|
以戒殺報答三寶恩
剛才各位皈依十方盡虛空，遍法界，十方三世無盡佛法僧三寶。信佛的人，必須念玆在玆，時刻莫忘三寶的慈悲喜捨，要抱著感恩想，要抱著難遭遇想。佛法是百千萬劫也不容易遇著的，我們在今生遇著了，若不努力，也就等於一個去讀書的學生，不好好讀書，天天逃學，跑到外面去遊玩，光陰都空過了。所以，時時刻刻地，我們應該如對佛前，如臨師保，不可以有絲毫的苟且、懈怠、躲懶偷安。如果能這樣子，可以說是精進波羅蜜。我們精進要身也精進，心也精進；身精進要勤修戒定慧，心精進要息滅貪瞋癡。
佛教所講的道理，我們無論抓住哪一個法門，都要拳拳服膺，依教修行，那誰都可以成佛的。哪一個法門都是不二法門，都是第一義諦。所以我們不要說學顯教，學來學去，覺得沒有甚麼成就，就往密教裏頭跑。在密宗裏頭又學來學去，也覺得沒有甚麼感應，又往教宗跑。學教學了一個時期，也覺得不夠我所學習的，於是乎就跑到禪宗去。禪、教、律、密、淨，每一宗都學過了，可是每一宗都只學個兩天半，三天都不夠，就沒有恆遠心，喜新厭舊，結果你的時間，都浪費在路上，把這一生的光陰都空過了，乃至於到臨命終的時候，哪一個法也沒修成。就因為東跑西跑，把時間都花費在跑路上，這是很可憐的一件事。
就拿聽法來講，聽法雖聽得很多，但是明白得很少；或明白得很多，但是能實行的很少。所以我常說：「會講的不如會聽的；會聽的不如會行的；會行的不如會證的。」會講的人，講得天花亂墜，地湧金蓮，可是不去實行，沒有躬行實踐，這叫「說食數寶」。就好像那個石頭人似的，石頭人會說話，可是不會走路，因為它是石頭，所以說：
說得好，說得妙；
不能行，不是道。
會聽的人，怎麼樣會聽法呢？就是：
粗言及細語，皆歸第一義。
這說法的人，橫說、豎說、塵說、剎說，說來說去，你都聽得是妙不可言，所以會說的不如會聽的。但是會聽的人，他聽是聽明白了，可是不如去躬行實踐來得更有效。就好像吃的東西，它營養再充足，味道再好，如果你念食譜，念來念去，也沒有吃到口裏頭，那也不是你所應該需要的。會行的人呢？如果你又會聽了，又會行了，可是單單行去做去，還沒有畢業，就像讀書，你入了學校，把書讀好了，可是你還沒有畢業，沒有得到文憑，這也是不圓滿。所以說會行的，不如會證的，你證得這個果位，比說食數寶好得多，因此才說：
終日數他寶，自無半錢分；
於法不修行，其過亦如是。
昨天講到這個「肉」字是人吃人，希望大家不吃很多人。可是有很多人對這個道理不能接受，昨晚有些人聽的時候，眼睛就望著天，問天主這個道理是不是這個樣子？有些人就眼睛看著地，問地神是不是這個樣子？有的人就往東看看、南看看、北看看、西看看，看四周圍的鄰居覺得怎麼樣？這法師講這麼奇怪的道理，究竟他根據甚麼來講？想站起來就走嘛，又覺得不好意思；不走嘛，覺得聽得沒有道理。
甚麼是有道理呢？我多吃一點肉，營養多一點，可使身體健康，這才是真的。其實並不是肉有營養，對身體有益健康。現在世界上很多吃肉的人，都生癌症，為甚麼生了癌症呢？就是因為眾生肉裏頭，有形無形都有一些毒素。這些毒素，也可以說是一些冤仇所結集成的毒。這些冤仇就是互相殺，你殺我，我就要殺你；你吃我，我就要吃你，這種仇恨的毒，沒有地方發洩，也就互相來傳遞。
由畜生身上傳到人的身上，人的身上提防不了這種毒素，就生了怪病。所以，吃肉的人很多都生些奇奇怪怪的病，早先沒有這麼多怪病，因為那時科學沒有這麼發達。現在這化學的毒和科學的毒，和人心裏的這種仇恨的毒，碰到一起，這個毒氣也就發作了，現在空氣也污染了，畜生的肉也在污染。這污染是怎麼污染的呢？就是因為有這些毒素－－化學的毒、科學的毒、空氣裏頭的毒、土地裏面的毒、河水裏面的毒，湊和在一起，這眾緣和合，就生了這麼多怪病。有人說：「法師，你愈講愈離譜，我簡直都不相信。」你不相信也不要緊，反正我也沒有要你的錢，你也沒有給我錢，對不對啊？你不相信，就在這兒坐著，若覺得不舒服，忍耐一點，就不講了。
待續
|
|
To Repay the Kindness of the Triple Jewel, We Should Stop Killing
All of you have just taken refuge with the infinite Triple Jewel—the Buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha—that pervades the space throughout the Dharma Realm. People who believe in the Buddha should constantly be mindful of the kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and giving of the Triple Jewel. We should feel grateful and fortunate to have encountered the Triple Jewel. It is not easy to encounter the Buddhadharma even in a hundred million eons. Now that we have encountered it, if we don’t apply ourselves diligently, we are just like a student who, instead of studying, always cuts class and goes out to play, letting the time pass in vain.
At all times we should act as if we were facing the Buddha or our teacher. We cannot be the least bit sloppy, lax, or lazy. Then we are practicing the paramita of vigor. We should be vigorous in body and mind. Being vigorous in body means diligently cultivating precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. Mental vigor means putting to rest greed, hatred, and stupidity.
No matter which Dharma-door of Buddhism we choose to practice, we should stick to it and cultivate accordingly. Whoever can do that can attain Buddhahood. Every Dharma-door is second to none and a way to realize the ultimate truth. It shouldn’t be that you study the Manifest Teaching for a while, then decide that you’re not getting anywhere and so you switch over to the Secret Teaching; then after studying that for a while, you don’t obtain any response and so you decide to study the Doctrines. After studying Doctrines, you’re still dissatisfied so you switch to Chan. Chan, Doctrines, Moral Precepts, Secret, and Pure Land--you’ve studied each of them for only two-and-a-half, not even three, days. You don’t stick to any one practice for long. You quickly grow weary of old things and always want something new. As a result, you spend all your time running back and forth, and you waste your whole life. When it comes time to die, you still haven’t cultivated a single Dharma to success, just because you spent all our time running around. What a pity!
Take listening to the Dharma, for example. Although you've heard a lot of Dharma, you understand very little of it. Or maybe you understand a lot, but you’ve practiced very little of it. That’s why I always say, “Being able to speak is not as good as being able to listen; being able to listen is not as good as being able to practice. Being able to practice is not as good as being able to attain realization.” A person may be able to speak so well that flowers fall from the heavens and golden lotuses well forth from the earth, but if he doesn’t actually practice what he talks about, it’s like talking about food or counting others’ treasures. It’s also like a stone man. He may be able to talk, but he can’t walk, because he is made of stone. So there’s a saying,
You may speak well, you may speak wonderfully,
But if you don't practice, it’s not the Way.
If you know how to listen to the Dharma, then for you,
General principles and fine details
All convey the ultimate truth.
No matter how the person speaks Dharma, whether he speaks vertically or horizontally, whether he speaks of dust motes or of entire world-systems, when you listen to it you feel it is wonderful beyond words. And so knowing how to speak is not as good as knowing how to listen.
You may be able to understand what you hear, but if you can really put it into practice, then it’s even more useful. Take the analogy of food. No matter how nutritious and tasty the food may be, if you only read the recipe but don’t actually make it and eat it, you won’t get what you need.
If you can listen and also practice, you are like a student in school. You may have studied all the lessons, but until you graduate and receive your diploma, you haven’t completed your schooling. And so I said that being able to practice is not as good as achieving realization. Once you have realized the fruition of sagehood, you are much better off than someone who merely talks about food and counts others’ treasures. And so there’s a verse,
All day long you count others’ treasures,
Without half a cent to call your own.
Not cultivating the Dharma
Is making the same kind of mistake.
Yesterday I talked about the Chinese character for “meat” being an ideograph of one person eating another, hoping that you wouldn’t eat too many people. But there are still a lot of people who cannot accept this idea. When they heard me saying it last night, some people looked up to the heavens, as if to ask God if such a principle really existed. Some people looked downwards, as if to ask the earth deity if it was really that way. Some people looked to the north, south, east, and west, looking at their neighbors to see what they thought. “What proof does the Dharma Master have for this strange principle?” they wondered. They really wanted to get up and leave, but they were embarrassed to do so. Yet even if they stayed, they felt that what they were hearing made no sense.
What makes sense, then? They think, “If I eat more meat, then I’ll get more nutrition and my body will be healthier. That’s the truth.” Actually it’s not true that meat is nutritious and good for health. In the modern world many meat-eaters are developing cancer. This is because the flesh of living beings contains certain toxins, which may or may not be perceptible. These toxins come from accumulated enmity of living beings mutually killing and devouring one another. Because living beings have no place to release their hatred, it is transmitted back and forth.
When the toxins pass from the animals’ bodies into human bodies, people have no resistance against them, so they develop strange ailments. That’s why so many meat-eaters have all sorts of bizarre diseases now. Such diseases were not so common before, because science was not as advanced. Modern chemical toxins, scientifically produced toxins, and the poisonous enmity in people's minds, have combined to create a poisonous energy that has polluted the air and contaminated animal flesh. The combination of chemical toxins and by-products, along with pollution of the air, land, and water, have resulted in all kinds of strange diseases.
“Dharma Master,” someone is thinking, “what you’re saying is more and more outrageous. I simply don't believe it.”
If you don't believe it, that's okay. After all, I’m not asking for your money and you haven’t paid me, right? If you don't believe and you feel uncomfortable sitting there, please bear with me a little longer. I’ll soon be finished.
To be continued |
