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猛火城中。忍聽叫嗥之慘。煎敖盤裏。但聞苦痛之日。冰凍始凝。則狀似青蓮蕊結。血肉脫裂。則身如紅藕華開。
「猛火城中，忍聽叫嗥之慘」：在猛火的城裏邊，你看！都燒得叫天叫地，叫爹叫娘，很殘忍的。「煎敖盤裏，但聞苦痛之聲」：在盤，也就是鍋裏，煎敖得就聽人在那兒說好痛啊！好苦啊！「冰凍始凝，則狀似青蓮蕊結」：青蓮蕊結就是青蓮花剛要開的那個花苞。「血肉脫裂則身如紅藕華開」：這是形容得很好看的，血肉都沒有了，身上就像紅蓮花開了似的。
一夜死生。地下每經萬遍。一朝苦痛。人間已過百年。頻頻獄卒疲勞。誰信閻翁教誡。受時知苦。雖悔恨以何追。脫已還忘。其作業也如故。鞭驢出血。誰知吾母之悲。
「一夜死生，地下每經萬遍」：一夜之中，在那地獄裏頭生了又死，死了又生，就有萬遍那麼多。「一朝苦痛，人間已過百年」：因為痛苦的時候就覺得時間長。天上四天王天一晝夜，是我們人間的五百年；我們人間的一晝夜，是地獄的一百年。他在那兒一晝夜，我們人間已經就很久了，所以這說每經萬通。一朝苦痛，人間已過百年哪！他那兒一晝夜就是人間的一百年了，所以這麼樣說。
「頻頻獄卒疲勞」：把地獄那個鬼卒也都累得很辛苦了，說：「哎！真是疲倦了！今天這個工作太多了，很疲倦的。」他們都嫌疲倦了。「誰信閻翁教誡」：誰能聽閻羅王他這個教訓呢？「受時知苦，雖悔恨以何追」：受的時候他知道苦，知道後悔，那時就沒有法子再追悔了。「脫已還忘」：等離開苦，就把這苦又忘了。「其作業也如故」：所以還是照常作業。
我們人就是這麼顛倒，好了瘡疤忘了痛。在受苦的時候說我要諸惡不作，眾善奉行，等到不受的時候，又儘量去殺、盜、邪婬，什麼都幹，打起不正當的妄想。人就是這麼很沒有宗旨、沒有真智慧的一種動物。
「鞭驢出血，誰知吾母之悲」：人哪，凡夫肉眼不知道前因後果，所以就「順我者生，逆我者亡。」不要說驢，就是蚊蟲、螞蟻、蒼蠅，凡有血氣的動物都和我有眷屬的關係，有不清淨的這種因果在裏頭。我們不知道，就亂打亂罵；罵這個，罵那個，打這個，打那個。其實，這都是在那兒自殘骨肉，自己在那兒瞎子亂鬧，所以佛說：「是男子皆是我父，是女子皆是我母。」這個是說的人。
那麼要是再往擴大了，是男子或者也是我母，是女子或者也是我父。你說：「這又怎麼說呢？」因為我以前的父親，不一定常常做男的；我以前的母親，也不一定常常就做女的，佛不過總括起來說。我們若想要做這個文章，應該自己把它推而廣之，擴而充之。不單人是我的父母，連這一切的馬牛羊雞大豕、飛潛動植，這十二類的眾生和我都有一種眷屬骨肉的關係，可是就因為我們背覺合塵，認不清楚這種關係，所以明明是我們的父親，我們也要拿他當仇人來看，明明是我們的母親，我們也拿她當冤家來看。
所以這個驢，雖然是個驢，可是這在前生作過自己的母親。她造罪業，托生做驢了，自己因為是個凡夫不知道，就拿鞭子抽，棍子打，以為牠不做工，不好好幹活，就應該鞭策。可是這每一鞭打到這個驢的身上，前生這個母親疼痛得不能忍受，所以就哭起來。
※待續
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Essay:
In the city of raging fire, we endure the sounds of
blood-curdling screams and wails. In the pot of boiling
oil, we hear only cries of excruciating pain. When the body
begins to freeze, it resembles a blue lotus forming a bud.
Then the flesh and blood burst open, and the body looks
like a red lotus in bloom.
Commentary:
In the city of raging fire, we endure the sounds of
blood-curdling screams and wails. In the blazing city of
hells, the pain is cruel and unbearable, and the screams
are pitiful. We are tossed into the pot of boiling oil, to
be fried, and we hear only cries of excruciating pain. When
the body begins to freeze by hardening until it resembles a
blue lotus forming a bud. The body is blue with cold and
looks like the bud of a blue lotus flower. Then the flesh
and blood burst open and the body looks like a red lotus in
bloom: This describes the body as looking very pretty, like
a red lotus in bloom.
Essay:
In one night, the denizens of the hells pass through ten
thousand births and deaths. In one morning, the sufferings
in the hells are what humans would go through in a hundred
years. The harried wardens of the hells become weary. Who
believes that King Yama is teaching us with this warning?
And yet only while actually experiencing suffering do we
know its bitterness, but our regrets come too late. Once
free we forget again, and then we commit the same karma as
before. We whip the mule until it bleeds: who could know
that it is our mother in anguish? Commentary:
In one night, the denizens of the hells pass through ten
thousand births and deaths. They undergo birth and death,
death and birth, tens of thousands of times. In one
morning, the sufferings in the hells are what the humans
would go through in a hundred years. When you are in
excruciating pain, you feel that the time is either very
long or very short. One day in the Heaven of the Four
Heavenly Kings is five hundred years in the human realm.
One day in the human realm is one hundred years in the
hells. The sufferings that hell-beings undergo in one night
are equiva- lent to what we would undergo during a hundred
years.
The harried wardens of the hells become weary. The jailers
are always tired because they have so many offenders to deal
with. Who be lieves that King Yama is teaching us with this
warning? The painful states of the hells teach living
beings to stop doing evil, but no one knows that King Yama
is teaching us this.
And yet only while actually experiencing suffering do we
know its bitterness, but then our regrets come too late.
Once free, we forget again. When we aren't suffering, we
forget about our pain and about our regrets, and then we
commit the same karma as before. We do the same deeds all
over again. Once the wound heals, we forget our pain. During
the time of suffering, we do all good deeds and avoid all
evils. Once the pain is over, we start to kill, steal,
engage in sexual misconduct and all sorts of evil deeds,
and entertain improper false thoughts. Human beings are
creatures without aim or genuine wisdom.
We whip the mule until it bleeds: who could know that it is
our mother in anguish? Ordinary people cannot perceive
cause and effect with their flesh eyes, so their attitude
is, "If you obey me, you will thrive; and those who rebel
will die." Not to mention mules, even mosquitoes, ants,
flies, and all creatures with blood and breath have been our
relatives before and have such unclean cause and effect
with us. Since we are unaware of it, we recklessly hit or
scold those creatures. Actually, we are just abusing our
own past relatives. We should not be like a blind person
who recklessly stirs up trouble. That is why the Buddha
said: "Every man is my father and every woman is my
mother."
To expand this idea, we can also say: "Every man is my
mother and every woman is my father." Why? My father in a
previous life may not be a man in every life. Likewise my
mother in a previous life may not be a woman in every life.
The Buddha just summarized the matter, but when we discuss
or write about it, we should expand the idea.
Not only people have been my parents, but all the twelve
kinds of living beings—horses, cows, goats, dogs, pigs,
those that fly and crawl—have been our relatives. We are
not clear about these relationships, because we have turned
our back against enlightenment and joined with the dust.
Although they are clearly our fathers and mothers, we treat
them as enemies.
Take the mule, for instance: this life it is a mule, but in
the previous life it may have been our own mother who had
committed offenses. Since we as ordinary people do not know
whether this is the case, we should not use a whip or a rod
to hit the mule to make it work harder. Each time we whip
the mule who might have been our mother in a previous life
it will cry out in agony because it cannot bear the pain.
To be continued
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