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我來聖城有幾年了，如果有人問我對今日佛教有什麼看法，我雖人微言輕，粗淺不足以道，還是希望：「欲滅燈更明！」
佛法將滅，已非新論；佛陀先知，故說《法滅盡經》。因為自己深深有所感觸，修行路上阻障重重。許多人在聖城修著修著，捲著鋪蓋就跑了。我來聖城後看到許許多多這樣的例子，所以在教中文時，有意讓學生抄寫這一部經，希望他們在練習寫字之時，積攢一些功德之餘，也能夠心生一些危機意識。
那麼只是佛經說說而已嗎？那都是兩千多年的事啦！有人說。其實不只佛陀，歷代祖師大德亦作如是說。請聽聽虛老的感嘆：
這個癡漢有甚來由；
末法無端為何出頭？
嗟茲聖脈一髮危秋；
拋卻己事專為人憂……
佛教已經走到末法梢上，確實無疑，可說是危機四伏，險象叢生，用危如累卵已不足形容，所以虛老說佛教已經危若懸絲。聖教積弊久遠，勢成難返，且邪教熾燃，勢如猛火；以假充真者，鋪天蓋地。界外人看沙門如糞土，而佛教界卻一是很少人真正有志氣去力挽狂瀾，二是內部不能眾志成城，人家說沙門沙門；門裏門外都是一盤沙。佛教界內部你唱一臺戲，我唱一臺戲，長此以往，佛教不會長久。有人說如果哪一天佛教門中沒有人證果，那麼佛教也就差不多到末日了。所以身為佛教徒，若不眼見流淚，難道能不生一絲一毫憂患意識、危亡意識嗎？哪一天佛法滅了，那麼這個黑鍋每個佛教徒都得揹。每個佛教徒都成了亡教之徒，臉上有什麼光彩？佛法滅時，再想出離，已經是頭頭無期了。
佛法在東方、西方都是窮途末路嗎？先請聽聽我回鄉的感受吧！1997年夏返鄉探親時，纔真真實實地體會到上人所說的東方佛教病到骨心裏去的話。那兒，形式多於內容，佛教漸漸成為旅遊觀光教；一方面是香火鼎盛，一方面是法音稀稀，沒有什麼人願意講法，或許是沒有什麼人懂得講法，所以一周七天，星期天纔輪得上是講法日。我想大虛大師管是在泉下還是在泉上都是會悲淚交加，感嘆而言：「啊！沒想到昔日我的道場竟中空至如此地步！」我會有話想跟他老人家說呢！什麼話？我想說我回老家最沒想到的是出家人吃完晚飯後，可以悠閑四出散步，聽歌觀舞，或行天涯海角，或趕鬧市喧囂，甚得其樂。這也是為什麼我母親堅持我要出家，在老家出就行了，幹啥老遠跑去美國出家的原因。
西方呢？西方可以說是正法初興。一方面擁有高度物質文明的西方人，卻無法擁有平安與幸福時，他們從佛教裏尋找到了答案。佛法不僅可以給他們答案，而且可以給他們一整座的金山寶庫。難怪上人一到美國所建立的第一座廟便叫金山寺；宣公上人來美國想要重開一番新天地。佛教興否這時也到了關鍵時刻，這就是為什麼佛教徒在西方的所作所為，會在佛教史上顯得格外重要。上人以身作則，汗也流了，血也乾了，寺廟一座接一座，供養一車接一車，我們作弟子的可真是樣樣方便，般般現成。如果我們再不真正地在道上用功，那要不是往地獄裏鑽，是往哪跑？
上人臨終前幾個月，當弟子問及一些身後事時，不禁老淚縱橫。上人哭什麼？不知道，不便揣測，但不妨把可能性都列一列：
悲弟子難度？悲弟子懈怠？
悲正法將秋？……
上人在美國為佛教做最後的一搏；他的一生也是諸葛武侯鞠躬盡瘁的再一次寫照。我們那怕能效其兩分之忠，三分之誠，已足以續佛明燈。希望重興之正法不會是剎那的光耀；不是「殘燭將欲滅」
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I have been at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (the City) for several years. I am an insignificant person whose words carry little weight, and my opinion is shallow and not worth mentioning. However, if people were to ask me what I think of today's Buddhism, I would still sigh, "The lamp burns ever brighter before its finale!"
It is no news that Buddhism will end. The Buddha foresaw the extinction of Buddhism and spoke the Sutra of the Dharma's Demise. I personally am very well aware that there are many obstacles on the path of cultivation. Many people cultivate at the City for a time and then pack up and leave. I have seen quite a few examples of this since I came to the City. That is why, in my Chinese class, I deliberately let the students copy out this Sutra, hoping that in addition to practicing their characters and earning some merit and virtue, they will also develop a sense of urgency.
"Were such descriptions only in the Buddhist Sutras? The Sutras record what was said over two thousand years ago!" someone might say. Actually, the Buddha, Patriarchs and cultivators of great virtue throughout the ages have all made similar pronouncements. Listen to the lament of Elder Master Hsu Yun:
What qualifications do I, this stupid fellow, have,
To come to this Dharma-ending Age for no reason?
Alas! The lineage of the Sages is in great peril.
I have cast aside my own affairs to worry on behalf of others.
Buddhism has already reached the Dharma-ending Age—there is no doubt about that. Peril is lurking everywhere; dangers crop up en masse. The proverbial "mountain of eggs" is no longer sufficient to describe the situation. Elder Master Hsu Yun said Buddhism is hanging on by a thread. The holy teaching has long been corrupt. It will be even more difficult to reverse the trend. Heterodox cults are all the rage. Frauds and phonies are everywhere. Non-Buddhists regard Shramanas (monks) as excrement. Yet within Buddhism itself, very few people have the will and determination to turn back the tide in the first place. Secondly, those within Buddhism have not been able to unite; the word for Shramana in Chinese is literally "sand door," which can mean that inside and outside the door, people are like scattered sand. Within Buddhism, you run your show and I run mine. If this continues, Buddhism will not last long. Some say that if one day there is no one in Buddhism who attains the fruition of sagehood, then the last days of Buddhism will be at hand. As Buddhists, even if this situation does not bring tears to your eyes, do you not feel the least bit anxious about the prospect of the Buddha's teaching dying out? The day that the Buddhadharma dies out, every Buddhist will have to bear the cross. Every Buddhist will be the follower of a dead religion; what glory is there in that? After the Buddhadharma is gone, it will be too late to think about transcending the world.
Has Buddhism reached the end of the road in both the East and the West? Let me recount my experience upon returning home. In the summer of 1997 when I went to my hometown to visit my parents, I truly understood what the Master meant when he said that Buddhism in the East is rotten to the core. There, the emphasis is more on superficial form than actual practice; Buddhism has gradually become a religion for tourists. The tourist business is booming, and the sound of Dharma is rarely heard. Few people are willing to expound the Dharma, or perhaps few people understand how to expound it. In the seven days of the week, Sunday is the only day for Dharma lectures. I think that Great Master Tai Hsu, regardless of whether he is dead or alive, would be weeping and lamenting, "I never would have thought that my monastery would become this empty!" I would have something to say to that elder. I would say that when I had returned to my old home, I never expected that after the monks finished their dinner, they would stroll about at leisure, being entertained by song and dance, walking along the ocean front, or taking in the city nightlife and doing whatever caught their fancy. That was the reason my mother insisted that if I wanted to leave the home-life, I could do so back home; she didn't understand why I had to go so far away to the United States to leave home.
In the West, it could be said that the Proper Dharma is just emerging. On the one hand, Westerners who are unable to find inner peace and happiness despite their high level of material comfort have found an answer in Buddhism. Not only can Buddhism give them an answer, it can offer them a whole mountain of gold and treasures. No wonder the Venerable Master named the first monastery he founded in the United States Gold Mountain Monastery. The Master came to America with the ambition of starting anew. The fate of Buddhism has reached a critical moment. For that reason, what Buddhists do in the West will be of outstanding significance in the history of Buddhism. The Master taught by example; he sweated and he bled, establishing one monastery after another, bringing in loads and loads of offerings. We disciples get to enjoy it all; everything is done for us. If we do not genuinely practice the spiritual path, how can we expect to end up anywhere but the hells?
Several months before his passing, when his disciples were asking some questions about what to do after he was gone, the Master could not help but shed tears. Why did he cry? I don't know. I should not guess, for I might make a mistake in cause and effect, but it wouldn't hurt to list the possibilities:
Was he sad because his disciples were hard to cross over?
Was he sad because his disciples were lazy?
Was he sad because the Proper Dharma was about to decline?
The Master made a last stand for Buddhism in America. His life was a reenactment of the military official Zhuge Liang's patriotic devotion: "Bowed down I exhaust myself (in public service)." If we had even two-tenths of the Master's loyalty and three-tenths of his sincerity, we would be qualified to pass down the Buddha's bright lamp. I hope the new flourishing of the Proper Dharma will be more than a momentary effulgence; I hope it is not like "a flickering candle about to go out," but "a light which burns brighter."
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