佛没有瞋恨心，魔却有瞋恨心，不同之处就在于此。佛成佛是因为魔帮助他成佛的，因为佛在菩提树下，将要证道时，天魔生瞋恨心，派魔兵、魔女来威胁、诱惑佛；可是佛不动心，用定力降伏魔力，所以证得佛位，因此佛是不瞋恨魔的。

魔成魔的原因是因为魔有争强论胜的心，所谓：

The difference between Buddhas and demons is that Buddhas have no hatred, while demons do. The Buddha accomplished Buddhahood with the help of demons. When the Buddha was about to become enlightened beneath the Bodhi tree, the heavenly demons became furious. They dispatched demon armies to threaten the Buddha and demon women to seduce him. However, the Buddha remained unmoved and overcame the demons with his samadhi power. Thus, he realized Buddhahood. The Buddha doesn't hate demons. Demons become demons because they like to fight and quarrel. It is said,

争是胜负心，
与道相违背；
便生四相心，
由何得三昧？

Fighting involves thoughts of
 victory and defeat,
And is in opposition to the Way.
Giving rise to the thought of
 the Four Marks,
How can one obtain samadhi?

魔争不到第一，便生瞋恨心、妒忌心、障碍心。所以谁有这种思想和行为，就是魔，就永远不能成佛。

When demons are frustrated in their struggle to be number one, they become angry, jealous and obstructive. Whoever behaves that way is a demon and will never be able to attain Buddhahood.

魔的神通力与佛的神通力相差无几，不过佛的神通力是正派，魔的神通力是邪派。所谓“邪不胜正”，魔始终是不能胜佛的，所以就甘拜下风，五体投地，皈依于佛。

The spiritual powers of demons and the spiritual powers of Buddhas are pretty much the same. The only difference is that while the Buddhas' spiritual powers are proper, those of demons are deviant. It is said that “the deviant cannot overcome the proper.” Since demons are ultimately inferior to Buddhas, they humbly bow to the ground, and take refuge in the Buddhas.

佛是慈悲、有怜愍众生的心，绝对不对付魔，而是用德行来感化魔，令魔心服口服。在八相成道中，有一相是“降魔”，其实不如说是“佛感化魔”，更为贴切。因为佛不会用什么压迫或强硬的手段来降魔，因为若是这样，就有了我相、人相、众生相、寿者相；有了这四相，就不能成佛了。

Buddhas feel pity and compassion toward living beings. They would never oppose demons. Instead, they influence demons with their virtue, until the demons are moved to submit wholeheartedly. One of the Eight Signs of Realizing the Way is that of “subduing demons.” However, it would be more fitting to say that Buddhas “influence and convert” demons, because Buddhas don't use force to subdue demons. If they subdued demons, they would have the view of self, the view of others, the view of living beings, and the view of a life span. Having these four views, they couldn't have become Buddhas.

那么佛怎么令魔王投降呢？因为佛具足慈、悲、喜、舍四无量心，无论魔王怎样来侵害佛，佛仍然用慈悲对待魔，用德行来感化魔。佛明白前因后果，就算魔来损害他，他知道这是在往昔所结的怨仇，所以不计较，仍然心安理得来接受这种魔扰。

How does a Buddha cause demons to surrender? A Buddha has the Four Boundless Thoughts of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. No matter how the demons attack and harm the Buddha, he responds with kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity and uses his virtuous conduct to influence them. Since Buddhas know the causes and effects of the past and future, when demons come to harm them, they know that it's due to feelings of enmity left over from former lives. Therefore, they don't mind it; they suffer demonic disturbances with perfect peace of mind.

魔是怎样成魔的？是由恨、怨、恼、怒、烦五毒所成就的，这五种毒气帮助他成魔。所以魔时时刻刻找人的麻烦，尤其对修道人，他视为眼中钉，一定要设法破坏出家人的道业。因为出家人修行成佛，他就少了一个眷属，所以他要极力来破坏。凡是出家人，都要谨慎预防，不要中了魔的圈套，落在陷阱之中，永远不能翻身。所以参禅的人，对境界弄不清楚，便是上魔的当，所谓“走火入魔”，这是一件十分危险的事。

How do demons become demons? Five kinds of poisonous energies—hatred, resentment, affliction, anger, and vexation—help them to become demons. That's why demons are always making trouble for people. They especially detest cultivators and see them as thorns in their flesh, so they try their best to destroy the cultivation of left-home people. They know that if a left-home person cultivates and be-comes a Buddha, they will lose one of their retinue, so they use all their might to ruin his cultivation. All left-home people should be careful and be on guard. Don't fall into the demons' snares. If you do, you may never get out. If Chan meditators fail to recognize states clearly, they will be taken in by the demons. This is called “catching fire and being possessed by a demon,” and it's extremely dangerous.

什么是佛？就是讲理，就是讲因果；什么是魔？就是不讲理，不讲因果。讲因果是合理的；不讲因果是不合理的。所以佛和魔的分别，最明显的不同点就是：佛有慈悲心，魔有瞋恨心。

What are Buddhas? They are those who follow reason. Reason refers to cause and effect. What are demons? They are those who don't listen to reason. They don't heed cause and effect. To heed cause and effect is rational; not to heed them is irrational. The most obvious difference between Buddhas and demons is that while Buddhas are compassionate, demons are full of hate.

一九八三年十月九日开示