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前期提示: 餓鬼法界、地獄法界
十界一心，不離當念；
能覺此念，立登彼岸。
這十法界，佛、菩薩、聲聞、緣覺，這是四聖法界；天、人、阿修羅、地獄、餓鬼、畜生，這是六凡法界。合起來叫十法界。這十法界從什麼地方生出來的？就從我們人現前這一念心生出來的。所以說「十界一心，不離當念」：這十法界都沒有離開你，就是現前這一念心。
你現前這一念，你若明白了，所以說「能覺此念」。你若明白這一念，「立登彼岸」：立刻就到彼岸了，這個彼岸是什麼呢？就是覺悟。覺悟就是不迷惑了，就把無明破了。破無明，那個法身就現出來了，所以說立登彼岸，立刻就到彼岸了，就「摩訶般若波羅蜜」了。
後記
如意魔女
我今天晚間想起這個如意女來了。她是周朝的一個鬼，被雷劈了；她又修成一種魔術，雷也沒有法子打她了。那麼她就各處去作怪，然後就遇到我了。她要皈依三寶，現在是改邪歸正了。這要是說起來啊，可以寫一本書。現在你們不要怕她了；她即使來到這地方，也不會害人了。
在二十七年以前，大約是在中華民國三十四年（西元一九四五年）二月十二這一天，我在東北周家棧這個地方，有一個「道德會」。道德會，就是講道德的地方，天天都講演。這個會上有我幾個皈依弟子，所以每逢從那兒經過的時候，我就到那地方住幾天。
住幾天就遇到一個不知姓什麼的批八字的先生。怎麼叫批八字呢？就是你年上有兩個字，月上有兩個字，日上有兩個字，時上又有兩個字。他給人批八字批得很靈的，他就給我批，他說：「喔！你啊！應該去做官去，怎麼來出家了呢？你若做官，會做很大的官。」
我說：「官怎麼樣做呢？我都不會。也不知道怎麼樣做官，怎麼可以做呢？我會做和尚，所以我現在出家。」
他說：「這太可惜了。」這是在周家棧，這個批命的他這麼給我批。
然後又看我的手，他說：「噢！你這個手，最低限度，你可以中一個頭名狀元。」
我就說：「現在我連最後那一名都中不了了，還中頭名？」
然後他又細看，說：「哦，你啊！今年是走運了！今年你有吉祥的事情！」我說：「有什麼吉祥的事情呢？」
他說：「過下個月初十，你就和現在不同了。」
我說：「怎麼樣不同法呢？」
他說：「以前一千里地以內的人相信你。過了初十之後，一萬里地以內的人都相信你了。」
我說：「這個怎麼會這樣子呢？」
他說：「到時候你就知道了！」那麼說完了這話，我又住了兩天。
大約是二月十四、十五的樣子，我就到那個鑲白旗四屯，那兒有我的皈依弟子，叫夏遵祥，他那年已經六十多歲了。他家裏有三十多口人，種了很多地，可以說是個財主。在那一個鄉下，他是最有錢的。那麼這個老人從來也不相信佛，什麼都不相信，等見著我來了，他就相信，要皈依。不單他一個人要皈依，全家都要皈依，所以他全家就都皈依我了。以後我每逢到那個地方去，就到他家裏去住。他家裏三十多口人，我一去，都高興得不得了。在那住了大約有十天的樣子，就又有七、八十人都皈依，大約是七十二個人也都來皈依。
皈依之後，等到二十五這天，我就坐著夏遵祥他家裏的車到雙城縣去，他家裏離雙城縣有七十多里路。這車要一早晨三點多鐘就開始走。這時候雖然說三月間，正是冷的時候，冷得不得了。這個趕車的人和跟車的人都要穿著皮衣、皮襖、皮褲，戴著皮帽子。我呢，那時候是很窮的，穿的衣服就三層布。這一個衲袍是三層布，穿的褲子也是兩層布的褲子－－夾褲；穿鞋是穿鞋，沒有襪子。就穿羅漢鞋，有窟窿的那種鞋，沒有穿襪子。
一早這車就走了，我坐在車上邊。我戴著個帽子，也遮不住耳朵。那是一個合掌巾，那種帽子就好像人合著掌那個樣子的。你們看見濟公戴的那個帽子，就那個樣子。坐在車上，七十里路，從三點鐘大約坐到一早七點鐘吧。到了城裏，天也光了。這趕車的老闆和跟著車的人呢，心裏想一定會把我凍死在車上，因為穿的衣服也少，又在這車上。他呢坐坐車，下來跑一跑，因為不跑就凍得不得了，一定要下來活動活動。我在車上，由一出門口，就坐在車上。到雙城縣的東門外，把車停住了。我從車上下來，這個趕車的一看，「哦！還沒有凍死他！」他以為我一定會凍死。
二十五這天我到雙城縣。有一些個善友，有一些個護法居士，我到他們家裏去，也住了十多天。
等三月初九又回到鑲白旗四屯夏遵祥的家裏。他就告訴我了，他說有一個夏文山，他有一個女兒，就是在我打皈依的時候一起皈依的，她最近有病了，病得很厲害，六、七天不吃東西、不喝水，也不講話，就很大的脾氣，發脾氣要打人的樣子。
等到初九這一天，她的母親就來對我講，說：「師父啊！我這個女兒啊，皈依之後沒過幾天，她就病了。病得很厲害，她也不講話，也不吃東西，也不喝水，天天都瞪著眼睛，把頭栽到炕上，也不講話。不知道她這是個什麼病？」
當時我就對她講，我說：「我也不會給人治病，她什麼病，你問我是不行的。現在我有皈依弟子叫韓崗吉，他是開五眼的，能知道人的過去未來。前生是怎麼回事，他也知道；你今生什麼事情，他也知道。你問他去。」那麼她就問這個韓崗吉。
這韓崗吉也是在我到雙城縣－－二十五號，以前的時候他皈依的。他皈依的時候，本來我不收他。為什麼不收他呢？因為在我沒出家以前，他和我是很好的朋友，在道德會上是同事。因為他開眼了，我出家之後，他見到我，他開眼一看，他說：「原來你生生世世都是我的師父來著！」所以就要皈依我。
待續
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From last issue: The Dharma Realms of Hungry Ghosts and Hell-beings
Verse:
All of these ten realms—a single thought—
Are not apart from your present thought.
If you can awaken to that thought,
You’ll arrive immediately at the other shore.
Commentary:
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Hearers, and Those Enlightened to Conditions are the Four Sagely Dharma Realms; gods, human beings, asuras, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals are the Six Common Dharma Realms. Together, they make up the Ten Dharma Realms. Where do the Ten Dharma Realms come from? From the single thought which is right now in your mind. All of these ten realms—a single thought— / Are not apart from your present thought.
If you can awaken to that thought, if you can understand it, you’ll arrive immediately at the other shore. The other shore is enlightenment. When you become enlightened, you are no longer confused. When ignorance is smashed and the Dharma-body appears, you arrive at the other shore. This is .jpg)
Afterword
As-You-Wish Woman
I’ve suddenly thought of the story of the “As-You-Wish Woman.” She was a ghost that had been shattered by thunder in the Zhou Dynasty. She then practiced a kind of magic that protected her from thunder, and when she mastered it, she went around causing trouble. Later she met me, took refuge with the Triple Jewel, and reformed herself. I could write an entire book on this. You don’t have to be afraid of her; even if she were to come here, she wouldn’t harm anyone.
Twenty-seven years ago [in 1945], on the twelfth day of February, I passed through the Zhou family station in Manchuria. In the town there was a Virtue Society whose members met daily for lectures on morality. Since some of the members were my disciples, I would usually stay in the town for a few days when I passed through.
This time I met a Chinese astrologer who cast people’s horoscopes by looking at the eight characters (two for the year, two for the month, two for the day, and two for the hour) of their birth. His horoscopes were very efficacious. He cast my horoscope and said, “You should be an official. Why have you left home? Had you wanted to, you could have been a great official.”
“I haven’t any idea how to be an official,” I said. “But I do know how to be a Buddhist monk, and so I have left home.”
“What a pity,” said the astrologer, and he looked at my hands. “At the very least,” he said, “you could have been a top-ranking imperial scholar.”
“No,” I said. “I couldn’t even have come in last.”
He looked my hands again and said, “Oh, this year something very lucky will happen to change your life!”
“What could that be?” I asked.
“After the tenth of the next month you will be different from now,” he replied.
“Different in what way?”
“Right now, all the people within 1000 li [350 miles] believe in you, but after the tenth of next month, everyone within 10,000 li [3500 miles] will believe in you.”
“How can that be?” I asked.
“When the time comes, you will know,” he said.
Two days later, on the fourteenth or fifteenth of February, I went to the village of Xiangbaichi, fourth district, and stayed with my disciple Xia Zunxiang, who was over sixty years old and had a family of over thirty people. He was one of the richest landowners in the area and had never believed in Buddhism or anything else. But when he saw me, he believed in me and wanted to take refuge with me. He and his whole family took refuge, and every time I went to the village I’d stay at his house. His family of over thirty was extremely happy to see me this time. I stayed with them for ten days, and about seventy-two people came to take refuge.
On the twenty-fifth, I set out in Mr. Xia’s cart for Shuangcheng County. Since it was over seventy li [25 miles] away, we left at three o’clock in the morning.Although it was early spring, the weather was bitterly cold. The driver and the attendant were dressed in fur coats, trousers, and hats. Being very poor, I wore only my usual rag robe made of three layers of thin cotton cloth, trousers made of two layers of cloth, open Arhat sandals with no socks, and a hat shaped like folded palms that didn’t cover my ears. That was the kind of hat that Master Ji Gong wore.
We rode from three in the morning until dawn, reaching the city at seven in the morning. The driver and the attendant thought I would freeze to death, since I was so insufficiently dressed. They had stopped repeatedly to exercise and keep warm, but I had remained in the cart from the beginning of the trip. When we arrived at the eastern gate of Shuangcheng County and I got out of the cart, the driver exclaimed, “Oh, he didn’t freeze!”
I went to Shuangcheng County and stayed with friends, Dharma protecting laymen, for more than ten days, and on the ninth of March, I returned to Xia Zunxiang’s home in Xiangbaichi. When I arrived, he told me that one of my recent disciples, the daughter of Xia Wenshan, had fallen dangerously ill. She hadn’t eaten or drunk water for six or seven days. She did not speak, and she looked fiercely angry, as if she wanted to beat people.
Then her mother came. “Master,” she said, “my daughter became very ill a few days after taking refuge. She won’t talk, eat, or drink, but just glares and sticks her head on the bed. I don’t know what illness she has.”
I said to her, “I can’t cure her, so it’s useless to ask me. However, my disciple Han Gangji has opened his five eyes and knows people’s past, present, and future affairs. You should ask him.”
Han Gangji had also taken refuge on the twenty-fourth of February, when I went to Shuangcheng County. At first I had refused to take him as a disciple, because before I had left home, the two of us had been good friends and had worked together in the Virtue Society. After I left home and Han Gangji opened his five eyes, he saw that, life after life, I had always been his teacher. And so he wanted to take refuge with me.
to be continued |
