人来到这个世界，把真的放下，拿起假的，所以生生世世背觉合尘，醉生梦死。醉生就是在生的时候，好像喝醉酒似的，不知怎样生来；梦死就是在死的时候，好像在作梦似的，不知怎样死去。人人皆在梦中，不知何日能清醒，所谓“人生如梦”，以假为真，为名为利，贪无止境。

When people come into this world, they put down the real and pick up the unreal. That is why in life after life we turn against enlightenment, unite with the dust, and muddle our way through life as if drunk or in a dream. When we are born, we seem to be drunk and unaware of how we got born; when we die, we seem to be in a dream, unaware of how we die. People are all dreaming, and there’s no knowing when they will wake up. It’s said that life is like a dream. We take the false for the real, and become insatiably greedy for fame and profit.

你在梦中，又升官，又发财，又有地位，又有名誉，娇妻美妾，儿孙满堂，荣华富贵，享受不尽。假设这时，在梦中有人对你说：“这都是虚妄的，不是真实的。”你绝对不会相信。等你的甜蜜梦清醒时，没有人告诉你这是作梦，你自己也知道原来是在作梦哪！

In your dream, you are promoted and become wealthy; you have high social status, a good reputation, a beautiful wife, lovely mistresses, and a house full of children and grandchildren; you enjoy boundless affluence, wealth and honor. If at some time during the dream someone were to tell you, “These things are all unreal,” you would never believe that person. However, after you woke up from your sweet dream, even if no one told you it was a dream, you would know that you’d been dreaming.

你昨夜在梦中，读书中状元，当了宰相，作了皇帝，成了神仙，其乐无穷。今天早晨醒了，啊！原是一场梦呀！这是清醒了；如果没有醒，认为是真的，就贪恋不舍，不肯放下，执迷不悟。

我们现在就是在作白日梦，没有清醒，所以糊涂而来，糊涂而去。来，从什么地方来的？去，往什么地方去呢？不知道；一辈子也没有清醒。各位想想看！这有什么意义？有什么可留恋？有什么值得放不下呢？

Last night in a dream, you came out first in the imperial examinations, got appointed prime minister, later became emperor, and finally became an immortal enjoying boundless happiness. This morning you wake up “Oh! It was a spring dream!” That is when you are awake. If you don’t wake up and you continue to think it’s real, then you become enamored of it and can’t let go. Unable to let go, you become deeply attached and deluded. Right now we are daydreaming, not awake. So we come into this world muddled and leave muddled. Where do we come from when we arrive? Where do we go when we leave? We don’t know. During our whole life long, we are never once awake. Think about it: Is that meaningful? What do we want to stay around for? What is so precious that we cannot bear to put it down?

我们一生被“三毒”及“五欲”的绳子捆得结结实实，连转身的自由都没有，更谈不到解脱。所以发心出家修道，用功打坐，努力拜佛，就是解三毒和五欲的绳子，终有一天，能完全解开。那时候就清醒了，回头一看，过去所作所为，完全如梦，一切不如法。现在清醒了，便能出离三界，不受生死的限制，生死自由，愿生即生，愿死即死，这种境界，遂心如意，来去自由，才是真正解脱，所谓“大梦初醒”。

In our lives, we are tightly bound by the ropes of the three poisons and the five desires. We don’t even have the freedom to turn around, let alone be liberated. Hence, we must resolve to enter the monastic life and cultivate the Way, meditating and bowing to the Buddha with vigor. Those are the ways to untie the ropes of the three poisons and the five desires. The day will come when the ropes are completely untied. At that time, you will be awake. Looking back on what you have done, you will find that it was completely like a dream, and nothing you did was in accord with the Dharma. Since you now are fully awake, you can leave the Three Realms and not be bound by birth and death. You will have control over your own birth and death: you can be born if you like to and die when you want to. This state, where everything is just as you wish, where you can come and go freely, is true liberation. It is like waking up from a big dream.

我们现在把假的抓住，把真的忘了。什么是假的？财色名食睡这五欲的快乐是假的。什么是真的？涅盘四德──“常乐我净”的快乐是真的。可是奇怪的人类，真的丢了也不怕，把假的丢了却起恐怖。为什么？因为认贼作子，舍本逐末，以假为真，没有清醒，还在梦中，贪恋梦中的境界。

But now we hold on to what’s false and forget about what’s true. What is false? The objects of the five desires: wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep. What is true? The happiness of the four virtues of Nirvana-permanence, bliss, true self, and purity. And yet we human beings are so strange: We’re not afraid of losing what’s true, but we’re terrified when what’s false is lost. Why is that? Because we take a thief for our son, we reject the roots in favor of the twigs, take the false for the true, and are continually dreaming, hooked by dream states.

我们因为起惑造业受报的缘故，好像一粒微尘，在空中飘上飘下，做不得主，随着业力在六道轮回中转来转去。所谓“打不破名利关，跳不出轮循环”，什么时候不为名利境界所转，那时就脱离六道轮回的樊笼。

Because of delusion, we create karma and then receive the retribution. We are like a dust mote floating up and down in the air, led by the power of our karma, revolving in the six paths, with no control of our own. It is said, “If you can’t clear the hurdles of fame and profit, you won’t be able to leap out of the cycle of rebirth.” When fame and benefit cease to attract you, you’ll escape the trap of rebirth in the six paths.

一九八三年八月二十一日
开示于万佛圣城