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對於剛才說法者解釋修行是不受境界所轉，我有不同的看法。我認為修行是受境界所轉，要受每一個境界轉。這是什麼意思呢？我的看法與法師所說的，只是觀點不同而不相抵觸的。我之所以說修行正是被境所轉，是因為上人廣大的教化，以及佛法無所不包，到現在我還沒看到能與佛法相提並論的。
修行的目標是被轉到不分內外，自己與一切人、一切物，合而為一。境界來時，不是要你退卻或含藏而永不為它所動。佛性無量無邊，無所不在；我們都在其中。
人人皆可作佛，一切境都是在我們的佛性裡。明白這個道理，我們就願意在學校任教，受學生所「轉」，了解兒童如何思想、感受與學習。對可成佛一事之回應就是「被轉」，正因為我們被兒童轉，被他們的自有佛性所轉，我們才回應。看到兒童並且知道他們是未來的佛菩薩，一個念頭就起來：「我不培育他們的佛性，誰來做？如果我不去培護，他們的佛道如何成就？」
如果我們這樣想：「我是老修行，不受這般兒童境界所轉。」那已經是捨離眾生了。捨棄眾生就是捨棄自性，斷了自己的菩提道。如果這樣還想證果，那麼所證的會是一個乾癟的，不比葡萄乾大的果。佛陀不是也叫這些發小願、修自覺的人「焦芽敗種」嗎？
《華嚴經》裡提醒我們擴大心量，去除私欲，調伏情感。但經典可不是要我們去忍受無謂的苦痛來壓抑自己；它是啟發人們開擴心胸，認同與一切眾生同體。經上說菩薩見諸世界，宇宙與自己不異。若做如是觀，人怎麼會輕損自己或他人的身體？或執著男女、老少、中國人、美國人、自他的不同？愈為眾生的修行者，則愈能處己。所謂菩薩「無人相，無我相，無眾生相，無壽者相」，我認為這是徹底慈悲的同體，不是自我孤立的冷漠。
《華嚴經》裡描述菩薩有如生死曠野中的大樹王，樹根深藏地下，一切花果有賴樹根輸送土地中的水份和礦物質而成熟茁壯。這個比喻說明菩薩與眾生的關係：花果代表諸佛菩薩的覺道，樹根若不吸收養分，怎能使花果繁茂？樹根代表一切眾生，諸佛菩薩以大悲水滋養土地，大悲水使樹根與花果相連，所以樹是不可分割的一個整體––各部份相賴相融。
眾生與世界的關係也是如此。若無眾生，則諸佛菩薩不能成就，求無上正覺的我們也終不能成就。佛怎會忘懷眾生呢？就字面上的解釋，佛菩薩就是眾生。這是我所了解《華嚴經》所揭櫫的道理。所以文殊師利菩薩不是教善財童子，承事供養一切眾生如同承事供養諸佛嗎？文殊師利菩薩說，一切諸佛皆以同體大悲為體––與眾生一體！
記得上人曾說：「你們以為觀音菩薩已經修行圓滿，退休了嗎？不是的，觀音菩薩比誰都更加努力。看看他發願要一切眾生皆證得菩提，那時他才能退休。觀音法門正是不斷救度眾生，菩薩就是以度生為度己，度生與度己是不二無別的。」所以對觀音菩薩而言，教學廿年算不上什麼，只不過一眨眼的工夫。我覺得不論是《華嚴經》或上人都一直在推動我們向另一個境界前進。
→待續
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I would disagree with the previous speaker's definition of cultivation, as "not being moved by any states." I think cultivation is being moved--being "moved" by every state. How do I mean that? My way of looking at it doesn't really contradict the principle expressed by the Dharma Master who just spoke. Rather, it’s a different slant. So why do I say that "cultivation is just being moved by states"? Because the Ven. Master's teaching is vast and great. The scale of the Buddhadharma is so all-encompassing. I have never encountered anything that can come up to it.
Cultivating this Buddhadharma means being moved to the point that "there is no inside and no outside." Being one with everyone, with everything, this is cultivation's goal. Cultivation doesn't mean pulling back from states, or that you are self-contained, and never moved. Rather it means that we never forget who we really are. Who we are is our Buddha-nature. That Buddha-nature is limitless and boundless; its dimensions reach everywhere; it includes all of us.
All of us are potential Buddhas, and all states are included within our nature. Once we understand this, then we should want to teach school and be "moved" by children, to learn how it is that children think and feel and learn. Responding to potentials is "being moved." And it’s because we've been "moved" by children, by their inherent Buddha-nature, that we respond. We look at them and see that children are future Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The thought occurs, "If I don't nurture those children’s Buddha-natures, who will? How will their Buddhahood come forth if I do not protect and nurture it in them?"
If we think this way: "I'm an old cultivator; I won't be moved by states like children," then we have already pulled away from and rejected living beings. If we reject living beings, we reject our own nature and cut off our own path to Bodhi. If we feel that way, and still try to realize the fruit of cultivation, then the fruit of the harvest will be a dried-up fruit, not much bigger than a raisin. Didn’t the Buddha call the small resolve for one’s own enlightenment something like, "the dried sprouts and seeds within the Dharma"?
There are passages from the Flower Adornment Sutra that exhort us to expand the measure of the mind. They tell us to get rid of selfish desires and subdue our passions. But the way the Sutra tells us to do it is not by beating yourself in self-mortification and biting your lips in repression until they are blue. No, the Sutra inspires us to expand the measure of our mind until we are able to identify and embrace all living beings as our own self. In fact, it says the Bodhisattva sees no difference between himself and all worlds, the entire universe. With that outlook, how could one abuse one’s own body, or anyone else's? With that vision, how can one get so caught up and concerned with differences between women and men, young and old, Chinese and American, self and others? The better you cultivate others, the better you learn to deal with yourself. It’s said, the Bodhisattva has "no mark of self or others, no mark of life or living beings." This, to me, is talking about total compassionate oneness, not self-isolated indifference.
The Flower Adornment (Avatamsaka) Sutra describes the Bodhisattva’s attitude like a giant tree, a king of trees, growing in the desert wilderness of birth and death. The tree is deeply rooted in the dirt, and yet the tree’s flowers and fruits mature and ripen because of that dirt. The roots nurture the flowers and fruits by bringing them water and minerals. This analogy describes the relationship between Bodhisattvas and living beings. The tree’s fruits and flowers represent the enlightenment of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. How could the tree luxuriate in flowers and fruits without absorbing the nutriments of the roots? The roots represent living beings, who pass on the nurturing of the earth to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The water is Great Compassion. Great Compassion connects the roots to the flowers and fruits. Thus the tree is a whole, an unbroken oneness--all parts mutually interdependent and interfused.
So are all living beings and all worlds. If there were no living beings, there would also be no Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, nor any of us seeking Ultimate Enlightenment. How could the Buddhas forget about living beings? By definition, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all living beings! That’s how I understand the Avatamsaka teaching. So, isn’t the youth Good Wealth told by Manjushri, his teacher, that by serving and giving to all living beings he is in fact serving and giving to all Buddhas? Manjushri says every Buddha takes this all-encompassing compassion--being one with everyone--as his very body!
I recall the Ven. Master said to us, "Do you think that Guanyin Bodhisattva is finished with cultivation and sitting around in retirement? No way! Guanyin works harder than anybody else. Look at the job he does! He has vowed to wait until every living being has crossed over to Bodhi, and only then can Guanyin retire. Guanyin’s Dharma-door is just constantly saving and helping living beings. The Bodhisattva liberates himself just by liberating others--it’s the same thing, and non-dual." So for Guanyin, teaching school for twenty years is nothing, just the blink of an eye. The Avatamsaka and the Ven. Master are always there pushing us on ahead to another state.
→To be continued
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