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《菩提田》

 

BODHI FIELD

點點滴滴憶上人

Memories of the Venerable Master:

節用愛物;是法無貴賤,廁所亦復然
Treasure Everything, Even Broken Toilets

比丘尼恆持講於大殿2000年5月 7日晚Spoken by Bhikshuni Heng Chih on the evening of May 7, 2000, in the Buddha Hall

……你有什麼不對的,上人就會用你那個不對的教化我們所有的人。你們都認識JohnScroggs,從萬佛城開始,就有他,現在他還在。他在萬佛城好幾年,都做一些苦工。

John Scroggs有一次進去萬佛城,我不記得是哪一棟,就把一個廁所的馬桶拿出來了,那個廁所沒人使用。因為他是做廁所的工作,看到那個馬桶壞了,也不能用,就把它拿出來。那一晚,上人說法沒說別的,就說廁所的法。上人說了不止一百次,針對John Scroggs說。上人說:「你知道為什么我買萬佛城?就因為有這么多廁所,大家都可以有一個廁所,我認為這是最好的好處,你就把我的廁所弄壞了!」John Scroggs說:「對不起,師父。」上人說一次不打緊,又說第二次、第三次……,那一晚上人沒聽別的法。說了好幾次之後,那個John就說:「師父,我想我大概已經明白了!」不但他明白,我們統統都明白了——你不可以隨便浪費上人的廁所就是了。

廁所是一件事情。我記得有一次上人說:「我在的一天,我不會拆萬佛城的任何一個房間,就算它的用處和我們廟裡的用處不相配合,不能用,我也不會拆它。」廁所也是;小小的東西,上人也要我們保護它,能用就用,不要說不要這個,不要那個。所以上人給什麼人就講什么法,那天晚上就是John現身脫法。我們天天跟上人都是這樣子,誰有毛病,上人就會拿出來。上人對我脫:「果修,妳所以不能背經典,就是因為妳妒嫉恆隱。恒隱記憶力這么好,妳這麼妒嫉,妳盡未來際都不會背。」那我就是現身說法。所以我今天教你們,不要妒嫉別人,因為到今天我還不會背經。


...The Master would teach all of us by talking about our shortcomings,  and we would have the attitude: "I manifest the body to speak the Dharma,  " in other words, "Here I am and here is my problem, and you all get to  learn from that."

You probably all know John Scroggs. He's been around a long time,  longer than most of you. He was here at the City from the very beginning,  even before the City existed. He helped out a lot in the early days,  working as a volunteer. He was sort of a self-made plumber.

One day here at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, he pulled out a  broken toilet. Rather than trying to hassle with fixing that toilet, he pulled  it out. Well, the Master didn't talk about anything else that night but the  toilet Dharma. All night long, if we heard it once, we heard it a hundred  times. He said to John: "You know why I bought the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas? It was because there are so many toilets, and you went  and pulled out one of my toilets." The Master went on and on. John  would say: "Gee, Shr Fu [Master], I'm really sorry. I'll remember next  time." He said it once, twice, three times... We didn't hear any Sutra that  night; all we heard was the toilet Dharma. I'll tell you we never forgot it.  See? Thirty years later, I still remember. He finally said, "Shr Fu, I think  I got it, I think I understand." Not only did he understand, we all understood that we can't casually waste the Master's toilets.   

That was the toilets. Another time the Master told us, "I would never,  as long as I'm alive, ever tear down any of these buildings at the City of  Ten Thousand Buddhas. It doesn't matter if it serves any purpose for the  monastery; I would never tear it down while I'm around." On the small  scale, it was the toilet and even the very smallest things. His point was,we should treasure those material things. If they work, we don't just get  rid of them; and if they don't work, like this poor toilet, we don't just casually get rid of them either. That night it was John who "manifested the body to speak the Dharma." It was like that every day; the Master  would bring up the faults of anyone. For example, he would say to me:  "Guo Xiu, you aren't able to memorize Sutras because you're jealous of  Heng Yin. If you envy her for having such a good memory, you'll never,  ever be able to memorize anything." And so I was "manifesting a body to speak the Dharma." Now I'm telling you not to be jealous, because to this day I still can't memorize Sutras.

 

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