我们佛教徒在没有成佛之前，应当惜福求慧。惜福能增长福报，求慧能增长智能。你们看世上的人，有种种不同的环境，有的人有很大的福报，不需要做什么，便能万事如意，种种现成，生活富裕，无忧无虑，快乐无穷，这是因为他在往昔修福修得多的缘故，所以得到这种大福报。

Before we Buddhists become Buddhas, we must cherish our blessings and seek wisdom. Fostering blessings increases blessings; seeking wisdom increases wisdom. Look at all the people of the world: they live in different environments. Some, who have great blessings, don’t need to work hard to have everything they wish readily available, to have an affluent, carefree life of boundless happiness. That’s because in the past they cultivated lots of blessings, so now they have this kind of prosperous reward.

有的人记忆力特别强，过目不忘，又聪明又健康，又辩才无碍；说法时，有天花乱坠，地涌金莲的境界，为什么他会这样子？因为他在往昔修慧修得多的缘故。怎么样修慧？从什么地方修慧？先从大乘经典开始，读诵大乘经典，把三藏研究得非常透彻，到圆满的程度，口能背诵，心能思惟，朝于斯，夕于斯，把三藏读透了，就开大智慧，来生一定又聪明，又有辩才。

Some people have extraordinarily keen memories. They can retain anything they have glanced at. They are smart, healthy, and eloquent without any impediments in their speech. When they speak Dharma, a golden lotus sprouts from the ground and flowers fall in luxuriant profusion from the sky. Why is this? Because they cultivated lots of wisdom in the past. Well, how do we cultivate wisdom? Where do we start? You begin with the Sutras of the Great Vehicle. Recite the Great Vehicle Sutras, learn the Tripitaka until you master it perfectly, so that you can recite it with your mouth and contemplate it with you mind. By being mindful day and night, thoroughly penetrating the Tripitaka, you will develop great wisdom. Then you’ll definitely be smart and eloquent in future lives.

我们既然知道惜福求慧的法门，就应该爱物、不糟蹋物质、修桥铺路、造塔建庙、舍衣施食、救济贫人，这都是种福田。讲经说法、印经流通、翻译经典、绘画佛像，这都是修慧的法门。假使你不想有福报，不想有智慧，那就无话可说；若想有福报、有智慧，那么就赶快修福求慧，不可把福随便浪费，不可把慧随便放弃，惜福求慧是佛教徒必行的一件大事。

Since we know this Dharma-door of fostering blessings and seeking wisdom, we should conserve things and not waste anything. Repairing bridges, paving roads, building stupas and temples, giving clothes and food to the poor－these are all acts of planting fields of blessings. Speaking Dharma, printing and circulating Sutras, translating Sutras, making Buddha images－these are ways of cultivating wisdom. If you don’t want blessings or wisdom, there’s nothing I can say. But if you do want blessings and wisdom, then quickly cultivate blessings and seek wisdom. Don’t waste blessings and neglect wisdom in a careless manner. For Buddhists, fostering blessings and seeking wisdom is a most important task.