大家都知道，上人有驚人的記憶力；在一九七零年代，上人講解華嚴經達九年，可以不用看經書琅琅背誦經文，一字不漏。
我去舊金山十五街舊的金山寺的時候，當時上人每個星期講三次「佛祖道影」，黑板上寫的是文言文，我百分之九十都看不懂，有時完全看不懂；但上人很有技巧，能使不同程度的聽眾都聽明白。有時師父叫美國人翻譯，讓他們學習文言文。上人講法很生動，深入淺出，所以我就像被吸鐵石吸住似的，常常去金山寺聽上人講法。
有一天，上人送我一套線裝《華嚴經》，說：「你，給我背《華嚴經》！」我說：「那怎麼可能？」心想：「我連祖師傳都看不懂，怎麼可能看得懂最深奧的佛經——《華嚴經》呢？」就擱著，沒看，這樣一年年地過去了。
一九八九年有一天，師父打電話來說：「我給你的《華嚴經》已經六七年了，你還沒有看！」我說：「師父你現在在哪？」
「我在萬佛城。」啪！上人就把電話掛了。平時上人常常打電話來，我們可以閒聊；這次他就這樣把電話掛斷，我真是嚇呆了。
我很驚訝，上人每天這麼忙還能在他的「雷達」裡收到資訊，知道我沒背經。被師父罵了之後，就不敢不看，以後就把讀誦《華嚴經》成為我的功課。在讀誦幾遍之後，慢慢的我發現整部華嚴經》講的就是不可思議、不可言說，佛菩薩的境界，也就是上人的境界；也漸漸地體會唯有常常讀誦《華嚴》，才能認識大慈大悲、大喜大捨、大智大願、大行大力——我們的上人。
記得有一天，我跟上人說：「師父，萬佛城佛殿裡四面牆上，一萬尊的佛像都是您做的啊？」上人很平淡地回答說：「事情都過去了，還提它幹什麼？」上人的回答給我留下非常深刻的印象。師父常常以非常簡短一兩句話，甚至一兩個字眼，就能給弟子們很深的啟示。有時那一兩句話或一兩個字眼你可以參一輩子，還參不明白。他教弟子們講法要簡單扼要，不要長篇大論，像寫文章似地囉囉囌囌。
上人無論做什麼是都不願留痕跡。師父是我見過最自在的人，真正做到掃一切法，離一切相，沒有一切執著。在講解《祖師傳》時，他經常提到歷代祖師們之所以能成道，是因為在生活中他們能做到掃一切法，離一切相。到現在我的耳根好像還能聽到上人有時的聲音，像獅子吼那樣，說：「掃一切法，離一切相。」
我們大家想想看，鳥在空中飛過，我們看得到虛空中鳥留下來的足跡嗎？《華嚴經》如來出現品第三十七之三有這麼一段：「鳥飛虛空，已經過處，未經過處，皆不可量。何以故？虛空界無邊際故，如來行亦如是。」我們凡夫呢，放不下；心中常常念念不忘我某年某月某日某時供養了什麼東西，或給了多少錢給某個廟；或者，我什麼什麼時候做了什麼什麼事；我怎麼樣，我怎麼樣的，我、我、我，心中積了一大堆的塵埃。
神秀大師教我們要時時勤拂拭，勿使惹塵埃，所以我們應該把心中的塵埃像擦黑板似地把它擦掉，師父叫我們在做完事以後，忘了它。第一，心裡沒有一個做事或供養的「我」；第二，沒有所做的事情或所供養的東西；第三，沒有接受你供養的人；要三輪體空，我們才能的到自在。
最後希望沒有見過上人的同修們，不要懊惱沒有機會親近上人。上人的法身盡虛空，遍法界；無所從來也無所去。只要你常常讀誦《華嚴經》，上人隨時與你同在。有的人以為上人涅槃之後，就不在了。現在我和你們講一個在Burlingame ITI（柏林根市譯經院）發生的小故事。
上人入涅槃之後，有很長一段時間沒有人去掃停車場的地；兩邊種的花圃上蓋滿了厚厚的樹葉，野草也沒人處理。有一天晚上，一位在上人生前曾發願負責整理某一小塊花圃的居士，夢見上人站在被樹葉蓋住的花圃旁邊，彎腰九十度往下看，慢慢說道：「這-是-怎-麼-回-事-啊？」第二天，這位居士醒來後，趕緊去譯經院看看種花的地方，她看到的景象和夢中看到的一模一樣，由此可見上人仍然是無所不在，無所不知，無所不曉的。
阿彌陀佛！ |
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The Venerable Master, Dharma Masters, and all good advisors:
My Dharma name is Guo-Jie. Today I'll talk about how I met the Avatamsaka Sutra.
As you all know, the Venerable Master's memory was astounding. During the nine years that the Venerable Master explained the Avatamsaka Sutra in the 1970's, he was able to recite the text by heart without missing a single word.
When I went to Gold Mountain Monastery on 15th Street in San Francisco, the Master was lecturing the Biographies of the Patriarchs three times a week. The text written on the blackboard was in classical Chinese, and I didn't understand ninety percent of it, or sometimes one hundred percent. However, the Venerable Master had a way of making people of all levels understand the lecture by the time the class was over, including those who could not read Chinese. Sometimes he would encourage Americans to translate the text and to learn classical Chinese. The lectures were very interesting and lively, and I was irresistibly drawn to that Way-place the way iron filings are drawn to a magnet.
One day Shifu gave me an old edition of the Avatamsaka Sutra, saying, "You should memorize the Avatamsaka Sutra!" I said, "Shifu, how could that be possible?" thinking I could not even read the Biographies of the Patriarchs, how much the less could I possibly understand the most profound Buddhist Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra! And so I put it aside and the years went by.
In 1989, one day all of a sudden I received a phone call from the Master, and he said, "I've given you a set of the Avatamsaka Sutra for six or seven years already, and you have not yet read it!" And I asked, "Shifu, where are you now?" "I'm at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas." Then, bang!-he hung up the phone. I regularly received phone calls from the Master and we would often have casual chats. This time he had hung up the phone so suddenly. I was petrified!
It amazed me that, being so busy every day, the Master was still able to pick up information like a radar and know that I had not memorized the Sutra.
After being scolded by the Master, I didn't dare not read the Sutra anymore. So I started to read the Avatamsaka Sutra as my daily homework.
After reading the Avatamsaka Sutra a few times, gradually I discovered that the entire Sutra speaks about the inconceivable and ineffable state of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and of course the state of the Venerable Master. I also gradually realized that constant reading of the Avatamsaka Sutra with a calm mind is the only way to recognize our extraordinary teacher who possessed great kindness, great compassion, great joy, great renunciation, great practice, and great strength.
I remember asking the Venerable Master one day, "Shifu, did you make all those little Buddha statues lining the Buddha Hall at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas? All ten thousand of them?" He replied with indifference, "It's a thing of the past—why mention it?" Shifu's response made a very deep impression on me. Shifu usually taught his disciples in a very concise and precise manner. For instance, he would answer questions with just a word or a sentence. However, that sentence or word would be so profound and to the point that even if we contemplated its meaning for the rest of our life, we may not be able to understand it completely. Shifu trained us to go straight to the point and not beat around the bush.
In whatever the Master did, he never wanted to leave any marks or traces behind. He was the most carefree person I have ever met. He was truly able to sweep away all dharmas, leave behind all marks, and be without attachments. In lecturing on the lives of Patriarchs, he would often say that the Patriarchs were able to attain the Way because they had swept away all dharmas and left behind all marks. I can still feel the echo of the Master uttering with great force: "Sweep away all dharmas; leave behind all marks."
Everyone think it over. Can we see the tracks left by a bird flying through the sky? There is a passage in Chapter 37, "Appearance of the Thus Come One," in the Avatamsaka Sutra, which says, "The places where the bird has and has not traveled cannot be measured, because space is infinite. The practices of the Thus Come Ones are also this way."
We ordinary people, however, never seem to be able to let go of our deeds. Our every thought is about what we have done, what offerings we made on such and such a day, how much money we donated to a certain temple. We're always thinking: me, me, me. We accumulate lots of dust in our minds. Great Master Shen Xiu taught us, "Time and again brush it clean, and let no dust alight." So we should wipe these dusty thoughts from our memory just as we erase a blackboard. Shifu once said, "After you've done something, just forget about it." First of all, there is no giver who makes an offering or renders services. Secondly, there is no gift or offering. And thirdly, there is no receiver of the gift or services. We should regard these three aspects as empty.
I hope that fellow cultivators who never met the Venerable Master will not be distressed. The Master's Dharma body pervades empty space and the Dharma Realm. He neither comes nor goes anywhere. If you constantly recite the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Venerable Master will constantly be with you.
Some people think that since Shifu has entered Nirvana, he is not around anymore, but actually he is everywhere. I'd like to tell you an incident that happened at the International Translation Institute in Burlingame. After Shifu entered Nirvana, for a long time no one went to clear the weeds and leaves in the parking lot outside the Translation Institute. The flower beds were choked with weeds and covered thickly with leaves. One night, a laywoman who had promised Shifu to take care of the flower beds had a dream. In her dream the Master was standing next to the flower beds. He bent all the way down to look at them and said, "What's going on here?!" She woke up the next day and went to the Institute to take a look. What she saw was exactly the scene in her dream—the flower beds choked with weeds and covered with leaves!
This incident shows that the Master is still omniscient and ever-present. Amitabha! |
