我並不知道自己是不是真正的得到菩薩戒的戒體，但我非常的希望，也非常的渴望得到它。因為對我而言，以前最難的一點，就是菩提心怎麼發？在傳戒的過程中，我感覺到菩提心跟我合而為一，當法師在問我們能持否？我自己覺得：「Yes, I can ！」能夠發出那種力量，我十分希望這力量帶給我們菩薩戒的戒體。最後，我希望用嚴格持戒的方式和行動，來感謝法師這次的傳戒。阿彌陀佛！
Strictly Observing the Precepts to Repay the Kindness of Our Teachers
A Talk Given and Translated by Liu Ming on June 30, 2007
in the Buddha Hall at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
My name is Liu Chin Ming. I come from the Avatamsaka Vihara in
Maryland. After the week-long Precept Study Program and yesterday’s Repentance
Ceremony, today we finally successfully completed the Bodhisattva
Precept Transmission. I would like to say it is a very rare and difficult-to-encounter
event, and I feel very blessed by the Triple Jewel. I’m very grateful
to the City of 10,000 Buddhas (CTTB) Precept Committee that organized
this wonderful event for all the preceptees. I also would like to express
my deepest sympathy for those Dharma friends who wanted to join
but couldn’t, for whatever reason. Though I know they may have their own
causes and conditions, I feel it is kind of a loss to not join this transmission.
Therefore, I would like to encourage them to make every effort to join the
next ransmission.
There are two reasons why I make this suggestion. The
first is because the Bodhisattva Precept Transmission is really in accord with
the proper Dharma. The second reason is because it is done here at CTTB.
By means of the proper Dharma, especially the Great Vehicle Dharma, we have learned all the precepts, and we have learned to bring forth the Bodhi
mind in order to receive the substance of the precepts.Though we have this proper Dharma, we still need the pure Sangha to
transmit it to us, and in my opinion CTTB is the best place to do this. This
is because there are so many Good Knowing Advisors and so many wholesome
causes and supporting conditions to help us to do so. Through all the
religious activities, such as the Dharma assemblies in the Buddha Hall, learning
the precepts, listening to Dharma talks, and performing the various
ceremonies, the spirit of the proper Dharma is able to shine upon us.
Before, I found it very difficult to make the resolve for Bodhi. I knew
that you have to make this kind of vow to receive the substance of the
precepts, but I just couldn’t do it. Every time I tried, I didn’t feel like it came
from my heart. But this time, I feel that I began to understand how to resolve on Bodhi, and how to continually strengthen this kind of vow. I don’t remember whether it was during lunchtime or during the
Precept Class, but one of the Dharma Masters said that the Venerable Master Hua often said,
“Throughout the entire Dharma
Realm and the reaches of space, there is not a single place where
Shakyamuni Buddha in his past lives on the path to becoming a
Buddha had not sacrificed his own head, eyes, brains and marrow
in order to rescue living beings.”
I had heard this quote
before, but it hadn’t really registered in my mind. This time, it
made an impression on me. A few days later, during the universal
bowing, after I recited, “Homage to our Original Teacher,
Shakyamuni Buddha,” I bowed down, and suddenly this verse
came to my mind again. I thought, “Oh, we should follow the
Buddha’s teaching and try to become a Buddha.”
I know there
are two conditions that are necessary in order to make the resolve
for Bodhi. One condition is that you have to make the
vow to become a Buddha. The second condition is that one
must make the vow to rescue all living beings. If we try to emulate
and learn from the Buddha, we must also follow his example
in rescuing all sentient beings.
Before, I divided all living beings into two categories. One
category is my friends, and the other category is the people unrelated
to me and my enemies. During the bowing, I had different thought on how to view all sentient beings. I think there are two
groups. In one group are the living beings who really do a lot of
good on our behalf, like our parents, our friends, and our friends’
parents, and we have to repay their kindness. If they are suffering
in the Six Paths of Existence, we have to help them and
enable them to attain liberation from that suffering. The second
group of people are those that do a lot of harm to us, trying to
collect karmic debts that we owe them from past lives. If they
want to get something back from us, we should let them. But
the best way to pay them back is to help to liberate them from
the suffering of Samsara. Through thinking in this way, I kind
of got an inkling of how to make the vow to rescue all living beings. Based on this kind of thinking, I felt I had a way to bring
forth the Bodhi-mind.
I don’t know if it is a true resolve for
Bodhi. Perhaps it is a very minor resolve or not completely
genuine, but I feel it is a way for me to follow. And I can repeat
this kind of contemplation again and again to strengthen my
resolve. During the transmission of the Bodhisattva Precepts,
with this kind of resolve for Bodhi, I felt that I really received
the substance of the precepts. At least I truly hope so! I would
like to thank all of the Dharma Masters for doing the best that
they could in holding the Transmission of the Bodhisattva
Precepts. Amitabha Buddha!
我叫劉親鳴，從馬利蘭州華嚴精舍來。經過一週的戒律學習，昨天終於圓滿了。求受菩薩戒的過程，我感到難遭難遇，非常殊勝的法緣。感到諸佛菩薩的加持，我很感謝萬佛城菩薩戒傳戒委員會提供了這次難得的機會，也非常惋惜此次因故而不能受戒的佛友；雖然我知道他們都有自己的原因，但我仍覺得這是非常的遺憾。我建議這些沒有參加的佛子，下次有機會，他們應該盡各種的努力再來參加。
My name is Liu Chin Ming. I come from the Avatamsaka Vihara in
Maryland. After the week-long Precept Study Program and yesterday’s Repentance
Ceremony, today we finally successfully completed the Bodhisattva
Precept Transmission. I would like to say it is a very rare and difficult-to-encounter
event, and I feel very blessed by the Triple Jewel. I’m very grateful
to the City of 10,000 Buddhas (CTTB) Precept Committee that organized
this wonderful event for all the preceptees. I also would like to express
my deepest sympathy for those Dharma friends who wanted to join
but couldn’t, for whatever reason. Though I know they may have their own
causes and conditions, I feel it is kind of a loss to not join this transmission.
Therefore, I would like to encourage them to make every effort to join the
next ransmission.