能小，能隐能显，可是见到金翅鸟就什么神通也没有了，动弹不得，只有等着金翅鸟来吃。所以金翅鸟吃了很多龙族，龙王只好向佛去求救，龙王到了佛那里，向佛哀告，说如果金翅鸟再这么食噉牠的种族，不久龙族就将全部灭迹了，所以请求佛想法子帮助牠们，不要给金翅鸟吃光了。

What does the golden-winged garuda bird take for food? It feeds exclusively on dragons. Dragons possess spiritual penetrations. They are able to shrink and grow in size, and can appear or disappear at will. Although they have these spiritual penetrations, they lose them and become immobilized upon seeing the golden-winged garuda bird. They can only wait helplessly for the golden-winged garuda bird to come and devour them.

After the golden-winged garuda bird had eaten a great many dragons, the dragon king was forced to seek aid from the Buddha. Ruefully he told the Buddha, "If the golden-winged garuda bird keeps eating up our race, pretty soon the dragon species will be extinct." He implored the Buddha to find some way to save them from being eaten by the golden-winged garuda bird.

所以佛就给金翅鸟说法，教诫牠们以后不许再吃龙族了。金翅鸟说：“我若不吃龙了，那我就没有东西吃，怎么办呢？”佛说：“我叫我的弟子每天午斋时，送供给你。”所以出家人中午吃饭时，施食送供养，就是布施给大鹏金翅鸟，所以说：

The Buddha then spoke the Dharma for the golden-winged garuda bird, telling it not to eat any more dragons. The golden-winged garuda bird protested, "If I don't eat dragons, I'll have nothing to eat. What am I supposed to do?"

"I'll tell my disciples to make an offering of food to you each day when they take their vegetarian meal," said the Buddha. When those who have left the home-life take their lunch, they make an offering of food to the golden-winged garuda bird, and recite the verse,

大鹏金翅鸟，
旷野鬼神众；
罗剎鬼子母，
甘露悉充满。

To the great golden-winged garuda bird,
To the multitude of ghosts and spirits
 in the desolate wilds, and
To the rakshasha-ghost mother
 and all her children:
May you all be filled with sweet dew.

送供养不单单给金翅鸟，也给旷野鬼神众，和罗剎鬼子母吃。旷野，就是很荒凉的地方，有些大树林里住着鬼神。

The offerings are sent out not only to the golden-winged garuda bird, but also to the multitudes of ghosts and spirits in the desolate wilds, and to the rakshasha-ghost mother and her children. "Desolate wilds" refer to very isolated areas, such as some great forests where ghosts and spirits dwell.

又有一个鬼子母，这个鬼子母出现于世时，吃了很多小孩子，她什么也不吃，专门吃初生婴儿，因为她认为初生婴儿的肉，又嫩又香又甜又富营养，比吃其它维他命都有功效。鬼子母自己生了一千个儿子，但是她自己偏偏爱吃小孩子的肉，所以人类都快绝种了。

When the rakshasha-ghost mother came into the world, she had devoured a great many children. She fed solely on newborn infants and refused to eat anything else. She considered their flesh to be tender, savory, sweet, nutri-tious, and much more nourishing than vitamin supplements. The ghost mother had given birth to a thousand sons of her own, but unfortunately, she had a fondness for the flesh of human children. Consequently, the human race was close to extinction.

所以佛再不能不管这件事，于是将鬼子母的最小儿子捉来，放在佛的钵里。鬼子母各处吃小孩子后，回来发现小儿子不见了，就整个世界到处找。她也有神通，知道被佛捉去了，所以到佛那里兴师问罪，说：“你为什么无缘无故把我的小儿子抓去？”

At that point, the Buddha could no longer ignore the situation so he captured the ghost mother's youngest son and put him inside his alms bowl. When the ghost mother returned from her bout of devouring children and found her young son gone, she went searching for him all over the world. Since she was endowed with spiritual penetrations, she became aware that the Buddha had taken her son. She then mobilized her forces and went to accuse the Buddha. "Why did you so arbitrarily take away my little son?" she asked

佛说：“你现在也知道要你的小孩了，那你出去吃别人的小孩，别人又去向谁要小孩呢？”

"Now you know how it feels to miss your child!" said the Buddha. "When you go and eat the children of others, when they go to get their children back?"

鬼子母说：“我吃小孩子，是为了维持我的生命；你现在把我的小孩抓来，你也不吃，那你要我的小孩干什么？”

"I have to eat those children in order to survive," said the ghost mother. "Now you've kidnapped my child, but what do you want with him, since you aren't going to eat him?"

鬼子母说：“我若不吃小孩子，就没有东西可吃，那我岂不是要饿死了吗？” 佛说：“不要紧，你饿不死的，我叫我的弟子每逢用斋时就分出一部份给你吃，你以后不要再吃人间的小孩子了。”所以从此以后，鬼子母就改恶向善，发菩提心，不食人间的小孩子了。

The Buddha told her, "Just as you want your own child back, others also wish to have their children back. When you eat the children of others, their hearts are filled with grief and pain. From now on, you must never eat any more children."

The ghost mother said, "If I don't eat children, I'll have nothing to eat. Won't I starve to death?"

The Buddha said, "Don't worry, you won't starve. I shall tell my disciples to offer you a portion of their food when they take their meal. Don't eat children ever again." From that point onward, the ghost mother mended her evil ways and became good. She brought forth the resolve for Bodhi and no longer fed on the children of the world.

“甘露悉充满”，无论是大鹏金翅鸟、旷野鬼神众，或鬼子母，我现在都用甘露法食来供养你们，令你们得到饱满。所以我们出家人中午念供养咒施食，就是这样的因缘。

"May you all be filled with sweet dew." To the great golden-winged garuda bird, the ghosts and spirits in the desolate wilds, and the ghost mother and her children, I offer the Dharma-food of sweet dew, so that you will be well-fed and warm. These are the reasons for the custom that left-home people follow of reciting mantras and offering food at noon each day.

金翅鸟在生时有大势力，但是死后骨肉也消尽散灭，各归四大，唯有牠的心不化，火烧、水淹都不坏，还是完整如初。牠的心是圆的，能放出灿烂的光明。龙王若能得到此心，就是龙珠，放在龙宫一照，龙宫就会放大光明。转轮王若能得到此心，就变成他的如意宝珠，能救度一切灾难，神通妙用不可思议。

Although the golden-winged garuda bird is very powerful when alive, after death its flesh and bones disintegrate and return to the four elements. Its heart alone does not decay; even if burned by fire or drowned in water, it remains whole and intact. The heart is spherical and emits a radiant light. If a dragon king obtains this heart, it becomes the dragon's pearl. Placed inside the dragon's palace, it begins to shine, and the entire dragon palace radiates brilliant light. If a wheel-turning king obtains this heart, it becomes his wish-fulfilling pearl, with which he can rescue all those who are trapped in disasters and difficulties. With the wonderful functioning of such a wish-fulfilling pearl, the spiritual penetrations of the wheel-turning king are truly inconceivable.

可是这颗宝珠，我们人是不是没有份呢？不是的。我们每一个人都有这颗无价宝珠，它是在人的自性里，可是我们人被无明遮盖住了，就把这颗如意宝珠给埋没了，不能放出光明；我们怎么找也找不着，所以也不会用它，这是一件令人很痛心的事。

What about us? Don't we have any share of this pearl? We do! Everyone possesses this invaluable pearl within his own nature, but we're so shrouded by ignorance that our wish-fulfilling pearl is smothered and cannot shine. No matter how hard we look for it, we cannot find it. We don't know how to use it, either－what a pity.

世界上的人都舍本逐末，背觉合尘；不想返本还原，背尘合觉。所以每一位宗教圣人都苦口婆心来教化世人，无非是要令我们藉假修真，反迷归觉，返本还原，认识自己本地的风光，本有的家珍，本具的如意宝珠。可是我们人人都愿意向外驰求，不知道回光返照，反求诸己，所以生生世世流浪于生死苦海之中，想要修行又舍不得这些邋遢东西，始终不肯去除尘累，不愿自己清净，这真是可怜啊！

People of this world renounce the root to chase after the branch tips. They turn their backs on enlightenment and merge with the dust. They neither wish to return to the source, nor want to escape the dust and merge with enlightenment. For this reason, sages and saints of every religion have taken great pains to teach people to make use of this transitory existence to discover the eternal truth. Their only wish is for us to leave confusion and go toward enlightenment. They hope we will return to the source and recognize our original nature, that is, our inherent treasure－the wishfulfilling pearl we all possess. Most of us, however, prefer to seek externally, not realizing that we really ought to seek within and reflect upon ourselves. In life after life, we've drifted aimlessly in the sea of suffering, wanting to cultivate, yet unwilling to renounce our dirty habits and sloppy ways. We don't seriously want to purify ourselves and cast off the dust of this world. What a pity!

一九八二年六月六日开示于万佛圣城