前期提示：布施波羅蜜有十種的利益。
現在講一講這個戒。戒，就是止惡防非：止惡就是諸惡不作，防非就是眾善奉行。你能以諸惡不作，眾善奉行，這就是真正的持戒。你若是不能諸惡不作，說是：小小的毛病不要緊，小小的過錯，大約對我修行沒有什麼害處。你要知道，那個頭髮雖然細，要是積聚多了也就變成粗了。所以你不要以為小毛病，就改不改都不要緊的，越是小毛病越要改。那麼說：大毛病不要改了吧？改小毛病就可以了吧？你若小毛病能改了，大毛病自然就沒有了。你那個大的過錯，就是由小的過錯積聚而成的。這個山，不是因為那一粒微塵小，就不要它；你要知道山就是由微塵造成的。那個微塵雖然是小，可是會造成一座山，我們這過錯也是這樣子。那麼眾善奉行，說是：做大的善，我才可以去做，小的善不要做了吧？不是的，你要由小而大，由近而遠，由淺入深，所以你小的善若做了，那個大的善也自然就有了。你做多了小善，就是大善。所以說「毋以善小而不為，毋以惡小而為之」，你不要以為小善你就不要做，你也不要以為惡小你就去做去。這就是一個戒的意思。
持戒的人，能有十種利益，你能諸惡不作，眾善奉行，就得到十種的利益。這十種的利益是：
第一種就是滿一切智。能圓滿你一切的智慧，你要是持戒持好了，就可以滿一切智，這是第一的利益。
第二就是入佛所學，和佛所學的是一樣。佛就是以戒為師，所以才說光明金剛寶戒是諸佛的本源，諸佛都是從這個戒生出來的，所以這叫入佛所學，是第二種的利益。
第三種是什麼呢？叫智者不毀。你持戒律，除非是無知的人，他來毀謗你、破壞你；有智慧的人，絕對不破壞你的，他不會找你的毛病，這叫智者不毀。有智慧的人，他不毀謗你；無知的人，當然他亂講啦！你就是好的，他也說你不好，你不好，他又說你好。因為什麼呢？就因為他沒有智慧，沒有智慧的人，才是顛倒是非、黑白不分，這叫愚癡人的行為。那麼現在你持戒，這個智者不毀謗你，不單不毀謗你，而且還讚歎你，這是第三種的利益。
所以，你想要人家讚歎你，你不要爭第一，不要去搶第一。你要做出來的事情，要做得第一，什麼事情是第一，就是好，最好了。誰能做得最好，誰就是第一；你做得不好，你就是第一，也是一個假的，沒有用的。你看那個演電影的，有做皇帝的，又有做娘娘的，但是他那個是假的，雖然大家看他是皇帝，說是：「哦！這是影帝啊！」影帝––電影的皇帝，那沒有什麼用的；你電影的娘娘也不是真的。為什麼他做了電影的皇帝呢？為什麼她做電影的娘娘？就因為他在往昔就喜虛榮，喜虛榮就好假名，真的事情他不幹，盡做假的事情。所以他歡喜做皇帝，做一個電影的皇帝；她歡喜做娘娘，做一個電影的娘娘，就是影后。可是，這不過是作戲而已，是演電影而已。
待續 |
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From last issue: The Paramita of Giving has ten advantages.
Now let's talk about precepts. Precepts serve to stop evil and guard against errors. To stop evil means to do no evil. To guard against errors is to practice all good deeds. If you can do no evil and practice all good deeds, you are truly holding the precepts. Suppose you cannot do no evil, and you say: "My little faults aren't that important. They're just minor mistakes, anyway. They probably won't hurt my cultivation." You should know that a hair is very fine, but if a lot of them are put together, it becomes a thick bunch. You shouldn't think it doesn't matter if you don't correct your small imperfections. The smaller the fault, the more important it is to change it.
"Does that mean the large faults don't need to be changed, and I can just change the small ones?"
If you change your small faults, the big ones will naturally disappear. Your big faults are just an aggregation of small faults. On a mountain, even though a particular dust mote is tiny, that doesn't mean it's not needed. You should know that the mountain is composed of dust motes. Even though dust motes are tiny, they can form a mountain. Our faults work the same way.
"Does practicing good deeds mean I do good deeds only on a large scale and ignore small good deeds?" No. You should proceed from the small to the great, from the near to the distant, from the shallow to the deep. If you do small good deeds, your big good deeds will naturally be accomplished. Doing a lot of small good deeds just amounts to doing good on a large scale. So we say, "Do not think a good deed is small and thereby fail to do it. Do not consider an evil deed to be small and go ahead and do it." You should not consider a good deed to be trivial and fail to do it. Nor should you consider an evil deed to be insignificant and do it. That is the meaning of precepts.
Those who hold the precepts gain ten advantages. If you can do no evil and practice all good deeds, you will derive ten advantages. They are:
1. One will perfect All-Wisdom. You can perfect all of your wisdom. If you keep the precepts well, you can perfect All-Wisdom. This is the first advantage.
2. One will study after the manner of the Buddha. One will study the same things as the Buddha. The Buddha took the precepts as his teacher. Therefore, the "Vajra bright jeweled precepts" are said to be the original source of all the Buddhas. All Buddhas arise from the precepts. Therefore, "to study after the manner of the Buddha" is the second advantage.
3. What is the third advantage? Those with wisdom will not find faults with one. Only stupid, senseless people will speak ill of you and try to ruin you. If you keep the precepts, wise people will never try to ruin you or find fault with you. Wise people will not slander you. Ignorant people will speak recklessly, of course. Even if you are good, they will say you're bad. If you are not good, they will say you are good. Why? Because they have no wisdom. People without wisdom have wrong and right all mixed up. They don't distinguish between black and white. That's how stupid people act. If you keep the precepts, wise people will not speak ill of you. Not only will they refuse to speak ill of you, but they will even praise you! This is the third advantage.
If you want people to praise you, you must not compete to be number one. Don't try to take that position by force. The things you do have to be number one, that is, they have to be good. They have to be the best. Whoever does the best, is naturally number one. If you aren't that good, then even if you are nominally number one, it's false and useless. In the movies, there are kings and queens, but they are just playing a false role. A person may look like a king, but people say, "Oh, that's just a movie king!" He's just a king in the movies, not of much use. Movie queens aren't real, either. How did he turn out to be a king in the movies? How did she get to be a queen in the movies? In former lives they craved empty fame and glory. They liked to have false fame. They didn't do any real work, but just engaged in phony deeds. He thought he would like to be a king, so he became a king in the movies. She fancied being a queen, so she got to be a queen in the movies. But they were just playing a role in a movie, nothing more.
To be continued |
