什麼是聰明迷信者呢？有知識，有身份地位，不辦喪事。甚至於嫁娶、生日、滿月都不辦，為斂財。這樣的人，非法律，誰也勸不了。什麼是普遍共性迷信呢？是人們把宇宙間一切事事物物，都看成真實。把自己的軀體，認為「實我」。為它而貪求富貴，損人利己，不擇手段，巧取豪奪，多方造業。
那麼怎麼能破除迷信呢？必須先破「無」。借假修真，轉識成智，對一切的事物不貪不取，進入佛門，由漸入頓，是謂破除迷信。想破「無明」，必先識無明，就是先徹底考察考察自己，自己一切不是全由心支配的嗎？但心在那兒什麼樣，你知道嗎？它在體內有實權沒有？它是不是願意老的？但人年年月月日日時時，甚至於剎那剎那變老。它更不願意死，但到死時，任你家成業就、子孫滿堂，誰也留不住，自己也無辦法，只有熱淚矇眼，這時心如刀刺，就像生龜脫殼，活馬剝皮，非死不可。說明它在生時，並無實權，只是貪、瞋、癡造業。真明白就可以和它分，「諸惡不作，眾善奉行」，自然不為口腹而殺害活物等等，只有素食，這樣漸漸去掉無明的「無」字，只剩「明」了。如此才能借假修真，最後能開悟，就再無迷信，繼續達到解脫。
→待續
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Who are the superstitious intellectuals? They are people who are learned and have social status. In order to save money, they decide not to hold funerals, weddings, or birthday celebrations. Such people do not listen to anyone but the law. What is meant by common and prevailing superstition? It refers to regarding worldly things as real and taking one's body to be the "true self." For the body's sake, people greedily pursue wealth at the expense of others, going to any length to obtain it, either by fraud or by force, creating karma in many ways.
How can we eliminate superstition? We must start by destroying ignorance. Making use of what is false to cultivate what is real; turning consciousness into wisdom; refraining from greed for any material things, becoming a disciple of the Buddha; entering sudden enlightenment through gradual cultivation—all of these are part of eliminating superstition. To destroy ignorance, we must first recognize what ignorance is. That is, we must thoroughly examine ourselves. Isn't everything controlled by the mind? Do we know where the mind is and what it is like? Does it really have full control over our bodies? The mind does not want to get old, but we are aging with every year, every month, every day, every hour, and even every moment. It does not want to die; but when the time comes, even if we have successful families and careers and a houseful of children and grandchildren, no one can keep us from dying. And there is nothing we can do, except let the tears flood our eyes. At that time, our pain is like that of being stabbed in the heart with a knife, or that of a live turtle having its shell ripped off, or that of a horse being flayed alive; death is unavoidable. These explain that our mind does not have real control over our life; it is merely filled with greed, anger, and stupidity and only knows how to create karma. When we truly understand, we will be able to separate ourselves from it. By following the maxim of “Do no evil, and practice all good," naturally we will stop killing living creatures merely to satisfy our appetite and will eat only vegetarian food. Thus, gradually, we will do away with ignorance, and what is left will be understanding. Only in this way can we make use of what is false to cultivate what is real and ultimately become enlightened. With no more superstition, we can continue on the path to reach liberation. - To be continued |
