師父上人、各位法師、各位佛友，阿彌陀佛！
我是恆音。我想跟各位分享兩禮拜前，我及其他一些老師、學生，去法界聖城參加法界佛教青年會第三屆會議的事。今年的會議我覺的辦得最成功，大概有八十個人參加，不只我們自己的校友及分支道場的年輕人，還有一些不信，但對佛教有興趣的青年人也來了。
這些青年大學生，在那兒時除參加道場一般功課外，還參加了很多的討論，像「佛教與科學」，佛教對種種題議的看法等等。我參加了一個很有趣的討論會，是關於第二代的佛教徒應如何自處，由倪果舟居士主持，他是上人在美國收的最久的在家弟子之一。他說雖然你們的父母或者信佛教，但是你們現在要作決定，就是「我要不要信佛教呢？」不是說信佛是父母傳下來的，我自然就是一個佛教徒了。當然，小時你可能跟著父母去拜佛、唸佛、吃素，但是到你可以自己獨立思想時，你就需要替自己作決定了。佛法非常廣大，你父母所認識的佛教，不一定是你所認識的。你在佛教的八萬四千法門中，可能找到適合你自己的法門，跟你父母所修的不同。
他又說，譬如這二十幾年來他都打坐，念大悲咒---他在（萬佛城所在地瑜伽鎮）一所中學教書---他覺得他修自己的法門，就有一種力量讓很多學生都歡喜親近他。他 的同修說，因為他們吃素，所以他的脾氣改了很多。
又有很多不同的人，也與大家分享了自己的經驗。有一個大學男生，是加拿大的中國人，自稱從小就跟爸爸關係不太好。他原以為佛教很迷信，所以就沒怎樣注意。可是上大學時他拿到了上人的開示錄，讀後他認為他應該實行上人講的一些道理，看是不是真有。
當他看到上人十一歲的時候就開始拜父母，擴大到拜一切眾生時，他就想，「我跟爸爸的關係這麼樣不好，我回臺灣時要拜爸爸。」他爸爸剛開始沒什麼反應，說這是迷信，只是外表的一個形象，你不用這樣做。但是他還是拜，一天兩天他爸爸不接受，拜到十天或第二個禮拜時，他爸爸開始哭了，心打開了跟他互相溝通，關係變好了。這個大男生在講這件事時自己也哭了，大家都很感動。
第二位是女校的一位校友，她爸爸管她很嚴，所以她在青少年時期叛逆性很強。在她上大學成熟一點時，她開始反省她在這邊學的佛教，她所學得的就是佛教所說的「同體大悲」--大家都是同一個體--所以她開始體諒他人的困難了。特別是她看到自己的爸爸並不是有那麼多權力可以壓迫她，她爸爸也是平常人，也有生活上的困難。當她這樣看時，她再也沒有那種叛逆性了，也不想再反對爸爸，父女關係自然就好了。
還有一個男校友，從小跟媽媽到廟上拜佛，他爸爸學科學，比較不信。這個男生讀四年級時，因怕同學笑他迷信，所以就不想跟媽媽上廟去，就說他信基督教了。後來他來讀我們學校時，發現佛教道理很好。他自己喜歡科學，他覺得佛教跟科學也很合得來，而且還超越科學，所以現在他又信佛了。
我看這些青年人，特別是第二代的佛教徒，不是因為父母而信佛，而是他們長大後，自己發現佛教對他們是有幫助，而自願學佛的。所以他們這次要求法總給他們開「楞嚴經講修班」，就像上人三十多年前在一九六八年時那樣。
我們現在聽的錄音帶，就是那時「楞嚴經暑假班」時上人講的。從錄音帶裡，我們可以知道上人當年怎樣教導這些年輕人的父母。上人講得這麼清楚，這麼幽默，這麼真實！
阿彌陀佛！ |
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Venerable Master, Dharma Masters, and Dharma friends:
I'd like to share what I saw at the Dharma Realm Buddhist Youth (DRBY) Conference in Sacramento. Two weeks ago at the City of Dharma Realm, DRBY held its third annual conference, and I think around eighty people were there. Not only young people from our Way- places, but also other college and high school students who were interested in Buddhism, although not necessarily Buddhist.
Aside from attending the morning and evening recitations and lunch with the assembly, they had various workshops on different topics about Buddhism and how it relates to science and technology, gender, and social issues, family relationships, and so forth.
I'd like to share especially about one workshop on second-generation Buddhists that I found interesting. This workshop was led by one of the Venerable Master's earliest American disciples, David Rounds. He told the second-generation Buddhists: Maybe your parents are Buddhists, and they practice certain Dharma doors. But Buddhism is so vast, it has eighty-four thousand Dharma doors, and when you grow up, you have to make your own choice about whether you want to be a Buddhist. But you can always find something in Buddhism that makes sense to you and can help you. It can be totally different from your parents' Buddhism. You can define your own Buddhism. You can find something in Buddhism for you that works for you, and so it's really not just inheriting it from your parents.
Upasaka David Rounds talked about his own practice of meditation and reciting the Great Compassion Mantra, which he has done for over twenty years and which has had an imperceptible, positive influence. Students seemed to really like to draw near him when he taught English in a local high school, and he felt it was because of the Great Compassion Mantra. His wife added that since they had become vegetarian, his temper had also improved a lot.
After this, other participants shared their experiences, and one young man who was in college in Canada said that ever since he was little, he really didn't pay much attention to Buddhism. He thought it was superstitious, but then when he was in college, he picked up some of the Venerable Master's books and decided to try out some of the principles in them to see if they really worked. He had always had a very poor relationship with his dad. They never could talk to each other. He read about how the Venerable Master bowed to his own parents, to repent for being unfilial, and then later began bowing to all living beings. When this young man went back to Taiwan, he bowed to his father. At first his father said, "You're just being superstitious, and it's just an external behavior, it's not coming from your heart." But he continued bowing, and he bowed day after day, and at the end of the second week, his father broke down in tears, and then really opened up and the two of them were able to communicate. They had a heart to heart talk, and everything was fine from then on. When this student told this, he was himself crying. It was very moving.
An alumna of the Girls School said that she also had a very strict father who was Buddhist. As a teenager, she had rebelled, and then later on she learned from Buddhism. Although she didn't really have her own practice, she learned about the Buddhist philosophy of compassion, and seeing all beings as one. She tried to empathize with everyone. When she applied this to her own father, she saw her father not just as an authority figure, who made up a lot of rules for her, but as a human being, and as someone who had had been through a lot of hardships in his life. She was able to readjust her perception and improve their relationship.
Another young man who was our schools' alumni shared that as a young boy, he used to go to the temple with his mom, who was a devout Buddhist, although his father was a scientist and not very much into religion. But by the time he was in fourth grade, he started to feel embarrassed about going to the temple and felt others would tease him. To avoid having to go to the temple, he became a Christian. Later on when he came to our school, he learned more about Buddhism and found that it actually made sense. Buddhism also made sense with science, and went beyond science, so now he's become a Buddhist again.
It was really wonderful to see all these young people come back to Buddhism after perhaps rebelling, or not really knowing what Buddhism was about. Because as second-generation Buddhists, or the second generation of any religion, young people go through a period of struggling, of questioning and doubting. When they grow up they need to figure out for themselves, why and whether they want to believe what their parents believed. Thus it was really interesting to see these young people truly wanting to learn about Buddhism of their own initiative. They requested that a Shurangama retreat be held so that they can learn more about the Buddhadharma.
Just now we heard the tape of the Venerable Master lecturing Shurangama Sutra, so we know how the Master taught the parents of this generation of young people. We see how lively, humorous, and applicable to daily life the Master's lectures were. Amitabha. |
