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一九九二年二月二十二日宣化上人對漢堡大學學生之開示於萬佛大殿，譯經委員會紀錄，已在二六二期萬佛城月刊第十三頁中登出：以下是上人對學生問題的回答。當時的場面，氣氛輕鬆幽默。
上人：誰有最難的問題，儘管提出來問。我要能答覆的，我一定答覆；不能答覆的，老老實實告訴你們，我沒有智慧，不能答覆道個太困難的問題。我答覆不出來的，可以請羅吉士神父回答。誰有什麼問題，快點問，免得浪費時間。你們年輕人的時間是很寶貴的，我的老年時間是沒價值了。沒答覆你的問題，把我也急得出汗了。（當時這位學生，在一旁已等了很久，很急了。）
學生：請問上人，可否指示或幫助我從打坐中啟發智慧？請您指示一些可以幫助我打坐的方法，讓我更能清楚明白佛教的教理，及了解其他我所學習的宗教。
上人：打坐要先學會坐打，坐著挨打，就像挨打那麼痛似的。能忍受痛，這就叫打坐。這裡包括不打坐的時候，人打我也要忍耐，駡我也要忍耐；總而言之，八風吹不動，才能坐著不倒單。十多年前，我有個皈依弟子問我說，這些中學生是最難教，最不聽話的，該怎樣教呢？我教他一個咒。他回去試了咒後，告訴我說，這個咒果然靈。你想知道這是什麼咒嗎？我現在亳不保留的告訴你，這不是什麼秘密，我就說：『忍耐，忍耐，多多忍耐，娑婆訶。』他回來說這個咒真靈，但這麼靈的咒他也不會念，要我來教。所以要問打坐，頭一步就要忍耐。忍痛、忍寒、忍熱、忍風、忍雨，一切都要忍。要忍，還要八風吹不動。八風是什麼呢？就是稱、譏、苦、樂、利、衰、毀、譽。稱，有人稱讚你，你不要動搖。譏，有人譏諷你，你也不要動，不要說，喔…今天有人稱讚我，我快點去對他說謝謝；有人譏諷我，我要罵他一頓，不能忍了。還要忍苦，比如腿痛了，腰痛了，都要忍著。有時候有什麼境界來臨，就高興得不得了；那也不要高興，還要不動。利、衰，有什麼不利益的事情，都要不動心。毀、譽，有時是說得失，得了什麼就高興，丟了什麼就不高興了，這都要不動，才能打坐呢！你沒有八風不動，好像蘇東坡似的，被佛印說兩個字，就被打過江去了。
學生：請告訴我忍及耐之間的差別，它們是否一樣；或者耐性有別於忍受，就是接受它？
上人：耐是有耐性，不發脾氣，不爆炸，不像原子彈爆炸似的。比如打坐忍不了痛，就是不能忍耐，都是差不多一樣。能忍的也忍，不能忍的也忍，就是原子彈不爆炸。
（因為當場的中文翻譯有所誤解，Akpinar 教授在再作解釋。）
Akpinar 教授：我想在英文中，此二者是有所差別的。忍是要堅強；耐是要有好的性情。忍，多在於生理上；耐是要柔和，性情隨順。
師父：誰有問題的，快點問！要沒問題的，我要走了。
學生：我有個問題。上人可否點明我，當一個人打坐時，誰或什麼是打坐的人？
上人：You find out.（你自己找。）
學生：您說當一個人打坐時，我們要忍下感受，所以我感到奇怪，我們可否發洩出感受呢？或許該把它收在裡邊？有時候我把它放在裡邊，但是之後我發覺我要爆炸了，我該怎麼辦呢？
上人：忍受是要空了它，要沒有了，不是藏在裡邊，你藏在裡邊作什麼用？你裝這些垃圾幹什麼？要忘了它！憋在裡邊比最邋遢的東西更邋遢。原子彈的威力大，它比原子彈威力更大。如果你不怕粉身碎骨，那你把它藏起來。可怕！可怕！
學生：您說到每一個宗教都有它的好處及壞處，什麼是佛教的短處呢？
上人：短處多啦，騙人啊！把人的錢作為自己的，這都是短處嘛！佛教不應該化緣的，教人供養自己，自己不供養別人，連自己的福都跑了。佛教裡頭出家人都不應該碰錢的。為什麼出家人有那麼多錢，在袋裡帶著？他是日中一食，樹下一宿，不貪財寶，身無長物，是這樣乞食赤足，就是去托缽乞食，乞來什麼吃什麼，這樣就夠了。為什麼還要住在高樓大廈？住那麼好的房子？吃那麼好的東西？穿那麼好的衣服？這是什麼意思？這不是短處嗎？哪一個宗教裡頭，多的少的，大的小的，都有這些弊病，不過他都隱藏著他的短處，向人宣傳自己的長處，這是護短而褒長。哪個宗教如果都是十全十美的，沒有長處也沒有短處，是圓融無礙的，早就成了各宗教的祖師了。你看，現在所有的宗教都叫窮，這就是他的短處。還有誰有甚麼問題，快點問，我等不了了！
學生：上人可否指示我如何加強我的堅固心（意志力）？
上人：怎樣有堅固心？你要堅固心幹什麼？
學生：因為不夠堅固。
上人：誰給你拿去了？
學生：在我自己這兒。
上人：在你自己那兒，你怎麼來問我…說！
學生：我自己去練習。
上人：既然在你那兒，你回頭就是了嘛！你拿出來就夠了！你問我，我怎麼教你堅固呢？你的堅固心是你的，我的堅固心是我的，你來問我，那不是向外企求了嗎？不是問道於盲了嗎？
學生：我不一定是丟了，只是要加強它。
上人：你什麼時候丟了？為什麼在你追求女人時又那麼堅固？
學生：……我明白了。（眾笑）
上人：你在那樣就堅固，怎麼這樣就不堅固了？
學生：現在我有了。
上人：Quickly！
questions！（快些問問題。）
學生：對於一位不一定是佛教徒的人，怎樣學習忍過自己身邊親友所引起的痛苦？
上人：什麼痛苦？
學生：好像你喜歡的男孩不領你的情。
上人：這是什麼問題？
學生：……
上人：一切是考驗，看你怎麼辦；看我怎麼辦，看他怎麼辦。對面若不識，須再從頭練。你有什麼難題，真認自己錯，莫論他人非；你要真認識自己是錯了，就不要管旁人對或不對。他非即我非，他的不對就是我的不對。同體名大悲，你能無緣大慈，同體就是大悲心；對誰都以慈悲心來待人，這樣什麼問題都沒了。
學生：起先我要說，我很高興在此度過了週末，嘗到了佛法的滋味，我也希望能學習更多的佛法。我是個猶太教徒，但上人所說的世界五大宗教之中沒有猶太教，我想知道佛教中如何能與猶太教合作？
上人：猶太教就是佛教，天主教也是佛教，不過換湯不換藥，換名不換義。我拿什麼宗教都不是宗教，認為只是人性的變化。所以我見到什麼宗教，我就是什麼宗教，我沒有自己的宗教。我是像小螞蟻、小蚊蟲似的，誰的血都要喝一口，什麼地方都要跑一趟。我自己本身什麼也不是，就是個小蚊蟲、小螞蟻。有的人給我造謠言，說我是青蛙精，要是我是青蛙精，那也很好哇！
學生：我有個關於慾的問題。我想要請您指示對於對的慾和錯的慾之間的差別。
上人：你自私就是不對，你不自私就是對；合理的就是對，不合乎真理的就是不對；對你自己有利益的就是不對，對他人有利益的就是對，再往深一層研究，那我就不知道了。你那些見得人的慾就是對，見不得人的慾就是不對，就是說你做的事，人人都認為合理的，這就是對，這叫見得人；你做的事不合理，怕人人都知道，那就是不對。你明裝人就是不對，暗裝鬼這也不對；你又攙糠又濕水，（賣米攙糠又對水）那都是不對的。天理和人慾沒離開多遠，一念之間。因為今天沒有太多時間，所以來不及講十法界。你們誰願意研究的，在二十年前已有十法界的偈頌，很容易記的，把這些佛法界、菩薩法界、聲聞法界、緣覺法界，和天、人、阿修羅、餓鬼、地獄、畜生等法界大略都說了！我們這裡有書，願意看英文的也有，你把這本書看懂了，就是懂十法界了。大家都休息去，快吃飯了！聽這個聽不飽的。好了！希望你們每個人都不要像我這樣愚痴。
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*The first half of this lecture appears in Vajra Bodhi Sea, Issue#262 , from page 13
Ven. Master: So, anyone who has the hardest question please bring it up. If I can answer, I will do my best to answer you. And if I cannot, I will honestly tell you that I have no wisdom to answer your question. I hope Father Rogers will please help me answer any question that I cannot answer. Time is precious for all you young people. You can't afford to waste it. I'm an old fogey, my time isn't worth much. So, quickly ask the questions you want to ask. I'm already nervous and sweating, waiting to answer your questions.
Student: Could the Venerable Master give me information or help me to find inner knowledge about the subject of meditation? Can he offer anything that would help me with my practice of meditation so that I will understand more clearly the teachings of Buddhism and the teachings of other religions I've studied?
Ven. Master: Well, first of all, literally in Chinese; you "strike up" a meditation and so the answer is, if you want to meditate you have to like to be hit, to be struck. You have to be able to endure the pain if you really want to meditate. And when you are
not meditating, you have to be patient. If people hit you, if they scold you, you have to take it, to the point that when the Eight Winds blow, you have to endure them, you do not want to be turned by them. Years ago I had a high school teacher disciple who had taken refuge with me. He came to me and said, "I have students who are really impossible to teach, they don't listen to me at all. What can I do with them?"
I then gave him a method that was efficacious; it really worked. It was a mantra, he first one ever transmitted in English. Would you like to know what the mantra was? I won't keep it from you; it is not a secret. This is the mantra:
"Patience, patience,
Gotta have patience,
Don't get angry
Swo Pwo He."
Then he came back to me and said, "Shr Fu, This mantra really works!". I believe you haven't met the person who asked for this Dharma. His name is Doug Powers. If you truly want to study meditation, then you have to learn to be patient. You have to be patient with the pain and with the cold. You have to be patient with the heat, with the wind, and with the rain. In every situation, you have to be patient. You also have to be patient when the Eight Winds blow.
What are the Eight Winds? Praise, and ridicule, pain and joy, profit and loss, fame and infamy.
So, whatever situation happens, don't be turned by it. When people praise you, don't think it's fantastic. Don't say, "Oh, I should go thank that person for saying such nice things about me!" If people ridicule you, you shouldn't be turned by that either. And no matter how much pain or misery you meet., you have to endure that, too, and not be disturbed by it. When happy states arise in your meditation, you shouldn't be moved by them, either. Don't let it be that if good things happen, you are happy and if bad things happen, you get upset.
Don't be turned by either pain or pleasure. And if people slander you and say bad things about you, there's no need to get angry. If you have a good reputation, you need not be attached to that either. For example, Su Tung-po,the Chinese poet, got really angry when the Patriarch Fo Yin said two words to him. We shouldn't want to imitate him.
Student: Would you tell me the difference between patience and just enduring something? Are they the same, or is patience something different than just enduring it, just taking it?
Ven. Master: With patience you keep your even temper; you don't blow up. That is patience. Also, when you meditate, if you cannot take a bit of pain, it shows you cannot be patient. Patience and endurance are similar in meaning. However you can keep the bomb from going off, that is the most important thing.
Prof. Akpinar: I think there is a difference in English between the two. To endure means to be tough. To be patient means to have a good disposition. Endurance is a physical thing more or less, whereas patience is something soft, a disposition that goes along with things.
Ven. Master: Please ask if you have more questions. Otherwise, I must leave.
Student: Would the Master enlighten me to this: when one meditates, who or what is the meditator?
Ven. Master: You find out.
Student: You said that when we meditate, we should have patience with all our feelings. So, I am wondering, should we express our feelings or should we hold them inside? Sometimes I hold them all inside because I want to be patient, and I find later on that I want to explode. What shall I do about that?
Ven. Master: If you are really being patient, then you want to empty yourself, it's not that you hold your feelings inside. What use is it to hold them all inside? Why do you want to keep all that garbage inside for? If you hold feelings inside, then your guts get really filthy! The power of an atomic bomb is really great, but represssed feelings have more power than an atomic bomb. If you are not afraid of being pulverized by it, then go ahead and bottle up your feelings. That idea is really scary.
Student: You mentioned earlier that every religion has its good and bad points. What are the bad points of Buddhism?
Ven. Master: Buddhism has a lot of shortcomings. One is cheating people, taking people's money and using it for themselves. For example, a monk will tell people to make offerings to him so that they may plant blessings. But his blessings are all gone. Basically, a monk or nun, should not touch money. But why do so many left home people still have money in their pockets? Left home people in Buddhism should only eat one meal a day, at noon, and should sleep under a tree in one place only for one night. No matter the religion, whether it has a lot of followers or a few, either a great religion or a small one, they all have similar failings. But what we do is cover up our shortcomings. We don't let others see them. We only allow others to see our good points and we keep the bad things covered. Within each religion, we can find Patriarchs, if there are both few short-comings and few strong points, and if everything is done properly. Now all of the religions of the world are claiming they are poverty-stricken, and this is a shortcoming.
Student: Can the Master instruct me as to how I might strengthen my will?
Ven. Master: Why do you want to stengthen your will?
Same person replies: Because it's not strong enough.
Ven. Master: Who took it away from you?
Same person replies: I have it here, right with me.
Ven. Master: If it's there with you, why come and ask me how to strengthen it?
Same person: Good question. Practice it.
Ven. Master: If your will is yours, then why are you asking me about it?
If it is yours, then just take it back. If you're the one who has lost it, you need to find it and take it back yourself. You shouldn't ask me how you can get it back.
Same person: It's not for sure that I lost it, but I do want to strengthen it.
Ven. Master: When did you lose it? why do you have so much willpower invested in running after women?
Same person: I understand! (Much laughter.)
Ven. Master: Since you can strengthen your will to do that, then how come you can't find the will power to do other things?
Same person: Well, it's come back again!
Ven. Master: Quickly! questions!
Student: How can someone who is not necessarily a Buddhist learn to let go of bitterness that affects relationships with people around you?
Ven. Master: What is the bitterness?
Student: Like when a boy you like doesn't pay attention to you.
Ven. Master: What problem do you have with that?
Student: (Unable to reply.)
Ven. Master: "Everything is a test to see what you will do. If you don't recognize what's in front of you, if I don't recognize what is in front of me, if he doesn't recognize what is in front of him, then we have to start anew." If you have difficulty, then you should
"truly recognize your own faults and not talk about other people's faults. Because other people's faults are just your own faults. If you can be of one substance with everybody, then that is real compassion." If you can see that other people's faults and your own are the same, then that's really being able to have
great compassion. If you can think this way, then there will be no difficulties or bitterness at all.
Student: First I want to say that I am really happy to be here and get this small taste over the weekend of Buddhism, and I hope to read more on it. I am of the Jewish faith and the Master several times referred to the five great religions and Judaism was not in there, which may be understandable, but I would want to know how Buddhism relates or how it can be incorporated into Judaism?
Ven. Master: Judaism is just Buddhism, and Buddhism is just Catholicism. Same medicine, different bottle. So, there are no real differences between the Five Religions. People's natures develop differently, yet it all still comes from the Buddha nature. No matter what religion I meet with, I feel I am a member of that religion. I don't have my own religion. I'm like a little ant or mosquito, I want to drink a little of whoever's blood it is. Wherever I am, I want to run around a little. I myself am nothing but a small ant or a mosquito. Some people started a rumor that I'm a frog spirit, and I said, "OK, that's fine."
Student: I have a question about desires and I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to differentiate between wrong desires and right desires.
Ven. Master: If you are being selfish, then it's wrong; if you're not being selfish, then it's right. If what you are doing accords with true principle, then it's right. If what you are doing does not go along with true principle, then it's wrong. If it is something that is just going to benefit yourself, then it's wrong. If it's something that's going to benefit others, then it's right. And to get into it any deeper, I don't know. So, if your desire is something that you can let everyone know about, then it is right. If your desire is something to feel shameful about, then this is a wrong desire. If in front of people you behave yourself like a gentleman, but in the darkness when no one sees you, you act like a ghost, and if, when you attend to business, you cheat people, then this kind of behavior is all wrong.
True principle and human desire are not far from each other; if there is one mind, then they are close to each other. I'm afraid today I don't have enough time to explain the Ten Dharma Realms in detail. But twenty years ago I wrote a poem describing them. If any one of you is interested, this book has been translated into
English and you can find it here.
I'll just tell you their names for the time being. There are the Dharma Realms of Buddhas, of Bodhisattvas, of Pratyeka Buddhas, of Arhats, (Sound-Hearers), of Gods, of humans, of Asurasa, of animals, ghosts, and hell-dwellers.
Well you should all go eat right away. You'll never get full by just listening to me. It's time to eat! I hope after hearing this talk, everyone will not be as stupid as I am.
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